Tag: Lumut

Hantu Tinggi

~ The Koboi Project

The Koboi performances involve integrating themes that arise from the location of the event with the abiding themes of the Koboi Project – 1) the persona of the black hat cowboy, 2) the giant SUPERSTAR banner , and 3) the ritual offering. The SUPERSTAR banner brings a sense of scale, both immediate physical size and the more expansive sense of mass media projection. The first SUPERSTAR banner carried a representation of inimitable Kollywood giant Rajinikanth. It was initially raised at the Burning Man Festival 2017, and later presented in Tokyo 2018, Bangkok 2018, and Lisbon 2018 & 2019. For the Dari Pusat Tasek performance at Percha Artspace, Lumut, Perak in December 2019, the image of Rajinikanth was replaced by that of Malaysian political colossus, Anwar Ibrahim. This Anwar Banner was raised again at Kapallorek Artspace, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak in August 2023.

Bandar Seri Iskandar is a new university town, a recent development in an older area known as Bota. ‘Bota‘ derives from the Sanskrit bhūta (demon) and refers to a local ‘giant’. According to folklore, once upon a time, giants inhabited this area and the old place names of the surrounding areas – Bota Kanan, Bota Kiri and Ekor Bota, stem from layering the image of a fallen giant over a landscape shaped by the Perak river. If one were to understand this physical territory in terms of the ontology of the traditional Malay cosmos, one might see it as being contiguous with the area known as Padang Jauh dan Puncak Gunung.

With both SUPERSTARS and Botas in mind, a propitiation was made, at the start of the Pokok Pauh Janggi performance (see notes) to all the Hantu Tinggi. Struggling against the wind that arose at this time, I lit a red candle at the near the massive Gergasi Bota mural on the Kapallorek building, while calling out,
.
Aku minta’ ampun kapada sagala Hantu Tinggi!
I ask forgiveness of all Tall Ghosts (Giants)!

At this very moment, the SUPERSTAR banner, that had been previously raised, collapsed in a sudden gust of wind, as if to indicate the Hantu Tinggi did not quite approve! Having raised the banner again, and having secured it properly this time, I placed the lighted candle at its foot.

https://sangpengembaraalamkehidupan.blogspot.com/2017/03/lagenda-gergasi-bota-sebuah.html

Di Antara Saudara Mara

~ The Koboi Project

The Koboi Project thanks Sang Nabil Utama and Hamzah Yazd for their contribution to the performance/ exhibitions Dari Pusat Tasek at Percha Artspace, Lumut, Perak, 2019 and Pokok Pauh Janggi at Kapallorek Artspace in Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, 2023).

Pokok Pauh Janggi runs from 5th Aug – 30th Sept 2023 at the Kapallorek Artspace in Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak.

https://www.facebook.com/percha.artspace/

https://www.kapallorek.com/my/

The Koboi Returns 2023 – 2

~ The Koboi Project

According to Md. Salleh Yaspat (in Malaysian World View edited by Mohd Taib Osman. Mohd Taib Osman) the Traditional Malay Cosmology can be visualized as in the above diagram, whose key is is as follows: 1. Dunia: inhabited by Man, animals, plants, objects, spirits; 2. Pusat Tasik Pauh Janggi: inhabited by Nagas, Jins, Garudas; 3. Padang Jauh dan Puncak Gunung: inhabited by Giants, jins; 4. Pulau Buah: inhabited by Ancestral spirits; 5. Kayangan: inhabited by Dewa, Perman; 6. Dasar Laut: inhabited by Raja Lebis.

