Nusajaya Exhibit Pictures

Razif has kindly sent the pictures of the setup process before the Nusajaya exhibit!

I believe these photos are of the first night, where Arif, Razif, Dang, Man and Lee stayed almost overnight to hang up the photos.

The partition hadn't been put up yet, and when it came, Arif was horrified to notice that the partitions were not *completely* white. They were repainted.

Pictures!

Thanks to Razif for taking the time to get his camera fixed, and putting all these photos into word documents. Hopefully he'll be able to get the pictures to me in jpg format so we could put them up for everybody to take a look. But I assure you, they look wonderful! In the meantime, you could download the various word documents that contain the pictures!
mangrove1.doc
mangrove2.doc
mangrove3.doc

I've also sent out the invoices to UEM. Hopefully they'll reimburse the printers/framers and us soon. I guess the next step is to get everything all spec'ed out for the next exhibition.

Success!

Ariff and Soraya SMS'ed me last night describing the exhibit's reception, and it appears it all went forward without a hitch! (The exhibition of course. The installation of the exhibition was a completely different matter. I spoke with Ariff the night before and he seemed somewhat stressed out at the fact that things were not going quite as smoothly as we had planned out. At that moment, they were just painting the walls - and that was the morning of the exhibition! Apparently the wall had just been put up the day before!)

According to Prof Sharifah, the PM had looked at every single image we had hung up, and according to Ariff, the PM had spent more time looking at the art exhibition than anything else! I am so happy to hear all this, and it is too bad that Shahril and myself are not there to share this happiness!

I also wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU to everybody that helped us out with this exhibit. I realize that everybody put in so much time to get it done.. Raziff, Man and Dang - our helpful volunteers, who came together. Yunus for helping us here and there. Prof Kamaruddin, and Prof Sharifah. Othman and Hamdan at EOC. Shahril, Soraya and Ariff, for spreading the vision and keeping all this on its toes!

Now to the more administrative bits...

To do:
1. Collect receipts, do billing (at least this is now somewhat guarenteed!)
2. Flora and Fauna book
3. Followup exhibition
4. Any further hookups with UEM now that we're riding this wave?
5. UNESCO Young Scientist grant?
6. Tuesday - Ariff is taking everybody out to dinner
7. Next exhibition at Pelita Hati
8. Get pictures from Razif to put up online

Not so good, but not so bad!

Being in Canada has its charms, but its a bit difficult to see what's going on in Malaysia with the 13h time difference! In any case, talked to Ariff today about the progress of the installation. Said "not so good, not so bad" - so I suppose as with many installations, its going OK! They arrived to the site, with nothing much that had been done, but things quickly got moving after Ariff made a couple of calls. I was nervous all night thinking how things were going, but after talking to Ariff, my fears were allayed!

They're going off to dinner now.
1. The wall still has to go up, but Ariff is not worried bc the main part is to get the pictures all up.
2. The pictures hopefully will be all hung up today.
3. Ask about the sound system - ask yunus about it.
4. Zamry was impressed (according to Ariff) when he saw the installation, so I'm happy!
5. Lighting still has to be installed tomorrow.
6. Cheshire Home is good. Mr. Chin (who works there) was really nice - drove to pick up the team.
7. Weather is rainy. Ariff, Man, Dang, and Razif are huge troopers for going thru with all this!

Asked Razif to take pictures of the process, so hopefully when they get back to KL they'll be able to post things up. And of course, I'm posting up a picture here to jazz things up!

Picture taken by Shahril Ibrahim.

Lighting and Artwork

Did some lighting tests on the exhibition photographs. It may be better to light it with white light for this nusajaya exhibition (Feb 23) given the colors in the photos.

Example images

Inspirational installation

Silvia just showed me this traveling installation made from ship containers that is incredibly beautiful. They used hangings, perhaps like our dura-trans printed photographs. http://ashesandsnow.org/

Floor Plan for Nusajaya Exhibit (Feb 23)

Soraya did the photo selects from Ariff's, Shahril's and Kamaruddin's photos. The installation was initially designed by the team on a paper mock-up with cut-out images of the actual photos. It was then developed into a sketchup 3D model as well as a digital floor plan and photo visualizations.

