Front Row

As the arts and culture fields in Malaysia move forward, there is an increasing need to see them as part of a larger ecosystem. One such aspect is sustainability, which is where the idea of building a creative economy comes in. But what exactly does this entail, and how can this be translated into the field in Malaysia? We speak to Tarek Virani, who is an expert on the field from the UK, on the su...

Homegrown performing arts company TerryandTheCuz is taking Malaysian theatre international. Last year, they premiered a show off-Broadway in New York City, and now they have a slew of international productions up ahead. We speak with the company’s founders to find out more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Pesta Filem Kita” by Projek Dialog is a short film festival that emphasises diversity. Following the election of a new government last year, the festival’s theme this time around focuses on what this “new” Malaysia means to the young people of the country. We speak with the festival curators to hear what we can expect from the films being screened. See omnystudio.com...

Two homegrown singers, each with her own approach to music, are coming together for the first time for a concert celebrating International Women’s Day. We speak with Zee Avi and NJWA about the latest updates on their music, and what it is like to share the stage with each other. --- Please note that this concert has been postponed to June 22, 2019. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

In conjunction with International Women's Day, Sheena Baharudin explores how poetry is used as a vehicle for activism, empowerment and social change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Komeil Zarin is an artist who came to Malaysia as a refugee from Iran. His art draws both from the world around him as well as a more introspective view of life. His upcoming exhibition, called “Here Beyond”, gives us a glimpse into how Komeil relates to the world. We speak with Komeil and his collaborator Allie Hill, about his artmaking process, and the experiences that shaped him as...

A double-bill play called “Are You Game, Sau(dara)?” is a collaboration between the Five Arts Centre in Malaysia and Centre 42 of Singapore. The show is a contemporary response to Malaysian playwright Leow Puay Tin’s play ‘Three Children ‘, written in 1988. We speak with the two directors of the production, Malaysian Faisyali Fadzly and Singaporean Soultari Amin Farid...

German dance magazine, ‘Tanz’, announced ‘Formosa’ as the “Production of the Year” in its 2017/18 issue. The projection design, by Chou Tung-Yen, won him a Knight of Illumination (KOI) Award, organized by, London-based, Fifth Estate to celebrate international videos and lighting designers for works shown in the UK. Our producer caught up with the projection desi...

An art exhibition called “Chia Yu Chian: Private Lives” explores the works of late Malaysian artist Chia Yu Chian - specifically his works from the late 1960s to his death in 1990 that focus on glimpses of people and moments around Kuala Lumpur city. We speak with the exhibition’s curators, Rahel Joseph and Simon Soon, about the significance of these works and how they fit within...

The gallery, Artemis Art, kicks off its 2019 exhibition with a three-artist show titled ‘Collision Violence’. The three--Amirul Alwi, Tomi Heri and Radhinal Indra--have perspectives and experiences which violently collide when their visual manifestations are put together in the same space. The artists share their creative processes and some of the techniques they adopt and say what the...

On a Sunday afternoon, a little over 24-hours after she landed in Kuala Lumpur, Ana Woolf talked to our producer about the melding of her life and her work. She shared her understanding of what it means to her to be an artist and what she offers to those whose lives meet hers. In town to perform, share and teach she peeled back the covers to give us a look into her work performance, workshop and p...

Inspired by the critical essay “The Laugh of the Medusa” by Hélène Cixous, To Which My Brother Laughed is a devised work in response to the caning of the two women in Terengganu on Sept 3 2018. Sheena Baharudin welcomes two members from the production for a chat about their motivation, and how poetry found its way into the play. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

This year The Actors Studio celebrates its 30th anniversary and is reprising the play with which it launched itself back in 1989--Norm & Ahmed (1968) written by Australian playwright Alex Buzo. Here is a 50-year-old two-hander about racism and the many different cloaks it wears. Our guests point to the relevance of the play to “Malaysia Baru” and pose the question, “How are w...

Many of us would be familiar with the popular Malay legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang. Penang-based artist Foo May Lyn is presenting her own interpretation of this story, with an exhibition called 10,000 Mosquito Hearts, which re-examines the legend from multiple perspectives. We speak with May Lyn and OurArtProjects’ project manager Ellen Lee about the works being shown. See omnystudio.com/lis...

Despite years of awareness campaigns, people living with HIV and AIDS continue to face stigmatisation. A play called Forget Me Not aims to raise awareness about this discrimination with a story inspired by a real-life person living with HIV. Produced by Anomalist Production, the show features the talents of debut playwright Aishah Mohamad and up-and-coming director Azmi Hud. We speak with them abo...

While on his break from the UK, Aaron Teoh, Malaysian singer and performer, tells about his adventure going there as a house-husband and freelance actor. His wife was going to school. Hear how he auditioned and performed in several productions and will be returning to the UK to perform in The King & I as Prince Chulalongkorn, the oldest son of King Mongkut of Siam. Aaron also shares on his upc...

Pudu Jail was one of those places that captured our imagination, both for its actual historical value and for the usual tales that circulate about a prison and its inmates. “The Pudu Jail’s Graffiti” exhibition takes us inside the prison to literally give us a look at its wall, with its documentation of the drawings and etchings that the inmates had done on its walls over the yea...

Last year, Lee Ching scored high with her directorial debut, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). She used her own ailments and the experiences they afford as the impetus to create that piece. She kicks off 2019 with In/Out which also deals with something personal to her. She says, “I have been diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Obs...

Malaysian artists Chuah Shu Ruei and Wong Xiang Yi are presenting a two-woman exhibition at Rimbun Dahan Gallery, called “You Belong to Night & Rojak Aesthetics”. Though very different in terms of their approach to artmaking, both are exploring ideas of what it means to make art not just Malaysian, but accessible. We speak to both artists about the works they are showing. See omnys...

The Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival has grown over the years to become an important aspect of the annual music calendar, especially when it comes to its emphasis on young musicians and students, with not only performances but music clinics and competitions too. This year is the sixth edition of the festival. We speak to pianist Tay Cher Siang, who is one of the festival organisers, and Sharon Chong,...

The actor, artistic director and winner of ADA Drama Awards, best actor in a leading role, shares on his creating and localising a French play ‘Maids’ by Jean Genet. He gives insights into his choices and changes--like the multilingual text, the reduction of the cast--and how such modifications shift the weight of the play. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Editions in the visual arts refers to the reproduction of copies or replicas of artworks made from an original work. The valuation of editioned art works is subject to the number of original works; from the artist’s owned proof , to limited versus open editions, and the potential future reproduction of prints. But how does this concept apply in today’s digital world, where reproduction...

The 2018 Malaysian elections didn’t just give us a new government - it also sparked the formation of a fellowship of local comedians. Calling themselves the 1Malaysia Comedians Bureau (1MCB - get it?), the group aims to tackle almost every subject under the sun with an unapologetically Malaysian approach. We speak to Keren Bala Devan and Brian Tan, two of the group’s members, ahead of...

With the turn of the new year, spoken word poetry would have been in this country for more than a decade. From poetry slam and open mics to poetry collectives and print publications, join the past and present hosts of Speak Easy – who are themselves the pioneers of the scene in Klang Valley – as they reflect on the local spoken word poetry movement over the past ten years. See omnystud...

During her fly-in fly-out visit to Kuala Lumpur, Dr Anita Ratnam managed to make time for an interview to tell about her cultural activism to help the arts thrive in her part of the woods. She points to the necessity of preserving culture and shares on the need for performing artists to be entrepreneurial and not wait for the government, politicians or even philanthropists to come to their aid. &n...