In December 2019, I did a Koboi Performance for Percha Art Space in Lumut after which I left for Vancouver. I will now return to Malaysia in August this year (2023) and, to mark my return, I am working towards another Koboi Performance, the details of which will be announced shortly.

https://books.google.com.my/books?id=-AR-V3ymAzoC&pg=PA274&lpg=PA274&dq=mohd+taib+osman+pusat+tasik&source=bl&ots=Ck_2ts5cvN&sig=ACfU3U189ige7-t0nqKA3yKcLDIurDnuoQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi688zh_sDmAhVT8XMBHaXlC1QQ6AEwAXoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=mohd%20taib%20osman%20pusat%20tasik&f=false

The Koboi Returns 2023

~ The Koboi Project

In December 2019, I did a Koboi Performance for Percha Art Space in Lumut, in which I raised a new SUPERSTAR banner depicting a giant hoarding of Anwar Ibrahim. I performed a cleansing ritual on the Lumut waterfront and left for Vancouver soon after. I will return to Malaysia in August this year (2023).

Since my performance, and after a long struggle, Anwar Ibrahim has become the 10th Prime Minister of the nation and holds on to this seat by the skin of his teeth. Anwar incredible return to power, after a quarter-century perjuangan, is an exemplary Hero’s journey – a striking display determination, endurance and a sense of destiny. To mark my own much less momentous return, I am working towards another Koboi Performance the details of which will be announced shortly.

Ke Mana Malaysia Kita? 21

~ The Koboi Project

Anwar Ibrahim clears his first test as PM as a self imposed vote of confidence on his government passes. This, despite insinuations by Hamzah Zainuddin, the leader of the PN opposition of homosexuality by way of mentioning a scurrilous headline in the Italian Nova News.

The image is from the Dari Pusat Tasek  installation and performance at Percha Artspace, Lumut Perak Malaysia, which ran from December 2019 -January 2020. The photographs of this event, constitute a work tentatively Panji Pauh Ulung which ispart of the Koboi Project. My essay contextualizing this work, The Koboi Project: diasporic Artist… diasporic Art, is included in Interlaced Journey: Diaspora and the Contemporary in Southeast Asian Art edited by Patrick D. Flores & Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani.

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/648587

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/12/19/chaos-in-dewan-as-hamzah-cites-report-on-1st-homosexual-pm/

https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/Malaysia-first-gay-premier-in-Islamic-country/

http://pcan.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Interlaced-Journey_E-BOOK.pdf

Koboi in Lumut 2019

~ The Koboi Project

The Dari Pusat Tasek performance took place on the Lumut Waterfront, Perak under the auspices of the Percha Artspace on 25th Dec 2019. Sang Nabil Utama and I raised a 15 ft banner image of Anwar Ibrahim in a performance that was loosely based on a Perak Malay cleansing ritual using cut limes. I rubbed 7 points of my body with lime, then faced East and spat 7 times. I threw the remains of the limes towards the West direction saying, “Pergi-lah semua sial jambalang daripada badan aku dan dari tubuh negara, pergilah ke Pusat Tasek Pauh Janggi“ (‘Misfortune and spirits of evil begone from my body and from the body of the nation, begone to the Navel of the Seas!). Water was then poured over me in order to complete the cleansing.

1 Kibaran Bendera

~ The Koboi Project ~ Leave a comment

Anwar Ibrahim will have his audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the 13 October 2020, and, if he proves that he has the numbers to usurp the incumbent, he will at long last fulfill what has been, for him, a life-long quest for power. While I would not presume to celebrate this outcome as being for the good of nation, given that it will, after all be another ‘back-door’ government fomented in a cauldron of leaping ‘frogs’, I would, however, like to confess, before the outcome of this highly unpredictable scenario is known, that my own sympathies are with Anwar Ibrahim. I wish him godspeed in what is, potentially, a closing play in what has been a long game.

As a practitioner of the visual arts, essentially the art of signs, I can not but discern an aptness of symbolism in that, given the spectre of sodomy (a crime which , rightly or wrongly, he has been charged, convicted and pardoned) that hangs over Anwar, this perpetual challenger for the Malaysian premiership might, finally, attain his heart’s desire through the so called ‘back door’!

