Malaysian artist line-up announced for Venice Biennale Collateral Events series

The Malaysian show 'Pera + Flora + Fauna' is part of 31 Collateral Events that are scheduled at the Venice Biennale, which will open to the public on April 23. Photo: Venice Biennale

Malaysia's People of Remarkable Talents (PORT) art community, which is based in Ipoh, will be presenting a group exhibition at the upcoming Venice Biennale (59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia) in Italy in April.

The Pera + Flora + Fauna show is part of 31 "Collateral Events" that are scheduled at the Venice Biennale, which opens to the public on April 23.

"The Collateral Events, which are admitted by the curator and promoted by non-profit national and international bodies and institutions, take place in several locations; they offer a wide range of contributions and participation that enrich the diversity of voices that characterises the exhibition of Venice," read a statement from Venice Biennale.

The Pera + Flora + Fauna exhibition will feature contemporary artists such as Saiful Razman, Azizan Paiman, Kamal Sabran and Kim Ng, while arts community/space Kapallorek and multi-disciplinary outfit Projek Rabak complete the Malaysian line-up. Italian contemporary artist Stefano Cagol is also a part of the Pera + Flora + Fauna group exhibition.

The show is brought into focus by lead curators Amir Zainorin and Khaled Ramadan, and associate curators Camilla Boemio and Annie Jael Kwan.

Inspired by the rich histories and context of the state of Perak, the exhibition engages with the discourse on how indigenousness and nature are affected by mainstream cultural attitudes of industrialised nations.

It puts forward the following questions: can aesthetic thinking support the conservation and restoration of nature, or indigenous rights and ways of life? Can indigenous populations across the globe challenge the mainstream documented (art) history written by the non-indigenous? Can indigenous populations achieve the liberty to collectively claim “their own history and narratives”?

In addressing these questions, Pera + Flora + Fauna draws on different perspectives of man, nature, and their interrelation.

“We invited seven artists, art collectives and contributors to Pera + Flora + Fauna with the intention to present a different narrative and an aesthetic experience that builds upon research, knowledge and participation,” outlined a statement from the lead curators (Amir and Khaled).

Denmark-based Malaysian artist and curator Amir is co-founder of interdisciplinary artist association Jambatan, while Lebanese-born Khaled is a curator, art historian, filmmaker and cultural writer who works in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

“This project is meant to reimagine nature and Indigenousness in relation to ethics and aesthetics, questioning who owns nature and who owns Indigenous history,” the statement continued.

The curatorial team is advised by Alfredo Cramerotti, president of the International Association Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT) and director of MOSTYN, Wales.

In conjunction with the exhibition, there will be a forum where invited panelists Henry Meyric Hughes, Dorian Batycka, Ong Jo-Lene and Alfredo Cramerotti, along with the curators and artists, will share their observations and interpretations around the concept of Ownership of Nature and History.

There will also be three on-site performances by the artists, one exploring sound and body movement to heal the internal psychic and spiritual body based on Malay traditional healing rituals, and the other focusing on the ongoing contest between capitalist-driven narratives of extractivism towards land and indigenous peoples, and the creative resilience of indigenous communities in sharing their histories and holistic principles of co-existence with nature.

The Pera + Flora + Fauna exhibition is commissioned project by PORT.

“It is our hope that Pera + Flora + Fauna will become a gentle reminder for both artists and the audience to ponder and contemplate the importance of sustaining a sense of respect among living beings,” says Nur Hanim Mohamed Khairuddin, PORT general manager/curator.

The exhibition will be held at the Archivi della Misericordia in Venice - a collateral exhibition site - from April 23 to Nov 27.

In 2019, Malaysia presented its first national pavilion at Venice Biennale. The exhibition titled Holding Up A Mirror featured contemporary artists such as Anurendra Jegadeva, H.H. Lim, Ivan Lam and Zulkifli Yusoff in the line-up. The show's curator and project director was Lim Wei-Ling.