Talking About Art is Scary (Q1)

(Can you tell I like alliteration yet?)

Once more I venture into the world of blogs, primarily because I have to. Similar to last semester, I'll begin by breaking down each question in a more in-depth manner before choosing one to focus on.

Originally I had intended on making one post with all the questions like I did last semester, but after finishing the first question, I realised it would be way too long. I promise I'm not trying to inflate my blog post numbers, and you can choose to count all five of them as one post if you want.


1. Critically review a local art/ design exhibition in-depth. Discuss it in terms of its curatorial goals and exhibition design with related research.  

Many Malaysians might be surprised to find that there are more local art exhibitions than they realise. Besides the usual big-shots like the National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia, there is much to be explored in other spaces like the small-scale but posh like Artcube; reputable and contemporary Ilham Gallery; or vape-filled tiny indie spaces like Minut Init.

Art and design exhibitions might have a single featured artist, or curate artworks from different local artists. The term "curatorial goals" refers to the motive of the artist or the curator in showing those specific pieces of artwork. Whether it's to convey a certain mood or political message, what is exhibited is intricately tied together with why it is there.

"Exhibition design" might refer to the layout or floor plan of the exhibit. Is it audience directed from one piece of artwork to another, or allowed to wander randomly? Are the pieces linked visually or separated? It might also feature different mediums in which the art is conveyed - is there audio to accompany the visual? Is the artwork interactive in some way? Exhibition design can be just as important as the curated art content, and influences the way the intended message is delivered to the audience.

Personally, I'm not ruling out choosing this as my essay topic, but I don't have an exhibition that I'm certain I'll be able to write about yet. But in the meantime, I'll try to keep my eyes and ears out for as many local exhibits as possible and find one that I might able to do justice for if I wrote about it.