COMMUNITY/ARTS: ZHONGSHAN AFTER HOURS
Venue: Zhongshan building, Kampung Attap, Kuala Lumpur
Date: July 11, 7pm-11pm
Visitors to the Zhongshan Building may be familiar with its sights and sounds during the day, but have you ever wondered what it becomes after dark? "Zhongshan After Hours" offers a rare opportunity to experience the building in a completely different light.
For one night only this Saturday, explore Zhongshan's hidden corners and discover a specially curated programme presented by its creative arts community. From retail offerings and guest pop-ups to exhibitions, food and drinks, live music and interactive experiences, the evening invites visitors to engage with the neighbourhood in new and unexpected ways.
More than 30 spaces are waiting to be explored.
True to the spirit of Zhongshan, all activities will take place within the building's existing spaces and along its back lane. There will be no tents, stages, or temporary structures – only the studios, shops, galleries and people that give Zhongshan its distinctive character.
Meet the individuals behind these spaces, stay a little longer and experience the building after hours.
Highlights include Indonesian artist and puppeteer Iwan Effendi's solo exhibition, Co-Presence, at The Back Room, as well as the newly opened Studio Bogus – returning to Zhongshan – where visitors can try their hand at silk-screen printing. Wander through a community library, independent record shops, a vintage bookstore, design studios and a variety of guest pop-up spaces, and discover the many creative voices that make Zhongshan unlike anywhere else.
Free admission event.
More info here.
PHOTOGRAPHY: 'PROJECT SEAVIEW: THE GREAT SEAWALL OF JAPAN'
Venue: The Godown Arts Centre, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends July 22
For documentary photography enthusiasts, the Project Seaview: The Great Seawall Of Japan exhibition offers a reflection on one of Japan's most significant post-disaster transformations.
Fifteen years after the Great East Japan Earthquake reshaped the country's northeastern coastline, the exhibition invites audiences to consider themes of resilience and the evolving relationship between humanity and nature through photographs of the landscape in the disaster's aftermath.
Presented by The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur (JFKL) in collaboration with The Godown Arts Centre, the exhibition features the work of Malaysian photographer Chai Ming Yang, who documents the monumental concrete seawalls and breakwaters constructed along Japan's Pacific coast following the 2011 disaster.
Stretching nearly 400km along Japan's Tohoku coastline, the seawalls form one of the world's largest coastal defence systems. Built after the 2011 disaster, they have transformed both the landscape and the relationship between communities and the sea.
Through large-format photographs, Project Seaview explores themes of memory, resilience, and protection. Chai's images present the seawalls as both monumental engineering works and poignant symbols of what is gained – and what is lost – in the pursuit of safety.
Gallery walkthrough sessions this weekend – Saturday at 4.30pm and Sunday at 11am – offer visitors the opportunity to engage more deeply with the exhibition through guided conversations with the artist behind the works.
Opening hours, 11am to 6pm. Free admission event.
More info here.
PHOTOGRAPHY: KANTA.DARKROOM OFFICIAL LAUNCH
Venue: Level 9, unit 1, GMBB creative mall, KL
Date: July 12, 2pm
After nearly a year of hands-on, DIY construction, Kanta.Darkroom’s learning centre is finally ready to open its doors.
Launching this Sunday at 2pm, the space marks a new chapter for the Kanta projects, led by Jeffrey Lim and his team, who will welcome visitors into a place dedicated to the craft, history, and experience of analogue photography.
Built around the spirit of learning and experimentation, Kanta.Darkroom invites visitors to explore the world of vintage photography, box cameras, darkroom processes and more.
Supported by a team of darkroom practitioners, the centre will offer on-demand classes and workshops, with photography tutorials and hands-on darkroom sessions available daily, alongside more programmes to come.
Visitors are invited to drop by the little cabin, enjoy a simple kampung-style kopi and biscuits, meet the team, explore the space, and experience the tactile world of analogue photography – from the scent of fixer to the atmosphere of a working darkroom.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: HAKEEMI SAMAD'S 'SARKAS'
Venue: Rissim Contemporary, Bangsar, KL
Date: July 11-26
If you are looking for an exhibition with a pointed edge this month, Hakeemi’s Sarkas - which opens tomorrow - offers a provocative encounter.
