Five Arts Centre is 40 years old in 2024 :) We've been doing performance and politics, education and
experimentation, for four decades - since 9 January 1984.
There will be more to come, more to say,
more to reflect upon, more to do, and more projects in the months ahead - please watch this space. In the
meantime, here are some highlights from our 2023.
In Studio, On Stage, and On Tour
Over the course of 2023, our studio in GMBB KL was punctuated by three new works from dance artists of different generations. Lee Su-Feh's Touch Me Hold Me Let Me Go (February), Lee Ren Xin's ANGGOTA 2: Re-Member (September), and Marion D'Cruz's ItSelf TerJadi (December) performed to sold-out audiences, each provoking powerful reflections on algorithms, agency, and ageing. These projects confronted what is in our bodies - investigating how we are coded by colonialisms, choreographic education, and personal choices - against the larger contexts of culture, control, and cancer. Made by dancer-choreographers in their 30s, 50s, and 70s, these distinctive individual works created overlapping spaces to reflect on how our bodies change, evolve, age, injure, heal, and scar - to consider how a body re-members, or not.
Alongside her performance, Su-Feh also facilitated a workshop introducing participants to Fitzmaurice Voicework® and her TMHMLMG algorithm. This year she is back in KL again, and will run the Touch Me Hold Me Let Me Go workshop in February and March 2024.
In July 2023, we premiered Malam Takdir, a new opera by Johan Othman, at KOMTAR Penang. Inspired by an episode in the Mahabharata, the performance was directed by Chee Sek Thim and gave contemporary expression to an epic story and classical text that is common to Southeast Asia. The critically-acclaimed production toured to the Petaling Jaya Performing Arts Centre in August, and was highlighted as one of The Star's 10 best arts and cultural events in the Klang Valley in 2023.
In 2023, the documentary performance A Notional History was presented in five cities - including another sold-out run in KL (at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre in March), followed by performances at the Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (March), Seoul Performing Arts Festival (October), SPIELART Theater Festival Munich (October), and OzAsia Festival Adelaide (November). Across these different contexts, the team conducted masterclasses, panel presentations, and post-show talks to deepen conversations with audiences and share their process of working with difficult, inconvenient histories. In Adelaide the team also mounted Punk Protest Propaganda, an exhibition of Fahmi Reza's political graphics at Nexus Arts.
Directed by Mark Teh, produced by June Tan, and featuring Faiq Syazwan Kuhiri, Syamsul Azhar and regular collaborators, A Notional History has now been presented at 11 festivals and cities across the world - making it one of Malaysia's most significant cultural works in recent years.
Additionally, Five Arts members Anne James, Faiq Syazwan Kuhiri and Lee Ren Xin presented performance projects at the Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival in August 2023. A month later, in conjunction with Malaysia Day celebrations at GMBB's Grey Box, Faiq, Mark Teh, and regular collaborator Rahmah Pauzi shared recent artistic works under the banner of 'Documenting the Political through the Personal'.
Off Stage: Resource Building, Advocacy & Contributing to the Larger Ecosystem
In September 2023, ArtsEquator in partnership with Five Arts Centre, launched the Southeast Asian Arts Censorship Database project with two events in KL, at Freedom Film Network’s inaugural Film and Society Conference, and ILHAM Gallery. This valuable resource documents incidents occurring from 2010 to 2022 in six countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), and seeks to address the lack of reliable data on arts censorship in the region, which impedes local, regional and international advocacy work to enact changes in legislation protecting the status of artists in Southeast Asia. Read the six country reports, as well as arts- and cultural freedoms-related articles, videos, podcasts, quizzes and other content produced by the research fellows at ArtsEquator.
