It has been a busy past few months at Kedai KL, an artisanal marketplace located at Mahsa Avenue in Kuala Lumpur.
The recent International Women's Day celebration saw Kedai KL rolling out an NFT exhibition, featuring a line-up of female artists, while the recent Woman Up! arts and craft bazaar saw the venue's support for small businesses.
At Kedai KL, the mission is to bring local entrepreneurs, artists, designers and makers together in a "street market concept" laneway, focusing on homegrown products and businesses. It was launched in late 2019, and like so many other arts and lifestyle establishments, it took a hit during the pandemic.
“As an artisanal marketplace, we would like to introduce the idea that the arts doesn’t just revolve around works on canvas, but it can be so much more. We offer different forms of art, through the tattoo parlour, handmade accessories, fashion, beauty saloon, barbershop and even F&B outlets," says Adam Rasyid, Kedai KL venue executive.
“In addition to the 40 brands here, we organise monthly bazaars where more than 20 brands from different arts and lifestyle categories participate each time,” he adds.
Workshops, art and photography exhibitions, as well as live performances are also part of the programming as Kedai KL steadily rebuilds and returns to the spotlight after two long years of pandemic disruptions.
For art lovers, the Digital Art Gallery (DAG) by Filamen is a must-visit new media destination. It is a venue for digital artists to showcase their work, curated by Filamen (a digital arts, multimedia outfit) and other selected curators.
In the last two months, DAG has presented two eye-catching exhibitions incorporating immersive projection and NFT art. The Accelerated Futurescapes: The Arteon Collection last month saw two artists predicting the future of art, space, and technology. The show, organised by Filamen and Volkswagen Malaysia, featured the works of Syed Muhammad and Jason Choo.
Earlier this month, eight women digital artists were in the spotlight - on-site and virtually - at the Break The Bias group exhibition, presented by DAG. The ticketed exhibition, launched to coincide with International Women’s Day (on March 8), featured a series of new digital artworks, visual projections and NFT art highlighting a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.
“We’ve been in the digital art scene since 2016, showcasing through art events that utilise multimedia content, including festivals such as Urbanscapes and George Town Festival," says Abdul Shakir Abu Samah, Filamen co-founder.
“Through those years we’ve realised that in order to help the upcoming local artists to sustain themselves a new way of business was needed. At DAG, we want to showcase contemporary artists working in the digital art field, including NFT artists. In the past, big galleries had a hard time pulling in the crowd for niche artworks but today with NFT platforms like Pentas, digital artists have a chance to build their support network online and will find the people that are willing to invest in them. As a small gallery space, DAG offers an on-site experience for public to experience digital art,” he adds.
DAG has proved to be a popular spot at Kedai KL, attracting digital art lovers and curious Instagram-savvy masses. With a whole year ahead, Shakir hopes to keep DAG's recovery momentum going as it presents more digital art projects and exhibitions.
"From March 16 we have an audiovisual exhibition from the Supercodex called Splitting The Moon. It's going to have digital projection and lights capturing a trippy vision of space and technology. Combined with the audio support from Martian Backline it's going to be an immersive experience for visitors," says Shakir.
Among the other names that have set up shop at Kedai KL are Buku by PJ Preloved, a self-service bookstore with the mission to repurpose used books and to spread the love of books at affordable prices; The Sambar Incident, an independent design brand inspired by the culture and heritage of Malaysian Indians; and multi-label store Ark Workshop and Lifestyle, with its creative products such as fashion items and accessories, including an in-house range of candles and perfume.
Buku by PJ Preloved House, which opened last month, is a fully self-service establishment. The bookshop, which is a cashless outfit, offers a relaxed environment for book readers to browse, and stocks are regularly topped up.
"In the span of a month since opening we've sold over a thousand books and visited by hundreds of people. This is a testament of our faith in humanity. The concept of a self-service pre-loved bookstore is an experiment for us. An experiment of trust and innovation. And we're glad that it has paid off so far. The road ahead is a long one but we'll do our best to continuously improve, experiment and innovate," reads a statement from Buku by PJ Preloved House.
If you are a fan of local cafe culture and new talent from barista schools, Kedai KL also offers several places to unwind and have a cuppa before getting back to your busy day.
For that all-important Instagram shot, the venue also has many photo-worthy corners to explore.
“There is always something new to discover at Kedai,” promises Adam.
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