The art life that usually comes to a grinding halt during the fasting month of Ramadhan is once again gaining momentum in the coming week.

The busy week ahead starts of with Arts for Grab Raya Special (Annexe Gallery) on Saturday and Sunday. Alongside affordable art for sale under RM100, collateral events that hope to entertain, cajol and provoke us into thinking include Farish Noor’s deconstruction of Malay warrior Hang Tuah, full screening of 15Malaysia short films, Filmmakers Anonymous 11, Reformasi generation panel (with Nurul Izzah, Hannah Yeoh and Nik Nazmi) and a screening of Gadoh. For the full list of programme, click here.

If you’re around the Annexe gallery on Sunday evening at 5PM, don’t forget to saunter over to Dataran Merdeka where Main Dengan Rakyat takes place. For the month of October, we play ‘Main Kejar2 Dengan Rakyat’, local equivalent of cop and robbers, right under the watchful eye of the Bukit Aman Police Headquarters.

Syed Ahmad Jamal, Gunung Ledang/Tanjung Kupang, 1978

Tuesday is the much anticipated opening of National Art Laureate and former Director of the National Art Gallery Syed Ahmad Jamal’s retrospective in conjunction with his eightieth birthday at the Balai Seni Lukis Negara (National Art Gallery). Syed Ahmad Jamal: Pelukis catalogues the oeuvre of our modern art pioneer, charting the progress of his life long devotion to abstraction by presenting both old and new works.

On what would appear to be a busy Wednesday night, Galeri Chandan hosts a charity fundraising exhibition I Miss Him So Much: Our Hearts for Yours with proceeds going to Asrama Donni student hostel in Sabah. Meanwhile, RogueArt at 19, Jalan Berangan remembers Emil Goh in an evening tribute with family and friends. Details will be announced soon in a separate post. Over at the Annexe, Blue Wednesday’s inaugural night, a new series of monthly music performances, showcases Vandel the Urban Camper and Ray Cheong.

Moving on to Thursday, ARTERI is delighted to present THE BEST ART SHOW IN THE UNIVERS, featuring chi too, Dill Malik and Munkao at 67, Jalan Tempinis Satu. Invite and details to follow shortly in a separate post! Make sure you mark this in your calendar.

Closing next weekend are treats for socially-conscious film buffs. 2009’s Freedom Film Festival takes place at the Annexe over the weekend from Friday – Sunday. Meanwhile, Eco Film Festival happens every Sunday at Palate Pallete for the month of October.

Last but not least, Rumah Anak Teater launches Projek KoKEN – a compilation of play scripts by Zaharil Adzim, Khairunazwan Rodzy, Khairil Ridzuan, Fared Ayam, and Moizzis R.Cong – at Rumah Frinjan on a Sunday evening. And we can’t think of a better place to wind down after the long week than here.

(SS)