The sketchup files are at http://groups.google.com/group/artsforenvironment/files.


walkway3.skp is a properly scaled model but to see the pictures clearly look at walkway2.skp (not scaled correctly but pictures are bigger). To view you can download a free viewer at sketchup.

Below are some renditions on the look and feel of the exhibit.

Please note that the art in the images may not be in right location.

Lighting

Went to the lighting store today with Ariff and Shahril. SBS Elektrik Sdn Bhd on 115 Jln Thamboosamy off Jln Putra. +603-4043-1177. In any case, nice people. We chose a few lights and housings to test out. Hopefully we can purchase the lights tomorrow morning so that Shahril's dad can bring them to Johor for Murali (the contractor) to test out. At the moment we have two types of halogens. One is a 50W large 240V light, and the other is a smaller 50W with a 12V transformer. There's a plastic casing for the large light but we're afraid it'll melt so we have to modify it slightly (i.e. saw off the end), whereas the smaller light has a nice metal casing, which might be more weather resistant and overall more hardy for the exhibition. In any case, Ariff is going to test out the lights tonight so we can purchase the rest tomorrow. We need approximately 30 lights for about 25 pieces of art. Cost is about $18RM for the large light with housing and $16RM for the smaller light.


Update: The sawed off plastic casing for the large light (50W 240V) worked well but UEM is now going to do the lights and walls for the installation so we do not need to get the lighting. We talked to Alina from Pelita Hati Gallery and she recommended using yellow lights for more intimate effect but white lights for more uniform lighting. Since our exhibit is done on duratrans prints with backlighting, it may be better to use white lights. Another factor to consider is the color of the prints, a photograph with yellow colors might do better with white light than a yellow light since it will look more vibrant.

Arts Environment and the Koran

“Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea on account of what the hands of men have wrought, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may return” (30, 41)

Lo! We offered the trust
Unto the heavens and the
Earth and the hills,
But they shrank from bearing it
And were afraid of it
And man assumed it
Lo! He is a tyrant and a fool

—The Koran 33:72 (quoted in Dien 110)

I was just doing research on Islam and the environment, a topic that Soraya, Ariff, Shahril and myself have discussed as a possible viewpoint of getting more people to participate in Arts for the Environment. I just found a nifty link below:

http://ddm.iatp.az/ddm/amazen.html
Religion and the Environment

In any case, we were thinking of adding some of these verses to the exhibit possibly? Will it take away from the message of the images/prints displayed? Or will it add to it?

The largest riverine mangrove system in Johor State, located at the estuary of the Sungai Pulai river. With its associated seagrass beds, intertidal mudflats and inland freshwater riverine forest the site represents one of the best examples of a lowland tropical river basin, supporting a rich biodiversity dependent on mangrove. It is home for the rare and endemic small tree Avicennia lanata, animals such as near-threatened and vulnerable Long-tailed Macaque, Smooth Otter and rare Flat-headed Cat and threatened birds species as Mangrove Pitta and Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, all included in the IUCN Red List. Relatively undisturbed parts including the Nipah swamps may be nesting sites of the Estuarine Crocodile. The site fringes play a significant role in shoreline stabilization and severe flood prevention in the adjacent 38 villages. The local population depends on the estuary as its mudflats, an ideal feeding, spawning and fattening ground, support a significant proportion of fish species. Other mangrove uses include wood cutting, charcoal production, aquaculture activities and eco-tourism. The current construction of a new port at the river estuary may represent a direct impact on the mangrove ecosystem, causing coastal erosion and water pollution from associated dredging and reclamation works and traffic. The site is managed in line with Integrated Management Plan for the sustainable use of mangroves in Johor state. Ramsar site no. 1288. (Reference)

MDeC and Singapore Grants

Talked to MDeC the other day about how they can help sponsor Arts for the Environment. As it is, we do have an ad-hoc association, with funding from a gamut of sources; however, we are experiencing some level of difficulty when it comes to providing funds for the exhibitions. Most of the money goes into the materials for these exhibitions. Surprisingly, very little of the money goes to the artist. We haven't even began to think about how we will fund marketing and publicity.

