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'KALEIDOSCOPE Japan: Online Exhibition' is launching on March 28 with works from 13 selected artists. The works reflect the artists’ perceptions and hopes of Japan and its relationship with Malaysia. It will be shown at https://www.jfklevents.my/kaleidoscopejp/.
Happening for one month until April 24, the exhibition will feature varied conversations surrounding Malaysia-Japan. Created by artists of various disciplines, they will provide underlying observations of our social, cultural, political and economic climate.
Beginning with Week 1: Pandang Ke Mana?, Week 2: Identity, Week 3: Myth and Phenomenon to Week 4: Spatial Memory, a series of events is planned on virtual and physical sites to provide space for interactions.
Throughout the exhibition period, visitors can dive into each artist's narrative in small groups during the online Obento Lunch Tour (non-video work) and Oshaberi Supper Tour (video-based work), as well as watch a 12-hour durational hybrid performance by one of the selected artists.
A hybrid pre-launch/free jamming session will be held on March 27, 6pm at KongsiKL, open to the public.
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Kaleidoscope Japan began with an open call held in November 2021. Planned during the pandemic, it was meant to be showcased fully online, but with the situation easing, new elements to the exhibition have been added. All 13 selected artworks, created by artists based in Malaysia, were picked by a panel of juries who are experts in the art arena. Completed artworks were created in various forms including visual art, moving/static images, film, music, performing arts, literature and architecture.
For more details, visit https://www.jfklevents.my/kaleidoscopejp/.
The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur (jfkl.org.my, fb.com/theJapanFoundationKL, instagram.com/jf_kualalumpur)
The Japan Foundation is Japan's only institution dedicated to carrying out comprehensive international cultural exchange programmes throughout the world. To deepen mutual understanding between the people of Japan and the world, the Japan Foundation creates global opportunities to foster friendship, trust, and mutual understanding through culture, language, and dialogue. The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur (JFKL) was established in October 1989 as the Malaysian branch of the Japan Foundation.
Event list
Pre-launch & Free Jamming (Physical and Virtual event)
Date: March 27, Sunday
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Venue/Platform: KongsiKL (physical event) and Facebook Live via JFKL & Kaleidoscope Japan FB Page (virtual event)
Oshaberi Supper Tour with Azzad Diah, Roopesh Sitharan and Katsuyuki Hattori
Date: March 29, Tuesday
Time: 9pm – 9.45pm
Platform: Virtual via Zoom and Facebook Live at JFKL & Kaleidoscope Japan FB Page
Oshaberi Supper Tour with Dhan Illiani Yusof and Linus Chung
Date: April 1, Friday
Time: 9pm – 9.45pm
Platform: Virtual via Zoom and Facebook Live at JFKL & Kaleidoscope Japan FB Page
Obento Lunch Tour with Wong Xiang Yi
Date: April 6, Wednesday
Time: 1pm – 1.30pm
Platform: Virtual via Zoom
Oshaberi Supper Tour with Jun Ong and Shaman Tearoom
Date: April 8, Friday
Time: 10pm – 10.45pm
Platform: Virtual via Zoom and Facebook Live at JFKL & Kaleidoscope Japan FB Page
Obento Lunch Tour with Yvonne Tan
Date: April 12, Tuesday
Time: 1pm – 1.30pm
Platform: Virtual via Zoom
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EveryThoughtI’veEverHad: Contemplating the origin of the sun
12-hour durational performance by Tung Jit Yang, Bryan Chang and Arief Hamizan
Date: April 16 – 17, Saturday to Sunday
Time: 7.18pm – 7.07am
Venue/Platform: KongsiKL (physical event) and Twitch (virtual event)
Obento Lunch Tour with Harold Reagan Eswar @ Egn
Date: April 19, Tuesday
Time: 1pm – 1,30pm
Venue/Platform: Balai Seni Sabah (physical event) and Facebook Live at JFKL & Kaleidoscope Japan FB Page (virtual event)
Oshaberi Supper Tour with Blankmalaysia and Ridhwan Saidi
Date: April 22, Friday
Time: 11pm – 11.45pm
Platform: Virtual via Zoom and Facebook Live at JFKL & Kaleidoscope Japan FB Page
Artists' bio
Angqasa
Angqasa is an ongoing music project by Alvin Seah who explores ambient and post-rock soundscapes. Born in Melaka, in 1979 he draws influences from Asian and Western cultures. As a multi-instrumentalist, he has released an album Janat // Narak, collaborated with several artists and was also a frontstage member of SeniTiga Lab.
