This essay brings together my recent conversations with artist Chang Yoong Chia and my own observations with regards to Quilt of the Dead as a part of his art practice which has developed outside of the studio, and takes a two-folded approach towards an understanding of Chang’s “worlding.” Worlding is a term used by Heidegger, associated with the ongoing process of how one creates his or her experience of being in the world. Understanding Chang’s worlding in this sense could give us a glimpse has influenced the ways in which he has structured his identity in relation to the world system network. Meanwhile, John Clark also uses the term “worlding,” as a way of “making local interpretive frames visible in a global perspective” in relation to the Asian Modern in art practices across borders and generations, 1  and with this in mind, I look into how Chang’s worlding challenges the structures and meanings of art-making as a departure from his formal training.

Almost all of Chang’s art practice is studio-based, and involves internalizing his world and expressing this through making art on canvas and found objects. The Quilt of the Dead performances and workshops, however, turn this process the other way around, where Chang tries to make sense of his world from external engagement. This performance-based artwork is also an ongoing collaboration with his wife, Teoh Ming Wah, where they conduct workshops and engage with different communities during exhibitions and artist-in-residency programs. This massive project is represented in a large format quilt made up of embroideries on white cotton cloth, each embroidery based on a photograph of deceased people taken from newspaper obituaries and other sources.

Embroidery is perceived as feminine domestic craftwork among traditional societies, and its symbolism creates a betwixt and between space for Chang to immaterialize boundaries between artist and audiences, and between participants at performances and workshops. Bringing and sharing openly an object like a photograph of a deceased person or pet during a workshop can be intense, while the act of embroidering the image of a lost loved one can trigger memories of a shared experience among participants. Quilt of the Dead connects a personal vulnerability to collective emotions about death and loss and performs as an instrument for collecting personal and shared memories of traumatic events, transcending place, time and cultural boundaries in a small act of human solidarity.   

The Quilt of the Dead project evolved from Book of the Dead, Chang’s first attempt at performance art at the groundbreaking Chow Kit Fest in 2002, 2  where Chang was involved as a co-organizer and participating artist. The collectivism pushed Chang to pursue different perspectives in art-making through actively engaging dialogue, creating supporting networks and making space for his art while traveling to different countries and places during artist residency programs. This process of external engagement helped to stretch Chang’s flexibility, spontaneity and confidence to respond and adapt to different geographical, social and historical contexts, symbols and languages.

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1. Clark, John, The Worlding of the Asian Modern, 2014, Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making, ANU Press, Australia.

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2. Chaos and Cacophony at Chow Kit: For better or worse, the Chow Kit Fest resembles the glorious mess of the lawless district by Pang Khee Teik, 14-05-2002, Kakiseni.com. http://changyoongchia.net/reviews/quit-of-the-dead-kakiseni2

 

SPACEKRAFT: Liminality and the Search for Boundaries

Around 1999, a batch of young creative vultures in their late twenties, from diverse art practices and backgrounds decided to get together and named themselves Spacekraft as a collective. Chang,who had graduated from the diploma programme at Malaysian Institute of Art (MIA), majoring in painting, was a founding member of the collective, together with Gan Siong King, Wong Tay Sy, Ena Hadzir, Jiji Ishak, Ifzan Ibrahim, Yati and Dzurina Dzulkhaini. Tan Sei Hon and Mark Teh joined later as members.

 Spacekraft began as a shared art space for working across disciplines. Chang and his contemporaries caught the last wave of 1990s, during which a burgeoning courage to question systems and explore boundaries 3  sparked the emergence of an independent arts scene, inspiring an increasing number of alternative art groups which have been mushrooming since the 1990s until today. Spacekraft expressed how a group of young artists felt when they knew there was a piece of themselves that had not really been put together yet. They were on this great search, needing to find out who they really were through the process of re-institutionalizing shared experiences, network systems and language together.

When I texted Spacekraft co-founder, Gan Siong King, to ask “Why was the collective named as Spacekraft?” he replied:
The earliest version of Spacekraft had an actual brick and mortar space, which [we rented from] one of the co-founder and designer, Ena’s dad who generously offered [it] to us through Ena to do something creative with. Therefore, we thought Ena should have priority to name this collective… we [were] not so particular about the name. We were just happy to have an artist-run space. If I [remember] correctly, she said it is a space for arts and craft. At that time, we were also sharing that small space with her then husband, who is a designer. But she added a twist by spelling craft in Malay, hence there’s the birth of Spacekraft.