I can see how MDeC can help sponsor the exhibition of Arts for the Environment events, but this model is unsustainable. We were thinking of artists donating part of their works to the organization, and the money from works sold would help fund future expeditions and exhibitions. But all work is not necessarily sellable.

Just looked into the Singapore National Arts Council. There appears to be some level of granting available in Singapore. How would that work? Would we be selling out?

Upcoming Exhibition: Nusajaya Launch

Struck an agreement with UEM to do an exhibit with the Nusajaya lauch, with the PM officiating on the 23rd of February. We were able to secure the porch entrance, just before the PM walks into the main gallery of the Nusajaya office.

I'm in the process of working out this budget, which is approximately RM20,000 - a sum that is considerable, but on par with most exhibitions. The advantage of getting this exhibit done right on the first pass is that we can reuse the materials again in future exhibitions.

The pictures displayed here are of the porch area.

Expedition: Pendas & Sg. Pulai

We recently went on an expedition on the 26th of January, to Sg. Pendas and the ramsar site at Sg. Pulai. The boatman, who's name escapes me, was experienced with taking us to unknown places for excellent shots. We started off at 5:45am and got back home around 2am. A long day, but well worth it. We got to the Nusajaya office in less than 2.5h, and started the boat around 10:30am. We were on the boat until approx 5:30pm. Shahril and Ariff went to get the rental car, and we had dinner around 7:30pm.

Not so much wildlife this time round. The weather was cool, with intermittent rain. The speedboat was fast, so I was glad I had my poncho on. While in the area, we saw a few mudskippers, and this monitor lizard trying to catch some sun. We also saw a few birds.

Ariff at one point got out of the boat in bare feet into the mangrove to take some shots!


Crew on board: Shahril, Dang, Raziff, Ariff, Man, and myself. (Clockwise from left)
We finished off with an awesome dinner on the jetty, with Assam Pedas (catfish - eek), prawn, chilli crab, siakap three tastes, kangkong belacan, salt fish kailan, and hot hot rice!

Arts and Earth Funding Model

Here's a prior exhibition that was put on for charity for the restoration of a river.

Arts and Earth - a charity exhibition

NST ONLINE
AUg 22:

ARTS + EARTH, a charity arts exhibition, will be held at the XOAS gallery from Aug 23 to Sept 15, in conjunction with this year’s World Environment Day.

Themed WATER, the show features works by artists, Ahmad Shukri, Umi Baizurah,Hamir Soib, Masnoor Ramli, Jack Ting and Jansen Chow. Each artist will express their thoughts and ideas on water degradation via the power of imagery.

The aim for this exhibition is to create awareness of environmental and conservation issues in Malaysia. Proceeds from the sale will go to the River Care Fund to provide monetary funds to work on the restoration of the river by local communities.

Tanjung Piai

The ramsar site has gotten the attention of the Prime Minister. The erosion of mangrove is discussed in an article titled "New Efforts to Save Tanjung Piai" in the NST, Friday January 12, 2007.

Funding models

We still have yet to identify a funding model. Will Arts for the Environment be a loose coalition, or will it be a not-for-profit organization? For the time being, we were thinking of asking the artists donate a few works of art in kind, in exchange for exhibition space, and also transporation to and from environmental sites.

I was doing a search for funding models and found a couple of interesting leads. One is the RSA Arts and Ecology program in the UK. This program appears to be tied to the government. There has also been a thinktank in Vancouver on Arts and Ecology and Sustainability.

In general, most of the programs seem to have some kind of governmental funding source.

Furthermore, some thoughts from my reading - there needs to be a greater collaboration from scientists and artists.
Idea: I don't think its just a matter of bringing artists to the sites, but also getting people to mix together more often. Perhaps this is one of the goals we should have when we have an opening at P Hati.

Found some interesting links:
www.greenmuseum.org
www.artsandecology.org
RSA website on arts and ecology

Exhibition space

We talked to Pelita Hati during their Rumah Melayu exhibit, and they are interested in helping us out in getting the word out to other artists, as well as help us with exhibiting the works. Will talk to Annuar and Elina on the 19th, at their opening.