At a previous moment in this struggle, I presented the Dari Pusat Tasek  installation and performance at Percha Artspace, Lumut Perak Malaysia, which ran from December 2019 -January 2020. The photographs of this event, constitute a work tentatively titled Panji Pauh Ulung which is the 13th series of the Koboi Project. My essay contextualizing this project, The Koboi Project: diasporic Artist… diasporic Art, is included in Interlaced Journey: Diaspora and the Contemporary in Southeast Asian Art edited by Patrick D. Flores & Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani.

http://pcan.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Interlaced-Journey_E-BOOK.pdf

​

Dari Pusat Tasek 30

~ The Koboi Project ~ Leave a comment

In the Dari Pusat Tasek performance, I was assisted by Sang Nabil Utama who is musician, sound engineer, sonologist and a committed Malay culture activist. We were introduced by Azizan Paiman the afternoon before the event at which time we first discussed the underlying ideas and possible controversies of the performance. We refined and rehearsed the performance that night, and went on to execute the event the next afternoon (25 Dec 2019).

This intervention in the public space of the Lumut Waterfront, which was based on a Perak Malay cleansing ritual, was grounded and given poignancy by the fact that Sang Nabil Utama is a native orang Perak. It was also great working with Nabil as he showed great sensitivity to my approach and generously offered his own ideas about Malay ritual form in a way that brought the best out of the performance.

Dari Pusat Tasek 12

~ The Koboi Project ~ Leave a comment

In connection with my show at Percha Artspace titled Dari Pusat Tasek, which runs till 5 Jan 2020, I ask the obvious question – where is the Pusat Tasek Pauh Janggi (Navel of the Seas)? The performance carried out on the Lumut Waterfront was based on a Perak Malay cleansing ritual that purports to wash all the sial jambalang (ill luck and malevolent spirits) away to the Navel of the Seas.. Many sources on the location of the Pusat Tasek place it somewhere in the South China Sea or Southwest thereof. According to Antonio Pigafetta, a mariner on Ferdinand Magellan’s pioneering voyage of ‘discovery’ (1518-1522), there were local tales of an island surrounded by whirlpools, somewhere north or south of Java Major (Borneo), called Puzathaer  (Pusat air?) .​ The location of this Pusat Tasek varies, however, with the source of the myth. According to a Perak legend associated with the installation of its first Sultan, Mudzaffar Shah I, the Pusat Tasek is located somewhere off the mouth of the Perak river, beyond the extensive sandbanks there. This area, named Beting Beras Basah or Beras Basah Sandbank, is known as a deeply magical place – one filled with all manner of makhluk ghaib (supernatural beings).

http://sambali.blogspot.com/2008/04/kuroshio-current-and-navel-of-sea.html

​http://catatanberkat.blogspot.com/2015/05/rahsia-beting-bersah.html

Dari Pusat Tasek 8

~ The Koboi Project

The Dari Pusat Tasek exhibition runs at Percha Artspace, Lumut Waterfront till 5 Jan 2020 (EXTENDED TILL 19 JAN 2020). The gallery presents the Koboi Balik Kampung Series as well as a record or residue of the Dari Pusat Tasek performance that took place on the 25 Dec 2019. This performance stems from the 12th series of the koboi project that carries the same name and which is based on two images. The first of these is a shot of the Koboi standing at the base of a 35 ft elections hoarding of Malaysian prime minister in waiting, Awar Ibrahim at Kampung Indian Settlement, Batu Caves. It is titled Naan Anaiyttal.

Hanging in the Percha gallery is a t-shirt bearing the second image titled Rockin Cowboy. This is the t-shirt worn by Sang Nabil Utama during the performance at the Lumut Waterfront. This is a shot of the koboi outside the Rockin Cowboy Western store on Broadway, Vancouver. This is where I got my hat, boots and shirts  for the first Koboi performance at the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 2013. I bought one black and one white version of the Rockmount Classic Sawtooth Western  shirt. The white shirt is now in the collection of the National Art Gallery. Since then, I have acquired much of my gear for the Koboi Project at the Rockin Cowboy. In the photo with me are Dave Lawr and Danny Kresnyak from the store.