FIRST commissioned in 2011 by the British Council, SuperEverything* is a live cinema performance project between UK based media artists The Light Surgeons and a host of Malaysian artists and cultural figures.
The project, while shot in Malaysia, takes its audience on a journey through a series of universal narratives that deal with concepts of tradition and modernity, globalisation and development, race and national identity, consumer culture and belief structures.
The result of which is a highly experimental project that fuses music, field recordings, and visual imagery that calls back to work of avantgarde, non-narrative filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, David Lynch and Ron Fricke.
12 years later, a special screening of the project was organised last Saturday at Ilham Gallery, with the creators in attendance.
Weaving through the audio-visual experience of SuperEverything* were penetrating contemplations and commentaries by Malaysian cultural figures including cultural historian Eddin Khoo, novelist and poet Bernice Chauly, sustainability expert Khairun Nisa Zabidi and visual artists Yap Sau Bin and Lim Kok Yoong.
Building on themes explored in the project, Khoo shared his thoughts on the importance of history and storytelling in Malaysian society.
Khoo stated that history is a problem in most colonial societies because it necessitates a certain kind of sameness that is difficult to achieve in a highly mobilised society like Malaysia, that "nothing has a sense of purity here.”
“Everything is somehow diluted or mixed in some kind of way,” he added.
“Nevertheless, history in an official version is important, because so much of history was written for us. And so it is important to then try and grapple with what were said to be our historical foundations, and then the need to come out of that, and rewrite aspects that were perhaps perceived with a certain objective in mind. I don't like to use the word agendas. We are all prisoners of history, so circumstance and context are very important.”
However, he believes that there comes a time when too much emphasis is placed on a single, official narrative. In Asian societies, particularly in Southeast Asia, orality is a significant part of the culture and written history came much later. Khoo suggests that the approach to history in Malaysia is very different from the history of facts and empirical history emphasised in Western societies.
“Our approach to history is very, very different. Because for a very long time, we didn't stress or didn't emphasise the history of facts, and empirical history, we emphasise the history of worldviews, and value systems, and power plays very often.
"I think we've arrived at a point in history where we need to reflect again, and look at how these energies and resources can actually inform a sense of historical and memory base,” he explains.
Khoo concluded that storytelling is rooted in our lineage and genealogy, which extends to all families, and it represents a real human need. SuperEverything* thus is a celebration of Malaysia's diversity and the unique way that it approaches history and culture. It is a reflection on the past and a look towards the future.
Christopher Thomas Allen, founder and creative director of the Light Surgeons described that despite more than a decade since it was produced, it remains “one of the most powerful artistic works [he] has had the honour to be part of.”
He added, “SuperEverything* is a landmark live cinema project, a truly cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural collaboration with audio and visual messages that transcend one place and one culture; it is a holistic artwork that explores a range of interwoven issues and themes that connect people around the world.” – The Vibes, March 6, 2023
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