Close to floor degree at The Godown arts area in Kuala Lumpur, you’d discover a assortment of folding books zigzagging their method across the area. Many of those books stretch out to over 3m when open. Most of them have travelled the world. A number of of them are offered as digital works.
This is the Buka Buku exhibition, a collaboration between The Godown and Open Books, a collective of artists and curators from Wales and China comprising Mary Husted, Maggie James and Joe Zhu.
With the idea of the Chinese folding book at its core, the Open Books art exhibition, which started in 2010, travels from nation to nation, sharing these books with a global viewers.
In every new nation, new works by native artists are added to its assortment.
Lim Eu Jin’s works contain narratives inside various architectural drawings.
“I thought it very inspiring that although the focus of the artworks is the Chinese folding book, the artists from diverse cultures and backgrounds are each encouraged to utilise materials and methodologies that reflect their personal art practice to create the new artworks,” says The Godown founder Lim Wan Yee.
“The exploration of how we find common ground between these artists who come from long and differing traditions, and the potential for cultural exchange and mutual enrichment is an essential part of the Open Books project.
“This ties in very nicely with The Godown’s own vision of creating a more sustainable way of living through inclusivity, collaboration and greater cooperation in a world that has become increasingly polarised,” she provides.
The Malaysian artists posing among the many artworks with the founders of The Godown. From left: Adi Helmi and Jibrail Jalil (Pangrok Sulap), Lim Eu Jin, The Godown founder Wan Yee Lim, The Godown co-founder Emily Wee, Ang Xia Yi, Kent Lee and Ai Wei Foo (Shaman Tearoom) and MyCreative Ventures consultant Anis Nadia.
For the exhibition’s debut Malaysian present in KL, native artists (Lim Eu Jin, Shaman Tearoom, Pangrok Sulap and Ang Xia Yi) in addition to artists from China and India have been paired with artists from Wales, to create new works for this undertaking.
The pandemic scenario final 12 months additionally led to the Buka Buku inventive course of and concepts being developed on-line.
“Buka Buku celebrates many firsts, including displaying digital works created by Ang Xia Yi, Lim Eu Jin, Pangrok Sulap and Shaman Tearoom who all participated in an eight-week online residency, a first of its kind in Open Books’ history.
“They are the first Malaysian artists to be a part of Open Books’ wider network of international artists, curators and educators. The exhibition is also the first time the folding books have travelled to South-East Asia and shown in Malaysia,” says Lim.
At The Godown, Buka Buka has 66 works on show, comprising 58 bodily books and eight digital works. Of these, 44 works are on mortgage from Open Books and kind a part of their touring assortment.
Tessa Waite’s (Wales) ‘Untitled’ (watercolour on paper) at Buka Buku at The Godown.
The remainder of the works are new, together with all of the digital works. Some of the digital works are accompanied by bodily works.
When Open Books continues on its journey later this 12 months, it can deliver with all of it the brand new works created for this version at The Godown.
“Visitors will see on display the amazing results of how the folding book has been reinterpreted by these artists from diverse cultures and backgrounds. It is truly a celebration of cross-cultural exchange, collaboration and ‘openness’,” says Lim.
Finding widespread floor
Eu Jin and Maggie James’ Journey goals to characterize the temper, emotion, and characters of two chosen journeys in KL and Cardiff, each venues totally different in their context and local weather, however sharing parts just like the hills, rivers and vegetation.
“I’ve enjoyed the whole process of the project, especially how the investigation and the research process brought me back to the streets of KL despite working most parts of the project from home under the lockdown. I also enjoy how we moved between the digital and manual processes, back and forth throughout the project even though we were really just expecting this to be a heavily digital-dependent project from the beginning.
Despite his Mi’kmaq heritage being unrecognised for almost three generations, Canadian artist Jerry Alan Evans now explores in his work, the desire to learn more about his indigenous heritage.
“In my point of view, these processes that loop between the digital and manual usually create the best kind of work,” says Eu Jin, who is understood for his analysis of narratives inside various architectural drawings. He notes that adapting to the scenario and discovering a brand new type of Chinese folding books, in this case meant searching for one of the simplest ways to characterize the work on display screen and the way they are often finest skilled digitally throughout platforms.
“We have also added a sound element in the video which is considerably unconventional to the traditional form,” he says.