He added, “After we [lost] the space, your husband [Tan Sei Hon] correctly noted we should be called Spacelesskraft. Which is funny and something we should have done. But like I said, [the] name wasn’t too important for us.”  

Gan in his always carefree tone reflects how Spacekraft operated in a fluid manner, as an open-ended creative enquiry. Within or without brick and mortar walls, Spacekraft performed as an alternative and autonomous art space that allowed these young artists and designers to practice interdisciplinary art and media to manifest their ideas. 4  The space allowed them to experiment, to re-instutionalize social culture through locality, context, and engagement. As a collective, they optimized their energy to grasp the nettle to explore possibilities in this eclectic city, constructing their world based on what they believed. They self-organized exhibitions and collaborative network programs like Artists’ Survival Kit, an easily duplicable DIY artist guidebook and knowledge-sharing workshop. And before they disbanded in 2002, they held the ground-breaking place-based Chow Kit Fest 2002, a festival consisting of a site-specific art exhibition, performances, music gigs, film screenings and art talks in the heart of KL, social-ethnic melting pot wet market at one of its major crossroads. Chow Kit Fest 2002 amplified grunge, alternative and DIY motivations among young artists who critically distanced themselves from commercialization and institutional control. Spacekraft was an alternative way of being independent, socially engaged and making connections by creating a new network system; it might have been framed in a later context as an interdependent ecosystem. Chow Kit Fest 2002 was their spaceship; this spaceship was launched as a milestone for developments beyond their time, to inspire numerous creative art fests to come, like Urbanscapes 5  and Notthatbalai Art Festival. 6

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3. Antoinette, Michelle, Different Versions: Contemporary Malaysian Art and Exhibition in the 1990s and Beyond

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4. Ibid.

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5. Urbanscape stated as the longest run creative art festival that consist exhibitions, concerts/gigs, designs, artisen bazaar, performing, films etc interdisciplinary art and media that established since 2002. https://www.redbull.com/my-en/15-years-urbanscapes-malaysia-music-arts-festival

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6. Notthatbalai Art Festival 2004, 2005 & 2007 initiated by Lostgens Contemporary Art Space collaboration with individual artists debating autonomous of space, exhibition and artists expressions without commercialization and institutional control.   http://notthatbalai.blogspot.com/

 

MAN ON THE MOON

I first met Chang when I happened to join the Spacekrafters’ karaoke session right after their Chow Kit Fest post-mortem meeting. My now husband, Tan Sei Hon, gave me great privilege to close with this insurgency contemporary. I remember Chang at the karaoke box, picking up the mic and singing “Man on The Moon.” When I brought up this memory, Chang chuckled but could not recall which song he sang: “It was a long, long time ago. Nevertheless, Man On The Moon is still is one of my favorite songs.”

The lyrics to this mesmerizing swashy mooshy song, released in 1992, were written by Michael Stipe, the lead singer of the American alternative rock band, R.E.M. The lyrics pay tribute to American TV and reality show surrealist comedian and performance artist, Andy Kaufmann. Stipe traces Andy’s life trajectory to give his audience a picture of America’s post-war national history. Reading between the lines, while “Man on the Moon” makes fun of reality TV and American propaganda, it was framed to question the pioneering vision, and challenged social norms, moral judgementalism, the conspiracy of commercialism, and institutional control through the media. It was really something to witness the Spacekrafters sing along to “Man on the Moon” and see how pop culture shaped the common interest of the group in crafting and imagining their space.



Rites of Passage; Sites of Memory and History

Between 10 and 30 October 2018, the artist and I had a number of random conversations about Quilt of the Dead, his involvement in Spacekraft and his definition of art. I draw from them below.

How and when do you think you started to develop social and political conscious?

