MPO conductor Ahmad Muriz Che Rose will moderate a talk on P. Ramlee’s music, film and storytelling legacy with Roslan Aziz and Paul Augustin tomorrow at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS at 4pm, exploring his soundtrack scores and hits from his comedy 'Madu Tiga', including the title track and ‘Selamat Pengantin Baru’. Photo: Sputnik Rekordz Archive.
'LISTENING TO P. RAMLEE: MUSIC, FILM AND STORYTELLING'
Venue: Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS, Kuala Lumpur
Date: Jan 24, 4pm
As a special complement to the sold-out Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) live performances accompanying the screening of P. Ramlee’s classic comedy Madu Tiga at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS this weekend, this exclusive talk series tomorrow delves into the musical genius behind the film.
Moderated by MPO conductor Ahmad Muriz Che Rose, the session features renowned music producer, composer, and arranger Roslan Aziz, alongside Paul Augustin, a leading advocate for music heritage and cultural research.
The discussion – 4pm to 5.30pm – will explore the intricate challenges of interpreting Madu Tiga’s score, examining P. Ramlee’s melodies, arrangements, and cinematic storytelling in a distinctly Malaysian context, and tracing how his music continues to resonate with audiences today.
This ticketed session in the DFP hall offers a rare opportunity to understand the artistry and enduring impact of one of Malaysia’s most beloved cultural icons.
The talk session is free for ticket holders of P. Ramlee’s Madu Tiga Live In Concert.
More info here.
In 'Matematika', Faizal Sidik’s use of grids, lines, and geometric forms creates open systems that invite reflection on order, chance and continuity. Photo: The Star/M. Irsyad
EXHIBITION: FAZIAL SIDIK’S ‘MATEMATIKA’
Venue: Harta Space, Ampang, Selangor
Date: ends Jan 31
What if pixels came to life? Harta Space answers that question with Matematika, a solo exhibition by artist and writer Faizal Sidik, featuring over 33 works, including paintings and sculptures in wood and metal. The show explores how visual motifs can be expressed through varied forms and materials.
Faizal's Matematika refers not to numbers, but to the geometric systems, patterns, and spatial rhythms inherent in traditional crafts.
He draws inspiration from songket weaving, examining its precise, repetitive designs through a contemporary lens.
The pixel-inspired exhibition demonstrates how these principles can inform modern design fields such as jewellery and ornamentation. It includes Faizal's recent works from last year and follows his previous solo show, Stencil.
A dedicated archive section traces over 25 years of Faizal's practice as an artist, writer, and curator, highlighting the evolution of his ideas.
More info here.
Yang's 'Inside And Outside The Window' (Chinese ink and colour on rice paper). Photo: Galeri Puteh
EXHIBITION: YANG ZIFAN'S 'US AND THEM'
Venue: Galeri Puteh, KL Eco City Mall, Kuala Lumpur
Date: Jan 24 to Feb 21
Chinese artist Yang Zifan makes his Kuala Lumpur solo debut with Us And Them, opening tomorrow at Galeri Puteh. He previously participated in a group exhibition at the gallery two years ago.
Yang's upcoming exhibition brings together 48 works created between 2020 and the present, presented chronologically as a visual diary of his time studying in Malaysia and travelling between Malaysia and China.
Blending Far Eastern culture with personal observation and lived experience, Us And Them explores human-animal relationships, both symbiotic and metaphorical.
Yang’s practice is rooted in Daoist philosophy and traditional Chinese painting, reinterpreted in a contemporary context. Each work reflects skills honed during his training and in Malaysia, using authentic Chinese materials such as Xuanzong black ink, Jiang SiXu Tang pigments and Xuan paper.
More info here.
The Titih Pusaka Festival will be presenting an array of traditional arts performances and workshops, including Kelantanese wayang kulit. Photo: Aswara
TITIH PUSAKA FESTIVAL 2026
Venues: Akademi Seni Budaya Dan Warisan Kebangsaan (Aswara) campus, Jalan Tun Ismail and Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur
Date: Jan 23-25
The National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara) is launching the Titih Pusaka Festival, an all-ages event celebrating Malaysia’s arts and culture. The festival offers the public a glimpse into Aswara, where traditional and contemporary arts are taught, practiced, and showcased.
It will be held at the Aswara campus and Padang Merbok, two venues within walking distance of each other.The programme – free admission – includes exhibitions, demonstrations by master artisans (Adiguru), workshops, masterclasses, the Mega Dikir Barat Competition, forums and stage performances by students, alumni, and professional groups.
Dance, music, theatre, animation, writing, visual arts, literature and short films will be showcased, highlighting the integration of traditional and contemporary arts.
The festival will also recognise new talent through the Titih Pusaka Aswara 2026 Young Talent Award and Traditional Arts Influencer Award.
More info here.
Hoo's painting 'Would You Like To Dance?' (acrylic on cardboard, 2021). Photo: The Back Room
EXHIBITION: HOO KIEW HANG'S 'ECSTASY'
Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan building, KL
Date: ends Feb 8
The Back Room opens its year with Ecstasy, a solo exhibition by Malaysian painter Hoo Kiew Hang, marking his return to the local art scene after a near-decade hiatus since 2017. While absent from exhibitions, Hoo never stopped painting, and this new body of work signals not a resumption but a reinvention.
Known for his long-standing fascination with American pop art and pop culture, Hoo now loosens his grip on the movement’s trademark cool detachment. In Ecstasy, he frees the brush from pop art’s formal restraint, reworking its visual language through a more intuitive, expressive approach. The result is a practice that feels less about precision and irony, and more about impulse, emotion, and release.
Colour, symbols and cultural icons spill freely across the exhibition, which comprises several large-scale works on canvas and rice paper, alongside a substantial selection of smaller paintings on cardboard.
Together, they form a vivid, unguarded return - one that suggests an artist rediscovering both his materials and himself, with renewed urgency and confidence.
More info here.
VIDEO ART EXHIBITION: 'COLORLESS, ODORLESS'
Venue: Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends March 15
Ilham Gallery's Level 3 space is showing Colorless, Odorless, a single-channel video installation exhibition by South Korean artist Eunhee Lee.
The German-trained Lee, 35, creates experimental and documentary videos and films which explore the relation between individual, image and technology in a social context.
Technology is not only a product of science, but a complex compound of different political and economic interests. The practice of observing these phenomena is an ongoing attempt to understand the strange and absurd world we live in.
Her Colorless, Odorless, a 54-minute video, follows the work records and archival materials of victims of semiconductor biohazards to trace the smells and actions of substances that cameras cannot capture.
“To this end, the voices of Asian women and migrant workers, who are exposed to vulnerability, are heard. Testimonies of the past are overlaid on current symptoms, and the disaster repeats itself in other bodies and places.
“As multinational corporations move manufacturing plants to developing countries to lower not only labour costs but also the costs of safety standards and regulatory responses, industrial disasters are also globally transferred,” reads the exhibition notes.
Lee’s video was realised with support from the Han Nefkens Foundation-Loop Barcelona Video Art Production Grant 2023.
More info here.
