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Jeannette and Michel Lambert

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Visual score by MIchel Lambert

Michel Lambert is an accomplished jazz drummer, composer and visual artist. He is currently working on a series of visual scores, collages and drawings combined with music that will eventually be performed by improvising musicians as well as classical trios. Jeannette Lambert is a jazz vocalist and multi-media artist who uses active dreamwork in her creative process (click here to see one of her works, Dream Haiku). She uses intuitive techniques to write poetry that is then performed by her trio which includes Michel Lambert and her brother, jazz guitarist Reg Schwager. Currently she is studying the idea that dreams, imagination and improvised music all inhabit the same space. They are both based in Montreal, Canada.

During their residency in July, Jeannette and Michel will gather ideas and inspiration from the surroundings and work on compositions and artwork for their upcoming performance later in the month in Toraja, Sulawesi. They are joined in their stay by their two sons who are also highly artistic, both in music and visual art, like their parents. As a family, they love to travel for inspiration and collaboration while dedicating their time to creating art. In previous summers they have attended artist residencies in Paris, Barcelona and Italy.

Jeannette, Michel and Reg have a musical collective called Jazz from Rant and have produced over 50 recordings of jazz and improvised music. Raised in Canada, Jeannette and Reg are from Dutch Indonesian parents and many of Jeannette’s songs reflect this cultural identity. Michel is from Quebec City, descended from a family of many classical musicians and composers and he draws on this background for many of his orchestral works.

For more information on their projects and creative ideas you can visit Jeannette’s website and Michel’s website. Jeannette, Michel and Reg gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.

"Walter’s offerings” – Jeannette's photo of the fruit and nuts picked from Rimbun Dahan’s herb garden
“Walter’s offerings” – Jeannette’s photo of the fruit and nuts picked from Rimbun Dahan’s herb garden

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Karyn Coxall-Leong

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Karyn Coxall-Leong

Karyn Coxall-Leong (Australia) was a resident artist in the last year of Hotel Penaga’s residency program, in July 2017. During her short residency she engaged often with local residents and guests, distributing pamphlets on good photography sites, taking photos of people and giving them prints, and offering walking tours.

My photography is driven by a strong passion for people and their stories. Thus, over the years I have developed a portfolio of over thirty thousand images. I have been honored to capture special moments in the lives of others, including: weddings, portraits, expecting parents, and baby photos. Via street photography I aim to portray the raw beauty of every subject, and capture a brief glimpse into the lives of those whose paths I happen to cross.

For more of her photography, check her out on Facebook.

Jel Suarez

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The Found _ The Constructed The Fact _ The Fiction The Personal _ The Public N.5, 2017, collage, 10 x 13 cm

Jel Suarez (b. 1990) is a visual artist born and based in Manila, Philippines. Her craft is centered on the practice of collage, in which mostly old master works of art and past exhibitions – sourced from old books and catalogues – are intricately cut in an unconscious process. Her fascination with the body of draperies and structures, allows her to form, paint, and sculpt them in her attempt to produce ideas, narratives, dimensions, and landscapes.

The act of manipulating the archives is her way of understanding reproduced images – further distorting its original sense, and fragmenting them into multiple meanings.

Suarez has been exhibiting her works since 2014, with solo exhibitions at Vinyl On Vinyl Gallery, and several group shows under Artinformal Gallery, Underground Gallery, VOV Gallery, Blanc Gallery, etc. She has also participated in art fairs here in Manila, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Her work can be found on her website.

During the first month of my artist residency, I plan to finish my pieces for an upcoming exhibition this June at Underground Gallery (Manila). The themes and focus of my work have shifted since last year’s proposal project – triggered by the current madness and repercussions of the Philippine government’s war on drugs, I seek to explore and intersect a narrative of its influence on our country’s social fabric. I want to develop new works which will look at how it has possibly structured the society’s landscape and perception of power, social class, and human life.

Rimbun Dahan’s living environment is ideal for cathartic work. I think that the cultural and creative dialogue between me and its resident artists will help strengthen my practice and extend the narrative for this project.

Stephen Eastaugh

admin Open Residencies, Resident Artist
Portrait of Stephen Eastaugh in Antarctica

Stephen Eastaugh is a mixed media visual artist with severe wanderlust as over the past few decades, he has traveled to over ninety countries scattered across all continents. While on the road he has managed to present over one hundred solo exhibitions in a wide range of venues. Studios have been set up on a Russian icebreaker at the North Pole, in a science building one winter in Antarctica, and many places in-between. On three occasions the artist has been awarded the Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship along with numerous art residencies, awards and grants. Travel is the artist’s muse as over the past thirty years, rarely has Eastaugh stayed longer than four months in any single location. It is interesting to see all his work as strange maps or landscapes where he attempts to both locate and lose himself simultaneously.

His work is primarily landscape derived, either representational, symbolic or connected to experiences and objects picked up while on the road. There is a strong textural element which ranges from damaged paper to thick paint and currently, embroidery is utilized. In mid 2017 Eastaugh will plant himself at Rimbun Dahan in Malaysia to explore new work in a new longitude and latitude.

Eastaugh’s work can be found in the National Gallery of Australia, state galleries across Australia, the Nevada Museum of Art, USA and private collections worldwide. In 2017 the artist will be exhibiting in Melbourne, Sydney and Amsterdam as well as working in temporary studios in Argentina, Norway and elsewhere.

You can find more of his work on his website.