Arief Hamizan, Bryan Chang and Tung Jit Yang
Arief Hamizan is a theatre director, actor, and researcher who has performed and presented work across Malaysia and Singapore. Currently, he is Artistic Director of Panas Panas Theatre and an Associate Artist with Nusantara Theatrical Combat. Arief also works in arts policy as an Executive Committee member of ReformARTsi.
Bryan Chang is a designer – a generalist, his past works were primarily in graphic design, videography and scenography. He has worked with The Bangkung Row Restaurants, British Council, KLPAC, Theatresauce, TerryandTheCuz, The Cooler Lumpur Festival and PopTeeVee. He is also a member of sans, an interdisciplinary art and design collective.
Tung Jit Yang is a theatre performer and director. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of Arts, USA and is currently the Director-in-Residence at The Actors Studio Malaysia @ The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. He works primarily in creating new devised works in his home country of Malaysia. He is also currently working with text, adapting play scripts and children’s stories for performance. His work has also been seen in Japan, Indonesia, Russia, and the USA.
Azzad Diah
Azzad Diah (b. 1982, Klang, Selangor) studied Fine Art. Originally trained as a painter, Azzad adapted various materials and mediums that suit his artistic intention. His interests include film and philosophy – among other things – culminating into a practice that borders between consumer and producer.
Blankmalaysia
Blankmalaysia is a multidisciplinary artist that is interested in the temporal models of history through the genealogy of objects. He examines the temporal/ spatial aspects of the history of things in his artistic practice that ranges from sculptures to digital works.
Dhan Illiani Yusof
Dhan Illiani Yusof is a multidisciplinary artist and a member of the Projek Rabak collective. Her works are mostly experimental, playful and interactive, exploring unexpected combinations of different genres or forms of interest to reinvent and break boundaries through collaborative feats and interactive works.
Harold Reagan Eswar @ Egn
Harold Reagan Eswar @ Egn, a contemporary art-worker. Based in Sabah, lives with his wife and two kids and pets. Egn combines architectural/urban planning, computer-aided drawing with his experience as an artist who documents his travels and interviews to create a form of visual aid to present his encounters.
Jun Ong
Born in 1988, Jun Ong is a Kuala Lumpur-based light artist. Trained in architecture, he explores ways we could experience the built form using artificial light and cognitive manipulations. He has collaborated with programmers, quantum physicists and sound artists and has exhibited in the US, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia.
Linus Chung
Linus Chung wants a diverse career to keep life interesting. He acted in the much-beloved film Sepet. He works on commercials, feature documentaries and television. His short film series for Malaysia Airlines has gathered more than 3.5 million views. Linus also writes, does environmental activism and is a father.
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Ridhwan Saidi
Ridhwan Saidi is a Malaysian independent filmmaker, writer and theatre practitioner. His first full-length feature film, Tiada Cinta Selama Muda (2020) was an amalgamation of his present-day practices in filmmaking, literature and theatre. With a background in architecture, he finds the utility of structure and form has somewhat contributed to developing his artworks.
Roopesh Sitharan and Katsuyuki Hattori
Roopesh Sitharan is an artist, curator, researcher and educator who specialises in New Media art and cultural studies. He has participated in several local and international projects, exhibitions and residencies that engage with the question of research, art practice and the possibilities of artists in critically encountering/questioning real-world problems.
Katsuyuki Hattori is a prominent video artist who co-founded several seminal video art organisations in Tokyo. As an artist, he has exhibited widely in various international exhibitions and festivals. His recent work examines social engagement through the use of video medium, subsequently collaborating with people outside of the arts.
Shaman Tearoom
Shaman Tearoom is a multi-disciplinary art collective led by Aiwei Foo and Kent Lee. The project focuses on the integration of contemporary art, tea, sound art and sensory experiences. Intending to blur the boundary of art and life, subject matters that are relevant to everyday life have always been Shaman Tearoom's artistic inquiry.
Wong Xiang Yi
Wong Xiang Yi majors in ink painting, trained under traditional Ling-Nan Ink painting while receiving her bachelor degree in Hong Kong; and was affected strongly by new ink painting movement, Japanese style painting (Nihonga) and impact trend of thought while studying for her master's degree in Taiwan.
Yvonne Tan
Yvonne Tan experiments with myth and history on her passion project @sejarahmitoslaku. Other times she is a freelance writer and researcher interested in sociopolitical issues in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Curator's bio
Low Pey Sien
Low Pey Sien is a visual person, who expresses herself through photography, film and design. Trained as an architect, her works explore the relationship between space, place and people. Pey Sien recently curated Di Situ: An Exhibition in 2021 under Curatorial Workshop 2020 organised by The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur. – The Vibes, March 21, 2022
