CAN Malaysia’s art and culture scene be turned into a bigger economic contributor on the global stage? Some of the key voices in the art scene seem to believe so, as indicated at a forum held after artist Ali Nurazmal Yusoff kicked off his latest art show Artconomics last weekend in Kuala Lumpur.
That said, they also believe there is a long way to get to that point. For Artconomics project director Amin Sufian, there needs to be a solid economy in place first.
“We first need to have a good economic plan, as everything comes through the economy and how well it is developed. From there, it has to be merged with cultural appreciation, as it correlates to it,” said Amin, who was also the forum’s moderator.
To appreciate the culture behind Malaysia’s art, its history has to be looked at. For those in attendance, The AFK Collection curator Zena Khan briefly ran down the rich history of the local art scene, particularly contemporary art.
“In Malaysia, the contemporary art movement emerged as artists were making art that was reflective of a dynamic and specific environment as Malaysia developed about 20 years or so after independence,” she said as one of the forum’s three panellists.
“You can think of the 1980s as the emergence of a contemporary movement. I often refer to it as a slow-burn, where you have the movement emerge, pick up its pace and in the 1990s, it really exploded.”
Art reflective of society
For contemporary art, it was representative of what life had been like under colonial ideology.
“When we think of Nurazmal, whose solo show we’re currently sitting in, these were all artists who were taught by the early pioneer contemporary artists who gained from their technical skills and were part of the critical discourse.
“A lot of the work that was being made was reflecting the socioeconomic, sociocultural and sociopolitical shifts seen in Malaysian society that were a result of economic, political, educational and social policies implemented after independence,” Zena explained.
Fellow panellist and contemporary art specialist Azhar Ahmad added that despite the transition from one movement to another, the art market is still dictated by the “issue of modernism versus contemporary”.
Although the panel agreed that there was great value in Malaysian art, they seemed gridlocked in how to further propel the scene and its value further, until the most unique perspective came from the crowd.
Monetising culture
A key figure behind several iterations of key arts event CIMB Artober – Ismail Ani Arope – added his voice to the conversation, saying that Malaysia should look towards South Korea.
“I crudely put it as ‘monetising culture’ and the Koreans have kind of figured it out, as they went through a sort of similar development phase as Malaysia,” he said.
He explained that the country was struggling and poorer than Malaysia, and then they started to emulate Japan, believing that the money was in electrical and electronic products.
“They were doing this until it dawned on them, somewhere in the 1990s, that the profit from Jurassic Park was equivalent to selling something like 25 million electronic goods. Something in them clicked: ‘What is cinema and film? It is imagination, culture, art, special effects, creativity and so on.’
“They then figured it out. Now, imagine how we perceive Samsung. We look at it with almost a certain degree of respect because it is cool and behind the company, there is Korean pop culture from its history to music.”
He goes on to say that discussions like the forum are critical in tackling the question of how Malaysia’s art and culture can be elevated.
“We have a knee-jerk reaction when someone like Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh wins an Oscar, and it motivates us to want to do the same. Then we look at places like South Korea and K-pop, and feel like Malaysia can do the same.
“But how do we get there? We get there by starting with these conversations. Then we figure out, slowly, how to monetise our culture.”