Eu Jin is considering persevering with along with his exploration of this slice of town in a bodily mannequin to accompany the drawings and video.
“These could be a potential medium for future studies. It will be nice to also present these to the past and current students (for instance, St John’s Institution, St John’s Primary School, Convent Bukit Nanas or other institutions in the area) who have had this Bukit Nanas journey embedded in their childhood memories and get their thoughts on it. Maybe they will have even more new ideas on this subject too,” he says.
Vicky Tomayko and Bert Yarborough’s (US) ‘Q3641235’ (color on paper) at Buka Buku at The Godown.
Shaman Tearoom and Chris Bird-Jones’s In A Blackout Night We Talked About The Matter Of Being contemplates on the theme of “being” in this brief movie or “book”, shot in KL and Swansea in Wales.
“The Chinese folding book is in pages and yet they are all within one (long) page. To us, it resembles a movie which is formed by different scenes but each scene is part of the story as you unfold it. We extracted this very essence of the folding book and applied it in our short film, presented as our digital book,” says Shaman Tearoom (Ai Wei Foo and Kent Lee).
In this brief movie, the “dialogue” are snippets of conversations, the artists’ solutions based mostly on their listing of questions in relation to the theme.
Some of these questions are metaphorical: What if ‘being’ was an individual? Or if ‘being’ may very well be a color?
“Though ‘being’ might be a philosophical idea, it is also cultural and perhaps societal. In this collaboration with Chris Bird-Jones, it was intriguing to draw this relationship between us who were born and raised in South-East Asia and Chris, in the UK,” the Malaysian artists say in assertion.
A element of Pangrok Sulap’s paintings ‘Between Two Continents’ (woodblock print on paper, 2021).
Despite being worlds aside, Sabah’s Pangrok Sulap (represented by Adi Helmi Jaini) and Valerie Coffin Price (from Wales) share an appreciation in direction of the pure world as seen in their works. Whether it’s by means of banyan timber discovered by likelihood or by means of birch woods frequented on walks, each artists have dove into tales that lurk round in these landscapes.
In We_Are_Ok_And_Not_Ok by Ang Xia Yi and Sue Williams (Wales), they current a dialogue, providing a glimpse into how they navigate the challenges of our world immediately as ladies and artists.
A recent perspective
Lim describes Buka Buku as not only a book exhibition, however a book art exhibition – and one with a set of works that’s distinctive, numerous and displays the background and origin of their creators from around the globe.
“Our team has put a lot of thought into how to showcase these artworks in a way which would appeal not just to the arts community but also to a more mass audience, in keeping with The Godown’s philosophy of enriching lives by making the arts accessible to all,” she says.
For starters, the Buka Buku identify, a literal translation of the unique identify of the exhibition, was chosen for its playful assonance and enchantment to an area viewers.
The complete size and breadth of The Godown’s principal corridor is used to stretch out every paintings, to permit every customer to come across and expertise the works to their full extent.
Visitors can uncover the world of Chinese folding books at ‘Buka Buku’.
“Other ideas to achieve a more intimate and friendly setting include our use of recycled and everyday materials for our meandering ‘furniture’, lowering the height of each display to invite closer scrutiny by visitors and a no-shoes policy.
“We had placed guest books which were themselves folding books for visitors to share their experience about Buka Buku and this brought out the artistic side of our visitors, who doodled and sketched in them. We had hoped that these somewhat unconventional measures would give greater freedom to our visitors to enjoy the exhibition and encourage them to take their time and even, to visit the exhibition a few times,” she provides.
Aidan Myers’s ‘A Landscape of Hope’ (charcoal on paper) at Buka Buku at The Godown.
Besides the exhibition, Buka Buku has workshops, performances and artist talks which might be open to the general public this month.
On Jan 8 and 9, Shaman Tearoom will current an interactive efficiency.
A sharing session with Eu Jin shall be held at a later date.
Since its opening final month, Lim shares that the response to Buka Buku has been nice and the every day reserving slots are filling up quick.
“Many have come to know about the exhibition through word of mouth and social media, which is a testament to the uniqueness of the artworks. We have been absolutely thrilled to observe visitors from all backgrounds getting up close to the artworks and taking their time to enjoy them, and leaving the exhibition with a sense of curiosity and openness,” concludes Lim.
The Buka Buku show in KL ends on Jan 16. It is supported by MyCreative Ventures.
