Bombay Sapphire Art Projects 2008

2008-12-02T04:59:00.000-08:00

It's been intense for us at VWFA in the past four months, running three exhibitions back to back in our Project Room! We hope that you have enjoyed this year's Bombay Sapphire Art Projects and will continue to support our local experimental art practices.

As we bid goodbye to 2008, we would like to round off our programme with the launch of the KL Art Map 2009. Come join us for food and drinks, in conjunction with our closing party, with Bombay Sapphire at Palate Palette Restaurant and Bar this Saturday 6 December 2008 at 8pm.

Free copies of the KL Art Map 2009 will be made available at selected galleries, cultural spaces and bars. Recognising the healthy growth of commercial and alternative art spaces around KL, the map is a user-friendly guide to what's around town. We would like to note that there are many new spaces and initiatives, such as 1948 Projects, Findars Art Space, 12 Art Space, SicKL, that are initiating extremely interesting projects. Moreover, veteran arts collectives such as Matahati, Rumah Air Panas and Lost Generation Space are also actively planning for an exciting year ahead. 2009 seems to be a very promising year!

Last but not least, we would like to thank everyone for coming to the BSAP08. Your support and interest in contemporary visual art in Malaysia have been encouraging. See you again next year!

2008-11-11T00:09:00.000-08:00

BSAP08 - Lim Kok Yoong: When You're Not Your Body

VWFA Project Room

14 Nov - 5 Dec 2008

'When You're Not Your Body' is video installation that simulates a process of decentering, where an awareness of the viewer's selfhood is disrupted. Since the beginning of video art practices, one of the key quality that interested artists is its ‘live’ transmission. Video artists since the 60s, like Bruce Nauman and Vito Acconci, have explored this particular quality, creating works that challenges our sense of identity and self in a specific time and place through the effects of video transmission. This transmission provides the viewer with a concrete representation of him/her being in another space (the screening space for instance), while also telling us that we are in ‘here’ (in the gallery space), and this element of displacement can create feelings such as anxiety, alienation or amusement, challenging the way we understand optical perspective and cognition of both time and space.

By using digital video feed, the viewer is made to confront himself or herself as an 'other', an image or a subject that is separated yet recognisably part of oneself. Through this, the artist hopes to provoke the audience into thinking about the meaning of being in existence.

Safe House - Flora and Fauna III (Installation views)

2008-10-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

BSAP 08 | Chang Yoong Chia + Teoh Ming Wah - Safe House: Flora and Fauna Series III

2008-10-11T23:06:00.000-07:00

Chang Yoong Chia + Teoh Ming Wah - Safe House: Flora & Fauna Series III

17 October - 7 November 2008

Valentine Willie Fine Art Project Room

Valentine Willie Fine Art and Bombay Sapphire is delighted to present Chang Yoong Chia's new installation entitled, Flora & Fauna Series III - Safe House, as part of this year's Bombay Sapphire Art Projects. In this highly anticipated third installment of his acclaimed Flora & Fauna series, Yoong Chia develops upon a paradox that is progressively made apparent in this body of works, exploring the intersection between his art and the aesthetics of museum display.

The Flora & Fauna series, which began in 2003, are 'largely driven by emotions, subjectivity, and the recollection of stray memories' in the form of surreal non-linear narratives. Yoong Chia notes that, 'It is, in many ways, the complete opposite of what museums represent.' Nevertheless his increasing use of fragile materials, like seashells, eggshells, insect wings, spider's web, human hair and animal bones as a canvas or platform for his paintings require them to be encased in protective custom-made vitrines for display. He adds, 'They start to resemble artifacts found in natural history or ethnological museums.'

The installation not only creates a museum space but also replicates its disciplinary structure - scientific categorization, textual interpretation of material, etc. It represents a rational system of order that reads against Yoong Chia's painted objects which are fragile and emotive, creating an irresolvable tension that underscores the complex spatial negotiations between the rational and the irrational.

Southeast Asian Video Screening Opening Pics

2008-09-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

2008-09-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Southeast Asian Video Screening Online Catalogue

http://www.vwfa.net/BSAP08-videoscreening

List of participating Indonesian + Filipino artists

2008-09-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

Indonesia

Bagasworo Aryaningtyas, 'Bilal'

Wimo Ambala Bayang, 'Sabar'

Febie Babyrose, 'Trap'

Maulana Muhammad Pasha, 'Jalan Tak Ada Ujung'

Ruddy Hatumena, 'The Blue Flashing Lights'

Cinanti Astria, 'Silence Mysteries'

Muhammad Akbar, 'Evergreen'

Otty Widasari, 'Rumah'

Yusuf Ismail, 'Let Us Laugh'

The Philippines

Cesar Hernando, Eli Guieb III & Jimbo Albano, 'Kalawang'

