CONTEMPORARY ART: ART KL 2026
Venue: A Place Where (APW), Jalan Riong, Bangsar, KL
Date: Oct 16-18
Set within APW, a former printing factory dating to the mid-1960s, ART KL 2026 brings fresh energy to the industrial space, with pop-up galleries, site-specific installations and contemporary art interventions turning it into a meeting ground for artists, collectors and curious newcomers.
Opening to the public today, the inaugural fair offers free admission and a chance to discover emerging talent and new perspectives from across the region. Ten galleries are participating: Finale Art File (Philippines), Galeri Sasha (Malaysia), Intersections (Singapore), ISA Art Gallery and V&V Gallery (Indonesia), Supples and Warin Lab Contemporary (Thailand), Vin Gallery (Vietnam and China), Wetterling Teo Gallery (Singapore) and Zhan Art Space (Malaysia).
Beyond the gallery booths, the fair extends into the building itself through installations by Malaysian artists Farhan Rizuwan, Lee Mok Yee, Najib Ahmad Bamadhaj, Neoh Shin Yen, Phillip Wong, Samantha Lee, Wong Perng Fey and Alexdrina Chong. These works engage with the venue’s industrial character, nudging visitors to discover contemporary art in unexpected corners and settings.
Another highlight is UOB Art Space at ART KL 2026, presenting Connecting Communities Through Art. Art talks, guided tours and meet-the-artist sessions over the weekend offer further opportunities to hear directly from practitioners and explore the ideas behind their work.
Organised by Kuala Lumpur-based art consultancy Art Anonymous and venue partner APW, in collaboration with Richard Koh Art Advisory, ART KL 2026 creates space for regional voices to meet, new artists to find an audience and visitors to discover where contemporary art is heading.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: AHMAD ZAKII ANWAR'S 'SEMENTARA'
Venue: GDP Campus, Bukit Damansara, KL
Date: ends Jan 10, 2027
A rare opportunity to view the breadth of Ahmad Zakii Anwar’s practice comes with Sementara, which brings more than 75 works by the 71-year-old Johor-born artist to GDP Campus in Bukit Damansara. Known for his large-scale, photorealistic charcoal drawings and detailed brushwork, Zakii is featured in this exhibition drawn from the Steve Wong Art Collection (SWAC).
The ticketed exhibition follows Disclosure, Galeri PETRONAS’ 2008 survey of Zakii’s first two decades of practice. Nearly two decades later, Sementara offers audiences another chance to encounter his work on an expansive scale.
Curated by R+, the exhibition gathers works from 1995 to 2013, arranged salon-style across 10 thematic categories. Portraits, still lifes and recurring subjects such as 'Meditation' and 'Smokers' reveal the range of Zakii’s interests and the themes that recur throughout his practice.
Wong began collecting Zakii’s work in the early 1990s. His holdings now offer a view of the artist’s development, demonstrating how private collecting can preserve and share a substantial body of work with a wider public.
Seen together, the works invite closer attention to Zakii’s handling of light, texture and form, as well as the motifs that connect different periods of his practice. Sementara runs until Jan 10, 2027, at GDP Campus, with guided tours and public programmes available.
More info here.
THEATRE/OPERA: 'TURANDOT'
Venue: Pentas 1, KLPac
Date: Oct 17-25
Opera fans have a big weekend ahead, with KL City Opera (KLCO), the country’s leading Western opera company, staging Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot at Pentas 1, KL Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC), starting this Saturday. The show runs through Oct 25.
Led by executive producers Danny Chen and Soon Yoon, the production reflects the growing ambition of homegrown opera talent, ready to dazzle on the KLPac main stage.
Under the baton of Italian conductor Alessandro Mazzocchetti, with Bernard Tan as assistant conductor and Amelia Tan as stage director, the production brings together leading Malaysian and international performers, a 50-piece orchestra, and a 70-member chorus comprising the KL City Opera Chorus and Young KL Singers.
