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The Role of Institutions in the Malaysian Art Infrastructure: A The Role of Institutions in the Malaysian Art Infrastructure: A Roundtable Session (Edited Transcript) of the visual arts in Malaysia while our institutions take a more peripheral Roundtable hosted and supported by Galeri PETRONAS, on 19 June 2013. Conversation in Malay translated by Teratak Nuromar. role. However, now more than ever, the institution must come into play to help shif the power away from the consumer to the producer. Tere is a need to balance public values and private interests, and recognise the fact that we need to support the artists working outside the conventions MODERATORS of the gallery system, support deeper critical engagement, and curatorial Suryani Senja Alias (Session 1; M1) frameworks, increased education and public programming. Kathy Rowland (Session 2; M2) Te artist should remain at the centre of art activities, and the role of the PARTICIPANTS institutions remains crucial if we are to continue to privilege the artist National Visual Arts Gallery and his work over the demands of the market. (Faizal Sidek, Prof Dr Ramlan Abdullah) Johor Art Gallery (Nor Alisa Abdul Rahman) Melaka Art Gallery & Galeri Seni Rakyat (Syahidah Abu Sah) Sabah Art Museum (Jennifer Linggi) Muzium dan Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, USM (Zolkurnain Hassan) University of Malaya Art Gallery (Abdul Aziz Abdul Rashid) Galeri PETRONAS (Badrolhisham Tahir, Erna Dyanty) CIMB (Iqbal Abdul Rahim) Alliance Française (Marine Moncaut) Badan Warisan Malaysia (Elizabeth Cardosa) Goethe-Institut (Rolf Stehle) The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur (Kyoko Kugai) 1Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism (1MCAT) (Ramzi Abu Yazid) Five Arts Centre (Marion D’Cruz) Rimbun Dahan (Angela Hijjas) Soka Gakkai Malaysia (Katherine Chui, Chan Yin Kwan, Joanne Foo) Tamparuli Living Arts Centre (Yee I-Lann) GUESTS NMA PROJECT: Hasnul J. Saidon Nur Hanim Khairuddin Rahel Joseph Beverly Yong Valentine Willie Wairah Marzuki Zainol Shariff (Zabas) 74 75 Session 1: than I do. Also, we are supported by many institutions here. We will Building, Programming, Collecting, Funding, continue. Connecting: What are some of the practical issues faced by institutions involved in Malaysian art? targets, benchmarks and best practices Rimbun Dahan: main house view; exhibition opening M1 Let’s begin with the first sub-topic: What are the targets, benchmarks and best practices for our art and art-related institutions? When M1 Perhaps we can ask one of the more structured institutions. Rimbun you have reviews of your institutions, or when you are setting up Dahan is an example of a family-backed institution. Can we hear a bit your institutions, what do you look to as best practices? Which about Galeri PETRONAS’ aspirations? What are the standards they institutions do you emulate? Are you following an internal direction? aspire to and what targets do they look at in order to go forward? What are your targets? What are your best practices? Badrolisham I joined Galeri PETRONAS in 2009, so by that time the Gallery had Angela Hijjas I’m not very good at best practices and benchmarking. I think the Tahir already established itself as one of the more prominent galleries Malaysian art scene has changed so much since we started in 1994, promoting Malaysian art. In terms of best practices, we aim to be 20 years ago. We now have to look at generational changes and the the leader in promoting Malaysian art. When I say “the leader”, it is changes in the Malaysian art world. 20 years ago, there was not a lot important to remember that we don’t want to upstage the National of institutional support. So it was wide open. Whatever you wanted Visual Arts Gallery (NVAG/Balai) – we want to complement what to do, you did, and it would have an impact on somebody. So it was NVAG is doing. fairly easy to make a difference. I think now that has changed because things like residencies are being run by many institutions. They offer So by taking that cue, we are concentrating more on young artists space for artists to work. So, from our point of view at Rimbun Dahan, who have recently graduated. In 2010, we started an exhibition series we’re having to look at how to sustain a privately funded organisation called ‘Young Malaysian Artists’ as we wanted to promote works by that depends on one individual at the moment to fund everything. young artists who were not known by commercial galleries. While We’ve got a few ideas and we will continue residencies, but it has promoting ourselves as a world-class gallery, we have tried our