The Curse of the Forbidden Palace

Nobody expected that a bunch of guys writhing about in white body paint would pull such a crowd. Maybe it was the men in loin cloth that intrigued everyone. Maybe it was the word Butoh. But who would have thought there was a market for what my friend Jerome Kugan calls "abstract drag show"?

Yes, last weekend (Apr 5-7), we presented the weird and inscrutable Nyoba Kan's multi-disciplinary, multi-sensory The Curse of the Forbidden Palace. Their works are kinda like Over-The-Top but in slowmo. This installation of installations (featuring the collaboration of Lee Swee Keong, Kiea Kuan Nam, Caecar Chong, Ooi Huei Si, Loh Kok Man, Berg Lee, Chor Guan Ng, Au Sow Yee) packed in audiences: about 120 on the first night, and close to 200 on the last night. We even had to turn away people (sorry Datuk Shoe Designer, our front-of-house staff doesn't know his fashion icons!).

The Curse of the Forbidden Palace presents China's Empress Dowager CI XI (she was the mean woman portrayed in The Last Emperor as the one who controlled the Last Emperor's every move; her rule resulted in Imperial China being taken over by the Kuomintang). Here are photos for the one prelude and three scenes:

Prelude: Moon falls, crows call (photo by Guan)

Scene 1: Holy Mother of Middle Kingdom (by Guan)

Scene 2: Springtime in Secret Garden (by Yew Kong)

Scene 3: Sun sets on Forbidden Palace (by Guan)

Just for the record, Butoh is not just a bad word, it is a Japanese post-war dance. It revels in white body paint and grotesque imagery. Swee Keong believes that one has to go through the grotesque, "the torturous extremes" in order to find peace. My friend Julian thinks that it is taking off in Malaysia because it allows for so much angst!

To end, I wanna say it was an honour to be able to host a Lee Swee Keong show here (that's him in the last picture above, painting the words "In the end, it is nothing..."), and to be asked to be the MC for the show. Sorry for the bad jokes, fellas ("This is the Chinese version of the nasi kangkang!"). I have been a fan of Lee Swee Keong for a long time now. He has a small cult following in Malaysia. I remember his weirdly titled A Cherry Bludgeoned, A Spirit Crushed which was so irreverent to dance itself, and his Green Snake, which was so creepy and clever, I always wish he would get the number of audience he deserved. But now we all feel kinda vindicated. A sold-out show for Lee Swee Keong! Even Guan our composer had to make more CDs of his original soundtrack to sell!

Once again, sorry to those who had to be turned away. We are planning another Butoh performance in August, featuring a collaboration between Nyoba and Lena Ang, the woman who brought Butoh to Malaysian and who inspired Swee Keong to take it up. More info later!

No Rest for the Wicked

The Annexe has been up and somersaulting since Jan this year. We have had:
1. Malam Buka Panggung (arty blessing ceremony)
2. NYKL (joint photo exhibition with US Embassy)
3. Art Bites workshops (20 workshops in 2 days - we'll never be this crazy again!)
4. Pelukis CM exhibition (celebrating CM's resident artists)
5. Dina Zaman's book launch
5. Yoshida Tatsuya (legendary avant-garde Japanese drummer joined by local bands)
7. Benjamin Zephaniah reading (legendary British poet, joined by Jerome Kugan, Rahmat Haron, and kids from the demolished Kampung Berembang)
8. History of Philosophy class by Hishamuddin Rais every week
9. Curse of the Forbidden Palace (experimental performance by Nyoba Kan)...

as well as film screenings by KOMAS, and gigs organised by RiceCooker.

As the arts programme director, I have not had much rest since then; every time I have a nice massage, my body groans to be kneaded again the next day. I've grown so skinny from all the manual labour - carrying chairs, hanging paintings, juggling artistic egos. Thankfully, I've been joined by visual artist Saiful Razman who is in charge of managing the spaces, and former Five Arts Centre admin staff and chef extrodinaire Lim Chung Wei, who is our Production Manager. Together, we are determined to be in the Malaysian Book of Records as the sexiest arts admin staff in Malaysia.

Our year is almost booked up already, so if you have an exciting programme in need of space, be quick and send in your proposal now. Meanwhile, we have nothing much on these two weeks. It will give us a chance to make some long term plans, put up basic info kit/website/blogs/etc. And also, rest! People starving to catch something arty are always welcome to come and watch us do nothing. It will be like a Nyoba performance, but with more clothes.