Weekend for the arts: 'Chinese Opera' exhibition, 'No Jit?' roundtable
The newly opened Chinese Opera Exhibition: An Introduction And A Remembrance at Muzium Negara in Kuala Lumpur takes visitors into the vivid world of traditional Chinese opera – with its legendary tales, striking costumes, delicate props, and timeless music.
This special showcase is a collaboration between Muzium Negara and the Pat Woh Association Malaysia, a KL-based group known for preserving and promoting Cantonese opera.
It also how Malaysian Chinese opera draws from the Xiqu tradition, blending stylised acting, singing, graceful movement, and symbolic props.
Visitors can also learn about Malaysia's own opera legends – Siew Chan Wan (1919–2022) and Choo Sau Ying (1927–2003) – whose dedication kept the art form alive for future generations. Choy Him Heong, now 92, continues to be a living link to this enduring tradition.
From ornate headgear to hand-painted backdrops, intricate musical instruments to archival photographs, each display – there are more than 90 exhibits – reminds us how Chinese opera has long served as both entertainment and living heritage for generations of local communities.
Visitors can also explore a section dedicated to these instruments, from the erhu and yangqin to modern additions like the saxophone.
For a taste of the art form in action, the Pat Woh Association Malaysia's opera troupe will give a special live performance at Muzium Negara tomorrow (July 12) at noon. Admission free.
More info here.
A view of Sanan Anuar's new works - acrylic and screen printing - at the 'Outside-In' trio exhibition at Galeri Sasha in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Galeri Sasha Venue: Galeri Sasha, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur
Outside-In , opening tomorrow at Galeri Sasha, presents new works by Fauzan Fuad, Dhavinder Singh and Sanan Anuar - three Malaysian artists whose practices unfold away from the institutional art world. The title gestures toward thresholds: between private and public, interior and exterior, centre and margin. Through painting and mixed media, each artist turns inward, drawing from solitude and memory to explore how the self is shaped by its surroundings.
In part, Outside-In is a reflection on artistic position. Fauzan and Sanan are self-taught, while Dhavinder works in Penang, outside the country's main art hubs. Their practices evolve in quiet isolation, where distance becomes generative - allowing space for alternative languages and quiet acts of resistance.
Rather than declarations from the centre, these works offer an interior weather: subtle, personal, and clarifying. They remind us that distance can be both isolating and deeply illuminating.
More info here.
Pangrok Sulap's latest exhibition 'The Sound of Salience' is a survey of its bold, woodcut visions that reveal collective voices and social truths. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong EXHIBITION: PANGROK SULAP's 'THE SOUND OF SALIENCE' Venue: Tali Art Gallery, Petaling Jaya
Tali Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition featuring Sabahan art collective Pangrok Sulap's distinctive woodcut aesthetic, with works dating back to 2017 and also a series developed in Hong Kong.
Titled The Sound Of Salience , the exhibition presents eight main works and assorted prints that showcase Pangrok Sulap's signature fusion of social commentary and participatory printmaking.
Renowned for using art as a vehicle for social commentary, the collective's works serve as a bridge between communities and pressing issues like climate change, land rights, cultural identity, and sovereignty.
It's been increasingly difficult to catch the group's work in the Klang Valley, as Pangrok Sulap has been actively involved in residencies and exhibitions abroad - most recently with a strong showing at the University of Tennessee in the United States in March, and a community art festival in Patani, southern Thailand last month.
Formed in 2010, Pangrok Sulap is made up of artists, musicians, printmakers, and activists.
Free admission exhibition.
More info here.
The multi-layered theatre career of the late Jit Murad (1960-2022) takes centre stage at the 'No Jit?' roundtable discussion tomorrow (July 12) at Aswara, Kuala Lumpur - part of the ongoing JitFest 2025 programme. Photo: Filepic JITFEST 2025: 'NO JIT?' - ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION Venue: Main Lecture Hall, Aswara, Kuala Lumpur
After the triumphant theatre return of the late Jit Murad's Visits last month, JitFest 2025 shifts gears with an academic focus tomorrow morning. Titled No Jit?, this roundtable discussion (10.30am at Aswara), organised by Dramalab and Aswara, asks why there is so little sustained public discourse on Jit and his body of work beyond the occasional media feature.
