EXHIBITION: SHARON CHIN'S 'MISSING FROM THE SCENE'
Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan building, KL
Date: Sept 26 to Nov 1
Contemporary artist Sharon Chin, now based in Negri Sembilan, returns to the Kuala Lumpur gallery scene with Missing From The Scene, her first solo exhibition in the capital since 2019 (Sharon Chin: Ingin Jadi Pelukis Drawings 2013 - 2018 was held at Hom Art Trans gallery in Feb 2019).
Curated by Eric Goh, the new exhibition opens at The Back Room, the Zhongshan building on Saturday, along with a gallery walkthrough and community parade later in the day.
The new works explore different forms of absence – from Chin’s move away from KL and changes in Malaysia’s art scene to habitat loss and disappearing biodiversity.
The exhibition brings together wayang kulit-inspired animal puppets, collagraph and linocut prints, alongside a live feed of an oil refinery flare stack visible from her home in Port Dickson. Chin moved to the coastal town in Negri Sembilan in 2011, where she has held occasional pop-up exhibitions there.
The opening of Missing From The Scene runs from 3pm to 7pm on Sept 26, followed by a 6pm shadow-puppet walk to the Moutou live venue in KL and a music party hosted by Spinning Out.
The show’s lengthy run at The Back Room will be punctuated by artist talks, informal tours and forum discussions. It is accompanied by a zine publication, featuring essays by Eric Goh, Azzad Diah, and Nau Suter; and a questionnaire, asking audiences: “What is missing from your scene?”
More info here.
Date: THEATRE/CONCERT: 'LIFE IN ECHOES'
Venue: Pentas 1, KLPac
Date: Sept 26
Joyful Choir of the Blind (JCB), a Kuala Lumpur-based choir for visually impaired singers, will stage its debut concert, Life In Echoes, at Pentas 1, KLPac on Saturday.
Presented by Persatuan Hearts Symphony and KLPac, with support from Yayasan Sime Darby, the concert will raise funds for JCB.
Formed in 2008, JCB provides blind and low-vision members a space to develop their musical abilities, build friendships and share music. The 29-member choir, including 12 sighted volunteers, has built a repertoire of more than 100 works in Mandarin, various dialects and other languages.
For the concert, JCB will perform with the Golden Hearts Choir and young musicians from Persatuan Hearts Symphony, under composer Frederick Chaw and accompanied by Leong Moon Ee.
The programme also highlights Joyful Braille Music Notation, developed by Chaw and music teacher Wong Siew Ngan. Recently recognised in the Malaysian Book of Records, the system uses tactile cues to make music scores easier for blind musicians to read.
All proceeds will support JCB and its musical activities.
More info here.
KLANG RIVER FESTIVAL 2026
Venue: KongsiKL and various venues in Jalan Klang Lama, KL
Date: Sept 25 to Oct 4
The Klang River Festival (KRF) returns for its fifth anniversary this weekend, bringing music, film, art and community activities to the Jalan Klang Lama riverside through a mix of ticketed, pre-registration and free events.
The festival opens its first weekend with homegrown alt-rock band Arvan performing an unplugged session at KongsiKL on Sept 25. Other highlights include the Port Baik music programme, exhibitions, contemporary dance, urban camping, guided walks, a barter trade market and community cycling.
Film and spoken word also take centre stage, with "Krik Krik: Film Screening" by House Your Film Collective running on Sept 26 and 27, and "River Polyphonies: Spoken Word and Music" on Sept 26.
KRF 2026 runs from Sept 25 to Oct 4, bringing more than 70 arts and community activities to the Jalan Klang Lama area.
Most events take place over the weekends, across six venues within 1.5km of each other, including KongsiKL, Nada Budaya, The Field, Kebun Kebun Sungai Klang, Keladi Trail and Serambi. With many activities taking place outdoors, visitors are advised to dress comfortably, prepare for rain and carry a mask in case of haze.
More info here.
THEATRE: 'BASIKAL DIARIES - A WORK IN PROGRESS'
Venue: KongsiKL, Jalan Klang Lama, KL
Date: Sept 27, 8pm
It’s all about wheel power at KongsiKL this Sunday evening. Basikal Diaries (working title) is a collaboration between Tokyo-based theatre-maker Kyle Yamada and Kuala Lumpur-based writer/producer Leysha Al-Yahya.
