The makeshift public space known as the Living Room Under, along Old Klang Road Riverside in Kuala Lumpur, offers a glimpse of how the festival reimagines the riverfront. Photo: Klang River Festival
For generations, the Klang River has flowed quietly through the heart of the city, often overlooked amid urban bustle.
The Klang River Festival (KRF), an annual fixture since 2022 on the Kuala Lumpur arts calendar, draws attention back, celebrating its history, ecology, and potential as a shared community space.This year, the festival returns from Sept 26 to Oct 5 under the theme Act!vating! – a call to action celebrating movement, participation, and togetherness.
Presented by independent arts venue KongsiKL in collaboration with EXSIM, the festival turns a 1.8km stretch of the Klang River into a stage for culture, art, and community engagement.
The opening ceremony (11.30am) takes place on Sept 27 at Living Room Under, Old Klang Road Riverside, Kuala Lumpur, with city officials and local community members in attendance (at the makeshift public space beneath the NPE flyover).
Across two weekends, events at KongsiKL, Dasein Academy of Art, REXKL, Taylor’s Lakeside Campus, and other partner venues turn the Klang River corridor into a lively circuit of exhibitions, performances, workshops, and markets.
A pre-festival live performance and installation, After Hour: Breathe, took place last weekend at KongsiKL. The site-specific work by electronica musician/composer Euseng Seto fused ambient music and atmospheric visuals with a set designed by Liew Chee Heai.
While the performance has ended, visitors can still experience the installation at KongsiKL through Sept 25.
Visitors can expect a diverse line-up of activities, from soundscape installations and theatre shows to film screenings, guided tours, and craft workshops. These programmes invite audiences to reminisce, revisit, and rekindle their connection with the Klang River — blending memories of the past with imaginations of the future.
Here are five highlights:
Preparations for Nada Buaya, a bamboo structure over 5m tall. The public is welcome to visit this free installation anytime during the festival until Oct 5. Photo: Klang River Festival
Meet the river guardian
If you’re drawn to design that tells a story, Nada Buaya: River Guardian Pavilion is one installation you’ll want to step into. Running from Sept 26 to Oct 5 at Old Klang Road Riverside, the bamboo pavilion was created by MAKAA Design and Tetawowe as a tribute to the buaya, or crocodile, that Malay folklore regards as the river’s guardian.
Its undulating roof mirrors the ridges of a crocodile’s back, a striking form that blends myth with material.
The use of bamboo underscores the quiet strength of nature, while its woven panels filter light into rippling shadows that shift throughout the day. Much like the river itself, the structure is never static, always transforming as the hours pass.
More than an architectural piece, the pavilion is also a space to pause and reflect. It asks visitors to see the crocodile not just as a creature of fear or fascination, but as a symbol of resilience, balance, and guardianship over the fragile ecosystem of the river.
Az Samad’s 'Antara Air, Muzik Dan Kata – Poetry & Guitar' series on Sept 28 offers an intimate festival escape, where he trades formality for a more relaxed, casual presence. Photo: Az Samad
Music and words
For those who find solace in words and music, Az Samad’s Antara Air, Muzik Dan Kata – Poetry & Guitar offers an intimate escape. This "pocket" acoustic performance takes place on Sept 28 at 2pm and 5pm at Living Room Under, Old Klang Road Riverside, and brings together two of Az’s lifelong passions: music and poetry.
Audiences can expect spoken word interwoven with delicate guitar lines, creating a performance that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Az – an in-demand guitarist, music teacher, composer, and three-time TEDx speaker – brings nearly three decades of musical experience, returning to poetry as a form of therapy and self-discovery.
Often seen on big jazz stages and on-screen, Az takes a more laidback turn in this festival series – an unmissable chance to experience a performance that is reflective, soulful, and a touch spontaneous
Moving like a river
Families with young children, or anyone curious about playful design, will find joy in FlowScape – Playscape, which is open until Oct 5 at Living Room Under, Old Klang Road Riverside.
Developed by Colllab in collaboration with the Klang River Festival team, the project responds directly to the community’s need for spaces where play, rest, and gathering come together.
Inspired by the meandering flow of the river, the playscape features cone-shaped structures arranged in loops that encourage weaving in and out, climbing, or simply sitting to take in the view. The design naturally fosters movement and interaction, transforming the riverside into a living playground.
Each cone has an inner and outer layer, framed with entrances, seating, and woven rope details inspired by local craft traditions. From afar, the circular profiles stand out as sculptural landmarks, while up close they feel warm and tactile. FlowScape is both functional and beautiful, making it a space where communities can reconnect with each other and with the river.
The Klang River Festival 2025 across riverside spaces in Kuala Lumpur, with installations, performances, exhibitions, workshops, and community activities celebrating art, culture, and the river. Photo: Klang River Festival
Nature and dance
If you’ve ever wanted to see dance beyond the stage, "Dancing In Place @ Klang River Festival: Resilience" reimagines performance as part of the riverscape itself.
Presented by MyDance Alliance and choreographed by dancer-choreographer Rithaudin Abdul Kadir, the show takes place at Living Room Under, Old Klang Road Riverside on Sept 27 and 28.
The performance unfolds in two riverside locations, portraying the Klang River’s resilience in the face of urbanisation. The dancers’ movements echo both the neglect the river has endured and its power to renew itself. By merging bodies with the environment, the performance elevates the riverside into a stage where art, activism, and spirituality meet.
This work is not just for dance enthusiasts. It is also for those curious about how art can reflect environmental struggles and community stories. In the quiet power of the choreography, audiences may discover a new way of listening to the river itself.
Remembering river communities
Those who are fascinated by history and heritage will find plenty to reflect on in "A Tale of Two Kampungs – Exhibition & Talk". Happening on at Exhibition Lane @Kerayong, Kuala Lumpur on Sept 28 (2pm-4pm), this programme expands on cultural mapping research of two riverside settlements, Kampung Pasir Baru and Taman Hock Ann.
The exhibition shares findings about how these communities have lived with and alongside the Klang River, while the dialogue session invites local residents to contribute their memories. Visitors can listen to stories of kampung life, bridging generational experiences with today’s urban landscape.
More than just a research showcase, the event asks larger questions about identity, belonging, and transformation. What does the river mean to a city in flux? How do kampung communities persist amid rapid development? By framing the river as a living archive, the exhibition encourages us to see heritage not as something fixed in the past, but as a current that still flows through the present.
