the observatory

Taming the Untamable -  Trying to control something massive, wild, emotional, or beyond your understanding — like raw passion, trauma, genius, or chaos. Exploiting Power -  Taking something majestic or primal and using it for spectacle or profit — echoing how King Kong was taken from his island and paraded in chains. Colonial or  Cultural Domination-  A metaphor for colonizing or suppressing indigenous power, beauty, or resistance — often read as commentary on race, power, or exoticism. Tragic Hubris -  The illusion of dominance over nature or fate, only to be undone by your own ambition (a modern Icarus or Frankenstein theme).

curator notes : the poorer the better. 

Aura is a quality integral to an artwork that cannot be communicated through mechanical reproduction techniques – such as photography. The term was used by Walter Benjamin in his influential 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.H.O.O.Q. put it simply, when you exposed to anything via secondary reading, class, lectures, rituals, gossips, rumors and notoriously the media - all these will construct a "mystical" aura or at least "an impression" towards the featured subject. Just like how Tun M reinventing himself as the saviour ( hero aura ) to beat the corrupted Najib's and his goons. But his aura soon dissipated unto thin air after series of successful failures and U-Turns. Just like how a "corrupted" politician found guilty to all his charges, you can see his 'loyal' followers still kissing his hands. Mind you - It can be a dangerous game questioning elements of aura. In order...

  This “democratic, chaotic yet it works “layered delicacy ABC reflects our wonderful identity. Malaysia where her name itself comes from our long passage of history is derived from several names such as The Malay Archipelago [1] , Malaya [2] (1965 - 1957), Suwarnadwipa [3] , Javadipa, Langkasuka, Kataha [4] , Chi Lan Tan [5] , Cho-Po = Vijaya = Srivijaya, referred by Arabs as Sribuza [6] , Inderapura, Melaka, Malayan Union [7] , The Malay Peninsula ( Semenanjung Tanah Melayu) composed of Straits Settlement (1786 — 1957) Federated Malay States and Un-federated Malay States, Malacca (1511 - 1402) and The Golden Chersonese. [8] Our culture today was influenced, moulded, and shaped through religions and colonialism. The cultural development is divided by Bahaudin, (1999:39) as:   i.Pre — history Era 2500 BC ii.Hindu — Buddha Influence Era 19t — 12th centuries AD iii.Islamic Civilization Influence Era 13th — 16th ce...

How I wish the lady in red look back and wink to the audience. Any subtle gestural movement will make it interesting. This thought run in my mind back in 2002 when I stand and contemplated upon Hoessein Enas’s Memetik Daun Tembakau. Hoessein Enas's Memetik Daun Tembakau Then in 2008, when I flipped Susurmasa’s catalog, Zabas wrote something that strikes me - Art history, production and experience that we want to conceive significantly must be approached broadly, taking into consideration whatever could be related to and connected with them (audience) – wherever possible [1] . The audience and the artwork must be connected, just like how we line up for cinema tickets, popcorn and transported from the grim reality to the celluloid fantasy for good one hour or two.         Looking back it can be same reason or motivation why we attend any “ART” exhibition. The problem is, we don’t pay anything to attend an art exhibit, but we...

choose between commenting, criticizing or act upon it. Which one is hard to do? It's the the act of doing something. Commenting, criticizing or saying something only requires someone to open their mouth, nothing more, nothing less. when someone doing something, you help them. For example, if they produced a show, published a book, buy a copy, a ticket - attend it, dont la mintak free complimentary ticket or products or worst - comments or criticism.  Kalau "free" pulak, excuses such as "busy", sorry,cant make it appeared. Lepas tu tekan like kat fb. Ada paham? You see, attending a free show also requires tremendous effort such as facing the traffic and investing time to experience the show. The time we invested upon it, we can never get it back.  Our life is way too short to deal with this perangai bangang. Its an unexplainable and contagious disease. I had enough of this.  Anyway Andrea gave me this photo, she mentioned that a mother took some t...

"Apa ni......why you cooked all grandma's favourite food?" i asked my mum.  My mum woke up at 5am battling pots and pans cooking all the dishes ( which can be found in our CNY eve table ) 3 - 4 days before Chinese New Year, will repeat this process again when Hungry Ghost Festival is around the corner. "kita ni mo celebrate Chu Sian" mum replied. "Chu Sian?" my head is spinning to find what is the meaning of Chu Sian, that time there is no Google Translate and whatever dictionary able to help you.  ( Chu Sian  is a Hokkien term = prayers to the ancestors - we always do this in Qing Ming Festival, death anniversary of our loved ones ) Lets jump to Coco - a beautiful animated film by Pixar where we can see the plot is placed in Mexico and yes the  Día de Muertos.  Day of the Dead is a  Mexican  holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular the Central and South regions, and by people of Mexican ancestry living in other pla...