In the leading roles are sopranos Cecilia Yap and Eleanor Greenwood as the aloof Turandot and tenors Yap Jin Hin and Gui Foo Chen as the brave Unknown Prince (Prince Calaf).
Set in ancient Beijing, Turandot follows an icy princess who vows never to marry. Princes seeking her hand must solve three riddles or face execution. When a mysterious prince succeeds, he challenges her to discover his name before dawn, or he will willingly die. As the city searches through the night, sacrifice, courage and compassion begin to soften her heart.
Featuring the celebrated aria Nessun Dorma, the opera explores love, redemption and hope. As Puccini died before completing the work, KLCO will present Franco Alfano’s traditional completion, the version most commonly performed worldwide.
Returning to the KL stage after more than 20 years, Turandot is presented with the support of the Italian Embassy in KL as part of the Week of the Italian Language in the World.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: JAMES SEET'S 'NEGATIVE POSITIVE'
Venue: Ligne Roset Gallery by Tekni, Petaling Jay
Date: Oct 17 to Nov 15
James Seet has always been an artist who asks questions. In his fifth solo exhibition, Negative Positive, he turns his attention to discarded materials and the possibilities they hold.
The show opens tomorrow at Ligne Roset Gallery by Tekni, a showroom space in Petaling Jaya.
Crafted from a combination of reclaimed timber, ceramic remnants, found objects and newly created forms, Seet's new works explore memory, transformation, renewal and the possibilities within things that have already lived a life.
The reclaimed timber is sourced from discarded wood offcuts, while some of the ceramic elements originate from earlier works in James's own practice and objects found at home.
Rather than hiding their histories, he allows these materials to remain visible. Scratches, imperfections, fragments and traces of previous lives become part of the work's language.
More info here.
'JUJUTSU KAISEN IN CONCERT'
Venue: The Grand Theatre, JCPAC
Date: Oct 20 and 21
Forget the suit and tie – this is one for the cosplay crowd. Anime fandom has grown into a cultural force among younger audiences, and the newly-opened JCPAC is tapping into that enthusiasm with Jujutsu Kaisen In Concert, coming to The Grand Theatre next week.
Based on Gege Akutami’s hit manga, Jujutsu Kaisen follows Jujutsu Sorcerers battling Curses, monstrous beings born from negative human emotions.
Running 140 minutes, including an intermission, the concert covers all three seasons of the anime in a live-to-screen experience. A 12-member versatile ensemble, combining classical and rock instruments, performs as scenes from the series unfold on screen.
Rather than simply revisiting familiar episodes, the concert puts the music at the centre of the experience, bringing fans closer to the action through the interplay of live performance, animation and storytelling.
Malaysia joins Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Australia on the tour, reflecting the growing appeal of anime concerts, where beloved screen soundtracks find a new life on stage.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: RAFIEE GHANI'S 'DUSUN LAUT'
Venue: Galeri Puteh, KL Eco City, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Nov 7
Any gallery feels more alive when Rafiee Ghani’s work is on show. He has a way of transporting viewers to faraway places through his art.
The veteran artist returns to the gallery scene this month with Dusun Laut, an exhibition at KL’s Galeri Puteh featuring more than 50 mixed media works, including charcoal drawings on paper.
In Dusun Laut, Rafiee’s works go beyond geographical locations to become repositories of memories of seas, islands, coastlines, forests, villages and cities, and the people he encounters.
He is equally interested in the customs, traditions, arts and cultural practices that shape communities and define their identities.
“Dusun Laut is an exhibition of abstract paintings born from experiences of travelling, sailing and moving through the landscapes and spaces of the Nusantara," says Rafiee in the exhibition notes.
Like a wanderer charting the contours of memory, Rafiee draws on the environments, cultures and traditions of the wider Malay Archipelago and South-East Asia, tracing a path from Indonesia and Borneo to Myanmar, Thailand and Papua New Guinea.
Free admission exhibition.
More info here.