I only started being aware of the social and politic scenario in 1998; it was quite a late realization in my life. Before that, when I was about to graduate, I saw KL’s landscape as tremendously progressive and becoming modern. I took pride in Malaysia’s achievements during the 90s. At the time, they were the Twin Towers, then the tallest building in the world, Commonwealth Games and Stadium Bukit Jalil; Malaysia won Thomas Cup, and the ‘Malaysia Boleh’ slogan became rooted in every Malaysian’s memory. Parallel to this, the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and advancements in technology were changing the speed of communication and information. In contrast to fine art, graphic design courses became popular because of emerging developments in technology, the graphic designer’s job was seen as full of potential. But during that time, the cityscape was still really dry in terms of visual culture and graphics–imagine, cinemas were still using handpainted movie posters on large-scale canvases to advertise upcoming movie features. My early visual reading inspiration was Marvel comics, which I could conveniently get from the magazine and newspaper stand in my “Taman” [which was designated terrace style urban residential plan] any sources of information and materials from outside world were so precious. Then later I got exposed to different genre of music through MTV. I started to taste freedom, and to wander around and explore the city. That was a great time to be a freelancer, because most of the projects were well-paid and provided financial security to sustain my art practices. The future seemed promising, the economy was flourishing and this gave me great optimism to pursue my dreams. The window of my world was opening up. I even found artists were granted more space for freedom of expression, many daring artworks involving social criticism and commentary were produced at that time, compared to when I was growing up, when home gatherings or parties could be easily conceived as illegal assemblies. Life was simple though and still bounded by my home, TV, Taman area, working place, and the route between KL and my Taman.

When Chang mentioned his route between his home and KL city centre, I immediately related to his Lunar Peaks comic 7  (the original sketch and hand drawn comic was also selected for display in the Quilt of the Death section of the exhibition Second Life). “I remember Lunar Peaks greeting me like a welcome beacon into Kuala Lumpur…” is the opening line of the comic. Chang describes how he travelled around in a pink minibus, and this would go around a huge roundabout entering, exiting then re-entering again into the city where the public sculpture Lunar Peaks performed as a nucleus for him to re-imagine his inner space in relation to this congested traffic, the modern landscape, art and his universe.
However, this promising time, living my ideal lifestyle was disrupted in 1997, with the world economic crisis, followed Malaysia political crisis in 1998. I was shocked when the former deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim was detained under International Security Act (ISA). I still remember it was an exhibition opening night at Valentine Willie Fine Art, where I was working, and that night was unusual, everyone was talking in a serious tone. I overheard them saying, “Do you know what happened? Anwar has just been detained!” That political backlash woke me up from my little world. I started to engage with larger socio-political concerns. This time of confusion, together with a stagnating economy directly impacted me and my life. My euphoria towards progressive modern Malaysia stopped and got locked away in 1998. My anxiety towards this [government?] system lingered around until right after the 2018 election, when Anwar was released and the formation of New Malaysia finally unlocked my sense of belief in this country, finding a way to continue after that [long moment of] pause.

So when Spacekraft came together, it was as young adults during an economic and social-political crisis. The socio-political dilemma stirred up strong sentiments of insecurity, uncertainty and self-doubt, and a distrust of established ideologies, systems, values, and beliefs. Amidst the noise and hype surrounding politics and the economy at the time, contemporary artists channeled their confusion, social commentary and criticism towards politics, identity and power through contemporary art responding to post National Cultural Policy and New Economy Policy development. Examples include Wong Hoy Cheong’s performance art/installation, Lalang in 1994 (as part of War Box, Lalang, Killing Tools, a seminal exhibition by Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Wong Hoy Cheong and Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin at the Creative Centre, National Art Gallery. Wong’s Lalang performance-installation was took place in several phases, which began with growing lalang (weed) on the lawn of the Creative Center two months before the exhibition. Wong then sprayed it with weedkiller with local underground punk band, Carburetor Dung playing at this event, then cut, burned and re-turfed the lawn. The work could be read as the attempt to eliminate anything growing against dogma, which fails because the spirit of (lalang) resilience be control and told how to grow. and its final performance was carried our on the 7th anniversary of Operation Lalang. 8  Wong had begun teaching at MIA where Chang was studying at the time, and invited Chang to take part in the work.
 
Did your involvement in Wong Hoy Cheong’s Lalang installation/performance have an impact on your art practice?

I’m not sure, because I was too young and green at that time to understand performance or installation art. When I enrolled at MIA, I only knew him as a lecturer for one semester. However, I got involved in his Lalang installation and performance artwork briefly as one of his protégés. I got to cut the lalang together with a few seniors, but then I got a fever and was unable to join in the following process. I watched the performance at Balai [The National Art Gallery]. At that time we liked to squat just anywhere like ah pek, so we were squatting around the installation site watching Hoy Cheong performing (laugh). It was an experience to me but I wasn’t really fully aware what was happening.

Is Quilt of the Dead the largest artwork that you have ever made?

