WANTED: Someone to restore Arteri and give it 2nd life. Interested? Email: mail.sharonchin.com
Of all the openings I’ve been to (including my own), the one for The Light Show at Annexe Gallery last Thursday stands out as truly memorable. The only other event I can recall matching in intensity was an opening at Chalk Horse, which is an artist-run space in Sydney, in 2007. My friend, or rather, my friend’s alter ego, Renny Kodgers, had built fully functional sauna in the space. Visitors were invited to sit in the sauna while Renny entertained them, wearing only a cowboy hat, boots and a 12-inch prosthetic penis.
But I digress. Thursday night was the first time I’d seen so many people at an exhibition opening, ever. The energy in the air was palpable. It seemed like KL’s design, art, architecture and performance communities had all converged in one place and it was awesome.
I arrived just in time for the performance ‘Seven Skins’ and managed to edge my way into the crowd. The dance was choreographed by Aida Reza, who performed it along with Anne James, Foo Chi Wei, Hailizan Mahmoon, Shafirul Azmi Suhaimi, Suhaili Micheline Ahmad Kamil and Sukarji Sriman.
There is something primal about darkness and light. It must be in our genetic histories, dating back to the first humans, when we huddled together around fire against the dangers of night. Today, modern cities suffer light pollution caused by over- illumination. We are no longer familiar with darkness, which is perhaps why being plunged into it feels simultaneously comforting and dangerous.
I got the sense that the performance that night did not anticipate such a large gathering. Parts of it were ferocious and intense, but it seemed that the dancers didn’t tap into the energy of the crowd. Exceptions were an utterly riveting Anne James and a moment when one of the performers scaled a rope to one of the platforms above. Darkness and light were palpable materials to work with that night, materials made all the more significant because they were felt and experienced by every person present. Seven Skins appeared to interact more with the objects of the exhibition (putting them on, handling them, lighting candles, etc) than with what those objects were emitting: that universally known, yet continually mysterious phenomenon we call light.
The same could be said for the exhibition itself. Except for Bernard Chauly’s ‘Museum of Light’ section (look out for an upcoming interview soon!), this is a show featuring light fixtures, not an exhibition about light. It’s fun, ingenious and creative stuff all the same. I haven’t been back to see this show in the day time, and I’m interested in how the dynamics might be different then. In the meantime, enjoy the photo gallery, and it’s not too late to sign up for some light-making workshops this Saturday (25 Apr 09) and next (2 May 09). For bookings (compulsory!), call Carolyn 012-3902446 or email tlsers09@gmail.com or check out Facebook group TLS09 for more info.
Please click here for full details.
The Light Show is on at Annexe Gallery from 16 Apr – 3 May. Be sure to catch it! If I’m not mistaken, they will screen footage from the opening night performance as well.
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Overall, it was a very safe show. If the title of the dance piece is in any way suggestive, the show is very much about ‘skins’, which is pretty much about surface decoration.
What about light? None of the works really explored what light is or play with its qualities. What about the intensity? Its muteness? what about how it fuels our civilization? How does it relate to the mind? As a metaphor for spirituality or rationality?
The show was more about recycling plastic and stuff than light. Predictable and boring for the most part. Little analysis of what light is or our experience of it. More was less in this case. And the dance was for me the crowning blow. It lacked what the art lacked… concept and analysis. Aida recycling Aida with friends. After a few minutes of inadequately workshopped, cliched, ersatz atavism I had to to make my move… toward the door. So I never saw the good moves I guess.
一句话：无聊！
The fact that the majority of architects and designers were united in promoting the ecological awareness to a ‘buy & throwaway’ consumer society should be commended. It is a sign of a more enlightened creative class growing in Malaysia.
love your pith Chang Hwang! :P
was wondering how we could translate 无聊 to our English speaking audience?
Nonsense?
Waste of time?
Nothing better to do?
Or all the above? :D
On the other hand, the show definitely should be commended for the environmental cause it supports!
无聊 wu liao – bored or boring
Oh i just realised what 无聊 means.
Nothing to talk about…!
or to say it more expressively:
Nothing to shout about :)
‘无聊’这句话不会比 The Light Show 一样（或者更加）’无聊’吗？
虽然你觉得这展览没带来心思想，最少都可以付了一点时间来考虑或
解释’为什么呢’？
一句话：懒惰！
(Isn’t using the phrase ‘wu liao’ just as, or even more ‘boring/useless’ than The Light Show itself?
Even if you felt that the exhibition didn’t bring any new ideas, at least you could have spent some time exploring or explaining ‘why’?
One phrase: lazy!)
i guess if we had called the show SENG HUP REVISITED expectations may have been a little different!
For sure, high art we are not nor do we pretend to be – none of us are trained in the visual arts (except jazmi with his UiTM multimedia stint?)
but excuses aside, our show does hold appeal to the cleaners, Jln Pasar electronics sales ppl, impressionable students and homemakers who partime as events organisers – ppl who never/hardly ever go to art shows – so we’re happy with our efforts at making accessible art (if you will allow me to use that a-word?)
Any road up its has been a good learning experience,and to read everyone’s comments/hear diff POVs.
Carolyn – huh?? Accessible?!! ART?? What are you on, woman? May you never mention the a-word here again! ;)
But seriously – ya, I can tell that the light show had a wide reach of audience – one of the largest I have seen so far. Major kudos for that. ARTERI has to take a leaf out of that book, for sure… any tips?
I would personally have liked to see a deeper connection between the form of the lights with ideas and concept, but all the same, I found TLS hugely enjoyable.
Random feedback from participants in your workshop was very positive as well – I think people enjoyed just making things with their hands. We tend to forget that that constitutes a huge part of what art is all about.
Peace and thanks for dropping by.
必须澄清：“虽然你觉得这展览没带来心思想……”这句话不是出自我的口，应该“解释”的人，怎么轮到我呢？嘻嘻！
即便如此，能够“解释”（艺术作品／艺术展览的好与坏）才是具有“正当性”的批评方法吗？
当代艺术家做什么干什么都非得“解释”不可吗？
昨晚忘了说明，有必要提醒Sharon一点：我只不过顺着ray的留言添加了“一句话”而已，千万别把注意力集中在“无聊”之上哦！谢谢指教＝）
I ground the Chinese text through babelfish.com and it came out like this:
“Must clarify: “although you thought that this display has not brought the heart thought ……” these words is not the self-mouth, should “explain” the human, how is one’s turn me? Hee hee! Even if so, can “explain that” (artistic work/art display good and bad) has “the validity” the criticism method? What does the contemporary artist make to do what to “explain” may not?”
And this:
“Last night has forgotten the explanation, it is necessary to remind a Sharon point: I just was suitable the ray message to increase “a few words”, do not focus the attention in “bored” above! Thanks advises =)”
[…] visual arts; he poignantly presented some of his ideas in Muzium Lampu, a component of the recent Light Show 2009 exhibition at the Annexe Gallery and Galeri […]