To mark the end of the first stage of their ongoing theatre project, the duo invite you to an evening of stories, musings and conversations around the bicycle.
With support from the Japan Foundation Fellow For Arts and Culture and Five Arts Centre, Kyle has spent the past month in Kuala Lumpur researching the city through the lens of the bicycle - from the Japanese Imperial Army’s bicycle infantry during WWII and today's migrant workers commuting in the early hours, to Sunday rides in affluent neighbourhoods and, perhaps most tellingly, the overall absence of bicycles from the city.
This theatre workshop sharing offers a peek into their research and the ideas taking shape.
Come share your own bicycle stories, memories and thoughts - or, if you’ve never learned, have a go at riding one. Free admission event.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: BAYU UTOMO RADJIKIN'S 'BACKBONE'
Venue: G13 Gallery, Petaling Jaya
Date: Sept 26 to Oct 17
An exhibition by one of the country's most prolific artists, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, who continues to produce his own work while managing HOM Art Trans and Chetak 17 galleries.
In Backbone, the Tawau, Sabah-born artist explores masculinity, responsibility and endurance through powerful depictions of the human form. Rendered primarily in charcoal and acrylic, muscular backs, intertwined limbs and expressive hands convey both physical strength and the emotional weight carried beneath it.
The backbone becomes a metaphor for the man expected to carry, provide and remain standing. The body becomes a site where responsibility accumulates, each vertebra holding fragments of memory, struggle and sacrifice.
Bayu’s theatrical background continues to shape his approach. His 2025 exhibition Resonance Of Souls at Harta Space reflected on his decade working in theatre production for Istana Budaya, Sutra and Five Arts Centre, where he observed the movement of actors and dancers.
The influence is evident in his figures: dramatic pauses, gestures charged with emotion, and the choreography of tension and release. On Bayu's canvas, the body becomes both subject and storyteller.
Backbone, featuring 10 new works, opens at G13 Gallery on Saturday at 2pm.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: FRANCIS LEE'S 'SILENCE WITHIN THOUGHT'
Venue: Zhan Art Space, Petaling Jaya
Date: ends Oct 4
Silence Within Thought, a solo watercolour exhibition by artist Francis Lee, brings a contemplative presence to Zhan Art Space. It’s a show to take your time with - walk through the gallery, spend a little longer with each painting, and let the landscapes bring their own feelings and memories to mind.
Through watercolours on paper, Lee's exhibition moves beyond depicting places to explore the emotions, memories and personal associations that landscapes can awaken.
“For years, landscape art has been about the ‘where' - capturing the specific light, terrain, or grandeur of a location," says Lee.
"But in this exhibition, I wanted to present the truest encounter with nature and what happens when the external noise fades away. Absence is not nothingness, it is the space where complete awareness and emotional truth are born,” he adds.
To Lee, watercolour is captivating in its simplicity and unpredictability. Its delicate strokes and ethereal washes - as seen in Silence Without Thought - allow him to express himself with a quiet, unmistakable voice.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: YEOH CHOO KUAN'S 'SHAN SHUI AS CAMOUFLAGE'
Venue: Richard Koh Fine Art KL, A Place Where (APW), Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Oct 18
After nearly eight years, abstract artist Yeoh Choo Kuan returns to Kuala Lumpur with a compact series that places classical Chinese landscape painting (shan shui) in dialogue with camouflage.
Rather than depicting nature literally, shan shui arranges and obscures mountains and water to create relationships between forms.
Yeoh draws on a similar principle, blurring figure and ground until stains, drips and folds suggest landscapes before dissolving into abstraction.
Using his “fleshing abstraction” approach, Yeoh spills, drips and scratches paint across textured surfaces. The resulting works explore both the spiritual and disruptive qualities of landscape, where gestures simultaneously construct and fracture the image.
Alongside Yeoh’s new works, the exhibition features two paintings by Liu Kang (1911–2004) and Cheong Laitong (1932–2022), on loan from a private collection.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: 'EMERGENT THRESHOLDS'
Venue: Wei-Ling Gallery, Brickfields, KL
Date: ends Oct 10
There is a youthful energy to Wei-Ling Contemporary’s 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 check out new a generation of homegrown talents.
More info here.
