EXHIBITION: 'EMERGENT THRESHOLDS'
Venue: Wei-Ling Gallery, Brickfields, KL
Date: ends Oct 10
There is a youthful energy to Wei-Ling Contemporary’s newly opened Emergent Thresholds, a group exhibition curated by Mikhail Vanan that brings together six emerging artists – Adam Abas, Anas Afandi, Hirendran Sivaganam, Kevi Sze, Ong Hieng Fuong and Wong Xiang Yi – whose practices consider different forms of change across painting, ink and installation.
Apart from Anas, the exhibition also marks the gallery debut of the other five artists, offering art lovers a first look at their evolving practices.
Their starting points vary: personal histories, domestic spaces, digital imagery, shifting environments and encounters with others.
Some works remain close to observation, occasionally with a touch of wit, while others move towards abstraction, sensation and an exploration of material.
Seen together, the works share an interest in what happens when familiar things begin to shift. Images become less certain, personal experiences take on broader resonances, and materials are allowed to suggest possibilities beyond their immediate form.
For collectors looking beyond established names, Emergent Thresholds provides an opportunity to spend time with a generation of Malaysian artists whose practices are still unfolding.
This group exhibition will be running concurrently with Rajinder Singh's solo exhibition, Saffron Crossings, at the main space of Wei-Ling Gallery, until the end the month.
More info here.
PUBLIC INSTALLATION: 'LUNAR HARVEST'
Venue: Kwai Chai Hong, Lorong Panggung, KL
Date: ends Oct 4
The atmosphere of Mid-Autumn has settled over Kwai Chai Hong in Chinatown KL, where this year’s cultural installation, “Lunar Harvest,” offers a contemporary interpretation of the harvest season through the symbolism of rice – an everyday staple that also speaks to the shared cultural landscape of Malaysia’s diverse communities.
Drawing inspiration from the traditional rice mills of Sekinchan, Selangor, the installation brings together lanterns, rice sacks and harvest motifs against an illustrated moonlit paddy field.
Rural references are deliberately reimagined within the urban setting, creating an environment that is at once tactile, theatrical and evocative of the rhythms of agricultural life.
The immersive installation, conceptualised by design studio Donce Fine Floristry, unfolds as a visual journey, with no shortage of photogenic moments for the social-media lens.
An after-dark visit is particularly recommended, when visitors are led along a pathway framed by glowing rice-sack lanterns towards the central Harvest Pavilion, where familiar harvest imagery is woven into a contemporary setting.
A coffee installation adds a nostalgic touch to the experience.
The “Lunar Harvest” installation is open to the public daily at Kwai Chai Hong through Oct 4, from 9am to midnight. Free admission.
More info here.
MALAYSIA DAY EVENT: 'RENTAK MALAYSIAKU: A SLICE OF LIFE'
Venue: GMBB creative mall, Kuala Lumpur
Date: Sept 12 and 13
GMBB’s annual Malaysia Day celebration returns this year with a full weekend of activities. The 'Rentak Malaysiaku' programme this Saturday and Sunday brings together exhibitions, performances, workshops, films, poetry, pop-ups and other cultural experiences under one roof.
Among the weekend highlights is Rasa Pasar, a documentation project that looks beyond the pasar as a place of commerce, exploring it instead as a living archive of rasa - taste, feeling and memory. Through a multimedia and immersive exhibition, visitors are invited to engage with the market through sight, touch and smell, echoing the sensory experience of the pasar itself.
Bornean perspectives take centre stage in Borneo, In Its Own Words by HAUS KCH, a community-led initiative from Kuching. The showcase brings together poetry, film and artisan pop-ups, featuring five Bornean makers offering beaded accessories and other craft works. It also includes six Slices Of Life inspired by Wordsmiths of Kuching, alongside short films and documentaries by Sabahan and Sarawakian filmmakers.
Art installations further extend the programme, including Nunuk Ragang: Root of Origin by Ayue Juman, a rattan work inspired by the legend of the giant red bayan tree believed to be the origin of the Kadazan-Dusun community.
Visitors can also contribute their own Slice Of Life art through writing, drawing or other forms of expression on cards displayed on a Collaborative Wall, which will continue to grow throughout the event and remain on display until Malaysia Day.
More info here.
THEATRE: 'SUSAN'
Venue: Hush The Theatre, Petaling Jaya
Date: ends Sept 13
It's the last few days to catch indie theatre outfit FSKi Works' one-woman dark comedy Susan, which puts a spotlight on women's rights – and wrongs – and how society views them.
Starring Ranessa Theyakaraja, the 75-minute performance is an expansion of a 10-minute short play first performed at Short + Sweet Malaysia 2025, where it nabbed Best Script and Best Actress.
Susan is her first play since 2023, marking her return to the stage.
Written by award-winning playwright Ian Skatu and directed by Tharwa Wajihah, the story unfolds over three acts with Ranessa portraying three very distinct roles: a woman who allegedly murdered her two husbands, a lawyer defending said accused in court, and an enterprising showrunner pitching a docuseries based on the case to a room full of TV executives.
By the end of the play, audiences will be plagued by the question: Who is Susan?
More info here.
EXHIBITION: ONG CHIA KOON'S 'ASHEN WORDS ON WATER'
Venue: Tali Gallery, Jalan Hang Kasturi, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Sept 26
At Tali Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, calligraphy artist Ong Chia Koon turns to music and pop culture as a wellspring for his new solo exhibition, Ashen Words On Water.
Drawing from song lyrics (Mandarin pop to Indonesian indie rock), poems, television series and other fragments of popular culture, Ong transforms familiar words into expressive gestures, allowing language to move beyond meaning and become image.
Driven as much by what he listens to and watches as by the traditions of calligraphy, the artist approaches ink as something fluid and unpredictable. Brushstrokes stretch, pool and dissolve across paper, carrying traces of the words that inspire them while taking on a life of their own.
Curated by Tali Gallery founder Thomas Martin, the exhibition brings together new works alongside pieces dating back to 2021, offering a glimpse into how Ong’s practice has evolved over the years.
Rather than treating calligraphy as a fixed tradition, he continually tests its possibilities, letting popular references, personal responses and the physical movement of ink shape the work.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: UMAR SHARIF‘S 'SALON HANG'
Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan building, KL
Date: ends Sept 20
Kuala Lumpur-based artist Umar Sharif was a standout at Ilham Art Show 2025 with his strikingly fashioned canvas school belt insallation in Asuhan Dan Dandanan at Ilham Gallery.
He hasn't lost any creative momentum. Salon Hang, his debut solo exhibition at The Back Room, offers a timely reintroduction, bringing together new work made since.
Umar’s fixation on the Malaysian school belt centres on its regulation strip of polypropylene - a tough material that is notoriously difficult to tame. Yet he treats it almost like a full head of hair. In his hands, the belt is unpicked, washed, conditioned, teased, silk-pressed and curled until the webbing gives way to what it was all along: strands, hair in maximum custody.
In a new installation, a single belt, white like the standard-issue school shirt, drops from the ceiling. It holds its regulated weave straight before detonating near the floor, its strands bursting outward and sweeping across the room.
In this work, Umar approaches grooming as this country taught it to him: as care and correction in a single gesture.
In what is turning out to be an eventful year, Umar has also been selected for the 2026 Khazanah Associate Artist Residency (KAAR), organised by Khazanah Nasional Berhad. As part of the 12-week programme, he will head to London this month to work at ACME Studios.
More info here.