Is it the largest artwork? (Pause). To a certain degree, it definitely is my largest project in that required the most energy and time. I still don’t know when and how to stop this evolving process although it should be completed when it gets to 10 x 10 feet, the goal I set at the beginning.

Did you propose to do performance art for the Chow Kit Fest from the beginning?

No, it was Gan who baited me about doing something different for Chow Kit Fest and I accepted his suggestion as a challenge to my practice as a painter.

Were there any particular challenges while you performed at public spaces? Did you experience any difficulties in engaging in dialogue with your audience?

The medium chosen for this performance allows me to travel easily to different places. Thread, needle and embroidery hoop can be casually stored in my bag and I just need to carry a plastic stool as my mobile performance art station. So far, the worst reaction that I’ve received has been from those who have ignored me, but surprisingly my stitching act has managed to draw curiosity from random audiences and I have been approached in a kindly way by them. Most of them have been impressed by and praised my stitching skills although conversations about death might be too intimate to go far, especially in an open public space. After a while, the performance helped me to break through my own fear towards my surroundings, and I felt more connected and hence improved my communication skills with people in general.

I think we should not distinguish between definitions of art and craft. Art and craft are no different, and they achieve a kind of alchemy in my art-making. Being Asian, craft is more fascinating and close to my social-cultural background, although the education syllabus [at MIA] gave me full exposure to Western modern art. I feel painting is still distanced from society, so I try to incorporate craft elements into my art-making like stitching, sculpting and cutting, so that my art language gets closer to the audience and is more easily accepted.

The idea of Quilt of the Dead is emotionally tied to the passing of Chang’s beloved grandmother. This was Chang’s first encounter with death and the fights among family members caused by religion differences scarred a 17-year-old teenager’s faith and beliefs in cultural values. He painted Family Portrait in 1994 based on a group photo of his family members in front of his grandmother’s coffin. The painting maintains the dignity of a formal family portrait, but the contrast between the dark and earthy coloured foreground and the bright windows and door in the background behind the figures suggests a deeply emotional inner room which Chang is looking for an escape or perhaps relief.

After Chow Kit Fest pushed Chang to shift his practice onto a different platform beyond the studio, the development of Quilt of the Dead opened a new dimension for Chang’s world. Performing the work not only exposed him to the public but also provided a welcome disruption from audiences while he processed his feelings and thoughts about art making. When Quilt of the Dead expanded to include workshops, Chang and Teoh had to design a more complex communication framework to lead participants to create their Quilt of the Dead experience collectively. Quilt of the Dead was included in the 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, and Malaysian Art Now at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur and numerous workshops have been conducted through artist-in-residency programs in Blackburn, UK; May 18 Memorial Foundation, Gwangju; Hsing Kang, Chiayi County, Taiwan; and Sapporo, Japan.

 
Culturally, embroidery is mostly recognized as women’s work. Chang’s act of stitching, merged with the topic of death, challenges people’s social-cultural normative cognition towards femininity, craft and death–their perception of embroidery as representing woman’s commitment to domestic devotion and of death as a subject to be avoided. How people have responded towards Chang’s performance opens dimensions in gender discourse, and shows how craft can be a powerful expression of art, opening people’s hearts to an engagement with death. Chang’s practice defies and eclipses a modern art education system that ignores and sidelines local social histories, creating huge gaps and boundaries between artists, their art and local society. Quilt of the Dead is a work that acknowledges the past, making space to fabricate new collective memories which can contest the state narrative of one’s history.  

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7.  1 July 2016, an incident outburst that cause Malaysian artists uproar after KL City Council demolished Lunar Peaks monuments which was designed by Malaysia National Art Laureate who also a former general-director of the National Art Gallery, Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal (1929 - 2011) for land use purpose. This incident saddened the artists, historian and culturalist community hence they stood up to self-organised joint actions online petition like Declaration of Lunar Peaks memorandum, media outrage and marched to protest while representors submit memorandum to the Human Rights Commision of Malaysia. Chang hope to raise awareness about Lunar Peaks through comic and the comic can be free download from http://lunarpeaks.thecomicseries.com/comics/1/

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8.  “a major crackdown carried out beginning 27 October 1987 by the Royal Malaysian Police, ostensibly to prevent the occurrence of racial riots in Malaysia. The operation saw the arrest of 106 to 119 people – NGO activists, opposition politicians, intellectuals, students, artists, scientists and others – who were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lalang