This initiative follows Five Arts' direction in recent years to address gaps in the larger cultural ecosystem. In December 2023, alongside the Arts and Culture Management Programme at Singapore Management University (SMU-ACM) and Centre 42, we co-organised a roundtable discussion, 'Contact Zones: Why Bother With Arts Archives?'. The session featured critical reflections on the pleasures, challenges and value of archival work in the performing arts by Kathy Rowland (MY Art Memory Project), Ma Yanling (Centre 42), and Janet Pillai (Arts Education Archive Malaysia), with Hoe Su Fern serving as respondent and Fasyali Fadzly moderating. At the event, it was announced that a fresh new design for MY Art Memory Project will go live in the first quarter of 2024.
Additionally, Five Arts continues to serve as the secretariat for the ReformARTsi coalition advocating for reform and policy changes in the arts. The collective is also a coalition member of Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia and Pertahankan Hutan Simpan Kuala Langat Utara.
We remain committed to the mission of encouraging and supporting experimental creative work in Malaysia. The Krishen Jit Fund, supported by Astro Kasih and Creador Foundation, is now in its 19th year. The recipients for 2023 were Andrew Igai Jamu, Duncan Soo, Goh Hooi Ling, Lau Beh Chin, and Naomi Kakuvi Musau - find out more about their exciting projects here.
Crowdfunding, Awards, Farewells & Thank Yous
Last year, in anticipation of turning 40 in 2024, we launched our first-ever crowdfunding campaign - from September to November 2023. We were deeply moved to receive RM99,650 from 113 supporters, donors and friends. These donations will help us upgrade our studio space (lighting, sound, and technical systems), and cover some operational costs at our office and studio. Please look out for updates about this crowdfunding campaign in a separate appreciation post soon.
In 2023, several Five Arts members were recognised for their projects and work. At the 18th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, Lee Ren Xin & Tan Bee Hung received 'Best Group Performance' and 'Best Choreographer in a Feature Length Work' in the Dance category for ANGGOTA, while A Notional History received 'Best Original Script' in the Theatre category, as well as 'Best of 2022'. At the end of the year, Marion D'Cruz received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hai-O Arts and Culture Grants. This recognition was first bestowed on Marion in late 2019, but the planned ceremony had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On a more melancholic note, Chee Sek Thim and Chew Kin Wah bade farewell to Five Arts Centre in 2023, after serving as members for decades and participating in some of the collective's most iconic and important projects. Their presence and insights will be very much missed. We wish them the very best, and look forward to collaborating with them again in the future.
We would like to thank all the arts and cultural workers who participated in and worked on our performances and projects, as well as everyone who witnessed our shows and events in 2023. It was our immense pleasure and privilege to share our work with you!
Lastly, Five Arts is very grateful for Yayasan Sime Darby and Creador Foundation's generosity in providing crucial support for our operational
sustainability. Ribuan terima kasih!
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Happy New Year from all of us at Five Arts
Centre: Anne James, Faiq Syazwan Kuhiri, Ivy N. Josiah, Janet Pillai, June Tan, Kubhaer T. Jethwani, Lee Ren
Xin, Mac Chan, Marion D’Cruz, Mark Teh, Ravi Navaratnam, Suhaila Merican, and Syamsul Azhar.
Huge thanks again to our partners in 2023: ArtsEquator, Astro Kasih, Bangkok International
Performing Arts Meeting, BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, Centre 42, CloudJoi, Creador Foundation, Freedom Film
Network, GMBB, The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur, Kakiseni, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Ministry of
Culture of Taiwan, MyCreative Ventures, Nexus Arts, OzAsia Festival, Reka Art Space, Rimbun Dahan, Seoul
Performing Arts Festival, Singapore Management University (Arts and Culture Management Programme), Sokong,
SPIELART Theater Festival, Stephanie Lu Sipei & collaborators, Totsu-totsu Dance (Japan), Universiti
Tunku Abdul Rahman (Faculty of Creative Industries), Yayasan Sime Darby, YPAM - Yokohama International
Performing Arts Meeting, and 造心厂剧坊 (ZXC Theatre Troupe).