The panel brings together academics, writers, and theatre practitioners — all inspired by Jit's work.
No Jit? will be moderated by Dr Niki Cheong, with speakers including Dr Susan Philip, who will examine Jit's work through a literary lens; Dr Ann Lee, who will discuss humour and comedy; and Fasyali Fadzly, who will reflect on theatre history and Jit's impact on Malaysian storytelling. Kam Raslan will sit in as the respondent.
The session will probe deeper questions: is the silence about Jit himself and his works, the state of English-language theatre, or a wider reluctance to engage critically with theatre in Malaysia at all?
Free admission event, but registration is required.
More info here.
Artist Lyne Ismail with the 'Energy Series (The Boy)' series, on display at Temu House. Photo: The Star/Yap Chee Hong EXHIBITION: LYNE ISMAIL'S 'CAT TOWN: ENERGY, MATTER, AND THE ART OF BECOMING' Venue: Temu House, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Cat Town: Energy, Matter And The Art Of Becoming brings science and art into thoughtful, immersive dialogue. Visual artist, material scientist, and academic Lyne Ismail invites viewers to explore abstraction, sensory perception, and expansive ideas through the lens of resonance and transformation.
On view is a new series of large abstract paintings alongside a live cymatic installation, where water responds to sound and vibration by forming intricate, mandala-like patterns. By making resonance visible, Lyne encourages viewers to feel their way into meaning, rather than decode it intellectually.
The exhibition also expands on her book Musings Of The Spring Water, launching in tandem with the show. Together, they offer a sensory and reflective journey into energy, intuition, and the act of becoming.
This Sunday (July 13, 3pm), Lyne reads from the book and shares personal reflections on the thoughts, intuitions, and inner movements that shape her writing and artistic practice.
More info here.
Alice Chang bridges art and history in 'Me, Then Blue', her new solo exhibition at Lai Lai Art Studio in Ampang. Photo: The Star/Yap Chee Hong EXHIBITION: ALICE CHANG'S 'ME, THEN BLUE' Venue: Lai Lai Art Gallery, Ampang, Selangor
In her fifth solo exhibition, Me, Then Blue, artist-sculptor Alice Chang shows us that there's beauty even in the broken, taking viewers into "the deep sea" by immersing the gallery in a mesmerising blue light.
The exhibition was inspired by the Wanli shipwreck, discovered by fishermen off the coast of Terengganu in the 1990s. After learning about it in 2019 and acquiring several bags of broken porcelain salvaged from the wreck, Chang decided to breathe new life into the fragments by transforming them into new sculptures.
The exhibition features these sculptures, alongside a series of expressive blue-and-white paintings that reflect Chang's personal interpretation of these centuries-old artefacts and their enduring journey through time.
More info here.
Ain (left) shares the inspiration behind her new 'Atas Pagar' series - a cut-up house grille. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli EXHIBITION: AIN'S 'ATAS PAGAR' Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan building, Kuala Lumpur
Newcomer artist Ain takes the spotlight at The Back Room gallery with her second solo exhibition, Atas Pagar.
Quiet and contemplative, the show is filled with the ashes of memories, comprising a series of new works in Ain's ash painting series, which sees her creating small paintings out of ceramic ash and pigments. The fragile nature of the paintings and their vulnerability to disintegration are part of the artist's ongoing concerns with memory and family history.
The exhibition takes its cue from an incident not too long ago when her grandmother's house in Kuantan, Pahang, was broken into. The way the burglar had cleanly cut through the metal grille over the kitchen window to enter the house stuck in Ain's imagination, which is why she also included said grille as part of the show.
Born in Bangkok and raised across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan, Ain draws on her diasporic upbringing in a practice that spans video, sculpture, painting, and installation.
More info here.
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