FIVE ARTS CENTRE – ANNUAL REPORT 2018 2018 was an exciting year for Malaysia, as we saw the peaceful transition to a new government, and the subsequent shift in our collective mind set, that change could be possible. We, at Five Arts Centre, were excited about this shift, and we too saw ourselves shifting, opening up to new perspectives. The most obvious shift for us was seeing how we could deepen and find new meanings in our connection with our immediate regional neighbours. Following from our networking efforts and touring exposure preceding 2018, we found ourselves making a conscious effort to present our work in Jakarta with Baling (directed by Mark Teh) and in Bangkok with Gostan Forward (directed by Mark Teh, performed by Marion D’Cruz and Anne James). Besides presenting our art work, we also engaged in forums and panels alongside our performances in those cities. In addition, we also programmed and led a two-day forum in Bangkok, on building a network of Southeast Asian producers (led by June Tan). This forum was a way to talk about, connect to, share, and eventually strengthen the idea of arts management in other Southeast Asian cities. We also provided a space to allow fellow arts practitioners based in other countries – such as Japan (Kaori Nishio), Singapore (Lee Mun Wai) and Canada (Lee Su-Feh.) – to share their practice via discussions, presentations and workshops at KOTAK, our Black Box in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. Our shift and embrace of new perspectives also led us to consider moving into a more structured arts advocacy, by bringing together and initiating the formation of a grassroots coalition, ReformARTsi, to look into specific areas of arts reform, to be presented to the new government. Our approach is to build upon the in-depth experience of Ivy Josiah and Janet Pillai, (members of Five Arts Centre), and their work in advocating for gender equality and cultural/ arts education awareness, respectively. We hope to bring together our fragmented and niche community by researching on, enlarging and advocating on three focal points – arts education, arts funding and artistic expression (censorship). We hope that once we can understand and formulate clear recommendations, we can lobby to the government for these changes. Wish us luck! While buoyed by our enthusiasm for our new shift, we could not also neglect the underlying passion that unites the members of Five Arts Centre – the making of art work. We continue to support and attempt to steady the efforts of emerging practitioners, as they put on their first public production either as writer, director, producer or performer with Tiga (led by June Tan and Hoe Hui Ting in KL) and Initiate.Develop.Perform (led by Chee Sek Thim in Penang). These two programmes come under our Trampoline platform which finds its philosophy of providing a space to experiment, to make mistakes and for emerging artists to eventually jump off this artistic ‘trampoline’. Our recognition of the importance of archiving continues to play on our minds, even though it can be exhausting. We have set up two online archives – My Art Memory Project and Arts Education Archive Malaysia, and we are trying to figure out how best it can be scaled out, without placing the traditional burden of archive maintenance and growth, on the shoulders of our volunteers. We continue to document the ideas and development of performance making with a new book launched in 2018, Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre. This publication seeks to re-contextualise and critically reflect on an experimental theatre conference held in January 2015, on the work of Malaysian theatre director Krishen Jit (1939 – 2005). In short, 2018 was a year of shifts for us. Shifts by the old, shifts by the new, small personal shifts and big national shifts. With each shift, we have to learn a new dance, new steps – and it’s something we look forward to in 2019. We hope you will enjoy our report – writing it gave us the opportunity to look back with gratitude for the support we have had, and also to be encouraged by the continued passion, enthusiasm and inventiveness of our little (and changing) arts community. Page 1 of 23 Five Arts Centre 27 & 27A, Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 7, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tel / fax: 603-7725 4858 mobile no: 6018- 202 8827 email: [email protected] www.fiveartscentre.org LIST OF EVENTS/ PROJECTS BY FIVE ARTS CENTRE 2018 No Events Dates Performances (main Five Arts Centre productions) – 7 1. Version 2020 at Theater Commons Tokyo, Japan. 24 - 25 Feb 2. Version 2020 at KOTAK, Five Arts Centre, Kuala Lumpur. 15 - 18 Mar The Complete Futures of Malaysia (Chapter 4) performance lecture at National 3. 24 - 25 Mar Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul, Korea. 4. Baling at the Fast Forward Festival 5, Onassis Cultural Central, Athens, Greece. 