best to be more cost effective and it has to benefit more people. not to exclude young artists. So we try to bring them into Galeri PETRONAS as a way of giving back. So with all the resources that Hence, for the residencies, there has been a little change of focus we have, and the facilities that we provide, we try to equally support from Australia to Southeast Asia, as you get a lot more bang for your both young and senior artists. buck with regards to artists from Southeast Asia. The residencies also make more of an impact for these artists as well. While Australian In terms of benchmarking, we try to aim as close as possible to artists are very talented and very grateful for the opportunity, they institutions such as MoMA or the Guggenheim so we have some are exposed to a lot of other opportunities in Australia. So we’re sense as to what we need to aim for. Although we have to admit looking more to the region, to ASEAN, and we hope to expand the that art development in Malaysia is not as advanced as in Europe idea of that. But in terms of best practices, it’s pretty hard to define. and America, we try to actually put ourselves on the same level My daughter is ultimately going to take over. She has a stronger as international galleries. This, combined with the shared values background in organising and managing limited amounts of money within the PETRONAS philosophy, is how we aim for best practices 76 77 in the gallery so that the exhibitions we organise also reflect these They bought art for the office and also to try to support the young best practices. artists of that era through buying their artwork. So again, just to underscore what I have been saying: it’s the software that we are Marion Earlier this year, we had a reflection retreat on 29 years of Five Arts, lacking in this country. d’Cruz and working as a collective was one of the things that came out as a best practice. Collectives are tricky and it can be very difficult but for us it has worked because being a collective allows us to be very inclusive, it allows for all kinds of dissident, tricky suggestions and opinions to come in, and it allows for new voices, from the younger generation, older generation, etc. In many ways, it’s much easier to have an artistic director to just run the company, but working as a collective has meant that it’s not just reflective of the 14 members Bank Negara Malaysia Museum & Gallery: but often includes voices of those who we call Friends of Five Arts building view; exhibition launch with Tun Endon Mahmood Centre as well. And the second best practice, which I think is very important for a vibrant, independent NGO, is how to do big things M1 Where money is no issue, would you consider adopting the practices with small money. of galleries or national institutions in Singapore who, when they do not have the local talent, hire international curators to set up their Iqbal I can discuss experiences at both CIMB and Bank Negara since I’ve museum or curate or write for them? Because that happens quite Abdul Rahim been involved in setting up the museum at Bank Negara. In the case a lot. It happens also in Europe where they hire curators from New of Bank Negara, we were lucky because they have RM450 billion in York or from Asia depending on the exhibitions they want to show. reserves. So we were then able to buy the best, which is a Malaysian So has that ever been in discussions in terms of benchmarking? habit. It’s a beautiful building and you should actually go and have a look at it. The gallery space is superb. The building’s designed by Iqbal As a national institution, even considering buying a work of art that Serena Hijjas from Hijjas Kasturi Associates. But with all of that, wasn’t Malaysian was problematic. We [Bank Negara] had a lot of where we fell down flat was in the area of education and training. backlash from the arts community for not supporting Malaysian We didn’t have the manpower to run a proper art gallery. We didn’t art when we bought four artworks from Southeast Asia. This kind have the strength, we didn’t have the knowledge. We didn’t have of attitude is the problem here, and we would get a lot of resistance people who could write about art within the art gallery itself. We for getting someone from MoMA or the Guggenheim to come in to had the best of everything, but when it came to running the gallery, help. Again, the software is the problem. So if you want to get foreign we couldn’t. We had the hardware but no software. So that was brains to come in, that’s even more difficult than buying a foreign our main problem. CIMB, on the other hand, is a simpler case.
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