Through a cast of distorted figures, dense impasto layers, and aggressive brushstrokes, the 23-year-old painter transforms the gallery walls into a stage for examining the tensions, contradictions and absurdities of contemporary society.
Hakeemi’s works function as sharp visual critiques, confronting themes of corruption, power structures, political complacency, and the systems that shape public life.
Rather than offering straightforward commentary, his exaggerated forms and unsettling compositions expose the flaws, performances, and hypocrisies embedded within social and political structures.
With a deliberately confrontational approach, Sarkas challenges viewers to look beyond the surface and question the realities presented to them.
The paintings become both satire and resistance — a reflection on how power operates, how narratives are constructed, and how art can serve as a tool for scrutiny and dissent.
More info here.
DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: 'JOM KITA KE LAUT: ITUI SULI-SULI BAJAU! (INI CERITA BAJAU!)'
Venue: GSC Mid Valley (KL), TGV 1 Utama (Petaling Jaya)
Date: now showing
It's rare for a documentary to secure a theatrical release - let alone make it past the opening weekend, but media company Fat Bidin has pushed hard for Jom Kita Ke Laut: Itui Suli-Suli Bajau! (Ini Cerita Bajau! to stay the distance. The 72-minute film is now screening in selected cinemas nationwide, including two in the Klang Valley.
In early 2025, Fat Bidin, in collaboration with Iskul Sama DiLaut Omadal, an NGO-run alternative learning centre (in Sabah), conducted a series of filmmaking workshops for youths on Omadal Island, off Sabah's east coast.
Home predominantly to the stateless Bajau Laut (Sea Gypsies), the island became the setting for a project aimed at equipping young people with creative skills and expanding their future employment opportunities.
Three standout participants - Bilkuin, Shima and Didi - were selected as junior directors and mentored by a professional film crew to create a feature-length documentary about their own lives.
The resulting film follows their personal journeys while offering audiences an intimate glimpse into the culture, aspirations and daily realities of the Bajau Laut community.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: 'ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG AND ASIA'
Venue: Ilham Gallery, KL
Date: ends Nov 1
A major exhibition at Ilham Gallery, presented in collaboration with Hong Kong's M+, explores the Asian travels of Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008), one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
Featuring more than 40 works created during and in response to his journeys across Asia between 1964 and 1990, the exhibition highlights a significant yet less-examined aspect of Rauschenberg's practice.
Throughout his travels, the legendary American artist drew inspiration from the people, places and materials he encountered, incorporating them into his multidisciplinary work.
The exhibition also holds particular significance for Malaysian audiences through its focus on the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI), the artist's international initiative promoting cultural exchange through art. Kuala Lumpur was among the cities included in the project, alongside Beijing, Lhasa and Tokyo, and hosted a ROCI exhibition in May 1990 during Rauschenberg's visit to Malaysia.
More than three decades later, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to revisit a notable chapter in Malaysia's contemporary art history while tracing the profound influence Asia had on Rauschenberg's artistic development.
The free admission exhibition is accompanied by a monthly programme of events and activities that art enthusiasts are encouraged to explore.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: 'TATREEZ: RECLAIMING PALESTINE THROUGH EMBROIDERY'
Venue: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Date: ends April 25, 2027
This new exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia is the culmination of nearly 15 years of research, with the museum's collection at the heart of this celebration of Palestinian cultural heritage.
"Tatreez" – the Arabic word for embroidery – has long served as a powerful visual language among Palestinian women.
Through embroidered textiles, garments, and accessories, the exhibition offers insight into Palestinian history, with many of the works representing some of the few possessions preserved through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homeland.
The exhibition spans two galleries. Special Gallery 1 explores how traditional motifs and regional embroidery traditions are reinterpreted through contemporary practice while remaining rooted in identity, memory, and belonging. From everyday attire to ceremonial dress, embroidered garments once conveyed a woman's region, social status, and life stage without words.
Special Gallery 2 showcases the diversity of Palestinian regional embroidery through garments, textiles, colour palettes, and headdresses. Organised into 10 regions – Galilee, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jaffa, Ramlah–Lydda, Gaza, and the Naqab – the gallery highlights the distinctive styles, materials and motifs that define each locality.
The Tatreez exhibition will be accompanied by a series of public programmes, including talks and workshops, held throughout its run.
More info here.