9 - 10 May Baling at SIPFest – the Salihara International Performing-arts Festival, Gallery Salihara, 5. 1 - 2 Sept Jakarta, Indonesia. 31 Oct - 2 6. Baling at Nexus Arts Lion Arts Centre, OzAsia Festival, Adelaide, Australia. Nov 7. Gostan Forward at Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting, Bangkok, Thailand. 16 - 17 Nov Performances, Showings & Workshops @ KOTAK, Five Arts Centre (supported by Five Arts Centre) – 4 Ponteng - Student Singer Songwriters Unite! produced Joshua Jotham, Darynn Wee & 8. 31 Aug June Tan. 20 - 23 9. Tiga 3 – produced by Hoe Hui Ting & June Tan. Sept 28 - 30 10. There is Speficifisfety by Lee Mun Wai & Lee Ren Xin. Sept Fitzmaurice Voicework workshop for actors & activists by Lee Su-Feh, presented by 11. 15 - 16 Dec Queer Lapis. Talks by local & foreign artists @ KOTAK, Five Arts Centre – 2 12. Navigating Living: a sharing by Kaori Nishio & Lee Ren Xin. 11 - 12 Aug 13. Approaches to Site-Specific Performance in Japan, a talk by Leow Puay Tin. 4 Nov Talks by local & foreign artists organised by Five Arts Members outside KOTAK – 2 Fishbowl Conversation: DiBuang (Dalam) Negeri: Who And What Is Excluded From 14. 16 Sept Malaysia Baharu? At Leonardo’s Dining Room, organised by Marion D’Cruz. Conversations: Interrogating the Arts through Writing - T.K.Sabapathy & Krishen Jit at 15. 24 Nov the George Town Literary Festival 2018, organised by Marion D’Cruz. Arts Lobbying Town Hall Meeting Arts Lobbying Town Hall Meeting at Indicine, KLPac. Five Arts Centre as Secretariat for 16. 14 Oct informal coalition of performing arts practitioners 2018-2019 Krishen Jit Astro Fund 2018 (43 Applicants) 17. Krishen Jit Astro Fund Press Conference. 10 Dec Archival Projects & Events – 3 18. My Art Memory Project website / archive. Jan- Dec Remember When... 1984 Here & Now oral history event with Kee Thuan Chye, Mano 19. 15 Apr Maniam and Fatimah Abu Bakar. 20. Arts Education Archive Malaysia website / archive. Jan - Dec Publication – 1 Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre book 21. 26 May launch at KOTAK, Five Arts Centre, Kuala Lumpur. Page 2 of 23 Five Arts Centre 27 & 27A, Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 7, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tel / fax: 603-7725 4858 mobile no: 6018- 202 8827 email: [email protected] www.fiveartscentre.org Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre book 22. 23 Jun launch (Re:Viewing Krishen Jit) at Centre 42, Singapore. KOTAK rented by other artists & activists – Performances, Workshops, Classes & Shooting (2 events publicised by us) – 6 23. UiTM film shoot. 2 Apr Fake News from Real Bodies, Real News from Fake Bodies - performance art event by 24. 29 Apr Sharon Chin and artists. 25. Fantasy Film Sdn Bhd film shoot. 2 Jun 26. 7 Voices 2.0 presented by Yayasan Chow Kit Kids under DramaLab. 18 - 19 Aug 27. We Are KIX film shoot. 2 Oct 28. Teater Normcore: Stereo Genmai by Mocha Moka Ink. 19 - 21 Oct Various – Workshop @ KOTAK, Five Arts Centre 29. Five Arts Centre Theatre Workshop for Yayasan Sime Darby. 6 Oct Version 2020 at Theater Commons Tokyo, Japan Page 3 of 23 Five Arts Centre 27 & 27A, Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 7, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tel / fax: 603-7725 4858 mobile no: 6018- 202 8827 email: [email protected] www.fiveartscentre.org MAIN PRODUCTIONS • Version 2020 24 - 25 February 2018 at Theater Commons Tokyo, Japan. 15 - 18 March 2018 at KOTAK, Five Arts Centre, TTDI. Staged just months before the historic 9 May 2019 elections, Version 2020 was a performance that asked, “what happened to Malaysia’s future?” In 1991, Wawasan 2020 was launched to transform Malaysia into a high-income, first world nation-state by 2020. In 2017, Transformasi Nasional 2050 was announced, with the aim of turning Malaysia into a Top 20 nation by 2050. Caught between these visions and dis/continuities, five performers suggested alternative versions of Malaysia’s futures. By leaping between times (from 1991 to 2018), Version 2020 excavated and combined the personal and the documentary with the fictional and the speculative – presenting differing Malaysias through the lenses of the past and future. Version 2020 was part of Mark Teh and collaborator’s The Complete Futures of Malaysia, conceived as a generative series of projects unfolded over time, and in multiple chapters and formats – via performances, videos, exhibitions, and more. Version 2020 premiered at SPIELART Festival Munich in October 2017, toured to Theatre Commons Tokyo in February 2018, and was staged in Kuala Lumpur in March 2018. Production Team Conceived and directed by Mark Teh Creative Producer June Tan Production Designer Wong Tay Sy Visual Projection Designer Fahmi Reza Lighting Designer Syamsul Azhar Stage Manager Woon Siew Yin Production Manager Hoe Hui Ting Performers Imri Nasution, Faiq Syazwan Kuhiri, Lee Ren Xin, Roger Liew & Fahmi Reza.