Kiri Dalena & ST Exposure, 'Red Saga'

Roxlee, 'The Great Smoke'

Antoinette Jadonne, 'it feels so good to be alive'

Tad Ermitano, 'Cathode Jam'

Poklong Anading, 'Line Drawing'

Lyle Sacris, 'Self-Portrait (Work-in-Progress)'

List of participating Thai + Malaysian video artists

2008-09-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

Thailand

Nitipong Thinthupthai, 'Krasob'

Nawapol Tahmrongrattanarit, 'Bangkok Tanks'

Pathompol Tesprateep, '4 Feb 2006 Live @ Bangkok Code'

Arpapun Plungsirisoontorn, 'Repeating Drama'

Micahel Shaowanasai, 'Observation of the Monument'

Pramote Saengsorn, 'Observation of the Monk'

Thunska Pansittivorakul, 'Middle Earth'

Uruphong Raksasad, 'Roy Tai Phrae'

Jakwawal Niltumrong, 'Man with a Video Camera'

Anocha Suwichakornpong, 'Black Mirror'

Malaysia

Chris Chong 'Kolam' & 'Minus'

Azhar Rudin 'Eaten by Time'

Chi Too 'Reading Kafka in America'

Idora Alhabsih 'Overall Condition: Normal'

Nazim Esa 'For the Love of Drowning'

Au Sow Yee 'Passing II'

Kok Siew Wai 'Leap'

Chan Seau Huvi 'I want to be a Good Woman' & 'Butterfly'

Southeast Asian Video Screening

2008-09-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

Our first line-up for the Bombay Sapphire Art Projects this year is the Southeast Asian Video Screening to be held at Valentine Willie Fine Art Project Room from 20 September - 11 October 2008. The screening highlights some of the most exciting and challenging screen-based practices from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Working in collaboration with curators around the region, the exhibition brings together video works and experimental films from four neighbouring countries, providing Malaysian audience with a rare opportunity to study and compare the various trends and styles in video art that has emerged through the different contexts and cultures that have made Southeast Asia a diverse and complex region.

From Indonesia, art curator Agung Hujatnikajennong features in his broad yet in-depth survey, some of the most exciting artists from Bandung, Yogyakarta and Jakarta working with the video medium. Manila-based film critic and lecturer Alexis Tioseco will compile a selection of video works that not only looks into the formal innovation of emerging Filipino names but also engages with the socio-cultural history of the nation.

'The More Things Change...', curated by David Teh, will showcase Thai experimental shorts from this year's Bangkok Experimental Film Festival. Last but not least, Simon Soon and Erna Dyanty will curate a Malaysian survey that identifies various approaches and trajectories in local experimental film-making.

Screening schedule for the duration of the exhibition as below:

Monday
13:00 - Thailand
15:00 - Malaysia
17:00 - Indonesia
19:00 - the Philippines

Tuesday
13:00 - the Philippines
15:00 - Thailand
17:00 - Malaysia
19:00 - Indonesia

Wednesday
13:00 - Indonesia
15:00 - the Philippines
17:00 - Thailand
19:00 - Malaysia

Thursday
13:00 - Malaysia
15:00 - Indonesia
17:00 - the Philippines
19:00 - Thailand

Friday
13:00 - Thailand
15:00 - Malaysia
17:00 - Indonesia
19:00 - the Philippines

Saturday
12:00 - the Philippines
13:30 - Thailand
15:00 - Malaysia
16:30 - Indonesia

Artists Cocktail Competition Contestants and Winner!

2008-08-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

Chong Siew Ying - Old Spice Winner!

Alex Yong - Bombay Blues

Shahril Nizam - Monsoon

Chang Yoong Chia - Indian Setting Sun

Mun Kao - Bombay Touchable

Jerome Kugan - Bombay Rose

BSAP08 Media Launch + Artists Cocktail Competition (Pics)

2008-08-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

Bombay Sapphire Art Projects 2008

2008-08-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

Bombay Sapphire Art Projects 2008 (BSAP08) is a mini art festival with the aim to encourage and support artists in developing ideas and exploring new directions in their practice. This year's program offers an exciting range of exhibitions and projects that look at various forms of new media practices by emerging artists in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

As they continue to push the boundaries of art-making, this pool of young artistic talent have also sought alternative means and strategies for expressing and responding to their contemporary experience. The programme hopes to promote the exchange of ideas, cultures and practices among artists and their audience.

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BSAP08 Programme

Southeast Asian Video Screening in VWFA Project Room

20 September - 11 October 2008

Chang Yoong Chia: Safe House in VWFA Project Room

18 October - 8 November 2008

Lim Kok Yoong: When You're Not Your Body in VWFA Project Room

15 November - 6 December 2008

Closing Potluck Party and launch of KL ART MAP 2009 at Palate Palette

6 December 2008

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