Citra Pratiwi

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Di Balik Horizon / Behind The Horizon, part of Empowering Women artist grant, Concert Hall Taman Budaya Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Cultural Centre), Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja- Yogyakarta, Goethe Haus Jakarta (October-December 2013)

Citra Pratiwi (b. 1981 in Pati, Indonesia) works intensely between body, story, movement and  expression — presented in her works in dance and theater. She’s a founder of Migrating Troop Performing Art Network, a hub for artists who want to work in multi and interdisciplinary art to refresh their work and expression. Citra is a graduate of Ethnomusicology from Indonesia Institute of Art Yogyakarta, and was one of the awarded artists for Empowering Women Artists by Kelola Foundation. She is an art-activist, engaging her work to speak about women’s issues, especially women’s issues in Indonesia and she’s also worked as a curator at Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja, a private cultural centre in Yogyakarta.

During her one month residency at Rimbun Dahan, Citra will be developing her new project named Finding Stillness. It will be a research project exploring body memory, conscious and unconscious body, using Jathilan or Kuda Kepang folk dance as entry material.

I want to research what is stillness in the unconscious and bring this concept into contemporary dance work.

Dancing in Place 2017

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Dancing in Place 2017

A weekend of short contemporary dance works performed in the gardens at Rimbun Dahan, open for free to the general public.

18-19 March 2017
Produced by Joelle Jacinto and Leng Poh Gee for MyDance Alliance.

Photos featured on this page by Nazir Azhari, Tony Tan, Mohd Nor Azmil Abdul Rahman and Huneid Tyeb. Many thanks to the photographers.

Program

I March

Location: Brick fence / Reflective pond
Choreographed and performed by JS Wong
Music composed by Thong Yoong How

I march forward or backward, in or out and here or there.

He Simply Disappears

Location: Front porch of Penang House
Choreographed by Nurulakmal Abdul Wahid
Performed by Nurhanis binti Yahya and Jazali bin Mohamad of UPSI

“It’s hard being left behind… It’s hard to be the one that stays…”  – Audrey Niffenegger 

Dis-location Series

Location: Rumah Uda Manap
Choreographed and performed by Chantal Primero and Nicole Primero of Airdance Philippines

“Achieving the end of the exercise was never the point of the exercise to begin with, was it.” -Adam Savage

Pinwheel

Location: Playhouse and the path where it leads
Choreographed by Kathyn Tan Chai Chen
Performed by Kathyn Tan, Eden Lim, Lee Ren Xin, Leo Yap, Lim Hwang King.

The unseen energy that causes movement. They spin and stop and start again, as if without permission. The wind is like a child that wants to play.

Special thanks to Now Theatre, Mr & Mrs Choo

Faux

Location: Sakinah sculpture / Bulatan Plong
Choreographed by Chai Vivan and Fione Chia
Performed by Chai Vivan, Fione Chia and Kyson Teo of Kwang Tung Dance Company

We are currently living in a world where the Artificial is becoming Natural, and Nature is becoming more and more Artificial. There are times where our eyes are unable to identify true and false. There are things that stand in between the real and the fake. Does that matter anymore?

Rebab

Location: In the forest beside the dance studio
Choreographed by Rathimalar Govindarajoo
Performed by Rathimalar Govindarajoo and Wei Jun, with Amirul Said, Yap Chiw Yi, Gwen Ng, Wong Yi Juan and Karthini Chandran of UMa Dance Company

Rebab – inspired by the Main Putri and the Makyong. The concept dwells around the word “Gerhana” as the churning of the ocean where immortality is obtained, and Gods dance where the Moon is eaten by the snake, and a dragon is split to two as Rahu and Kethu…

Female. Solo Dance Series

Location: Underground Gallery
Director / Choreographer: Loke Soh Kim
Photography Director: Kim Teoh
Soundscape Designer: Goh Lee Kwang
Dancers: Rachel Chew, Hoi Cheng Sim , Lee Ren Xin, Loke Soh Kim, Wong Man Chui

To capture the beauty and the feminine qualities of dancers, choreographer Loke Soh Kim decided to make a video series for five different dancers. Restrictions of video shooting have been set between the choreographer and the photography director to minimize the interruption to the pure dance improvisation that based on environmental stimulus; long-take in the film making, no pre-context communication with the dancers, and no disturbance from the camera. Female. Solo Dance Series is a dance video that depicted the interaction of sites, dancers, photographer and soundscape designer. The series consisted of five female solo dance with different ages and backgrounds, who wish to share their stories.                       

Supported by:  PCP Publications, Little Planet Lab, Sekeping Kong Heng, Damansara Performing Arts Centre, Oriental Art & Cultural Association, and EPSON Malaysia.

Fulfillment Needs

Location: Main plaza driveway
Choreographed by Fairul Zahid
Performed by Syafiq Kamarul, Zaidyansjah, Nur Syafiqah Najwa and Fatin Nadhirah

Naesting

Location: Red sculpture under the trees
Collaboration by Tan Bee Hung, Mamad Samsuddin and Al Bernard Garcia, alumni of the Southeast Asian Choreolab.

Search. Fit. Build. Settle. Trap.

My Alay

Location: Reflective pond
Choreographed and performed by Rithaudin Abdul Kadir

Based on the traditional Pangalay dance of the Suluk (Tausug) from Sabah, this piece is reconstructed with a contemporary vocabulary to accommodate the site. By experimenting and exploring the use of the Gong and the Turung, it is a journey of self-discovery. The use of the gong symbolises the wealth and of late, the burden of the Suluk people.

The LEF

Location: 60 Turns Lawn
Choreographed by Kyo Hong
Performed by Kate Soon and Jazz Ter

As time flew away, as the leaf scattered away so do our pathways.

When They Ate The Apple

Location: 60 Turns Lawn
Choreographed by Yunus Ismail
Performed by Maria Devonne Escobia

For the good that they were promised, they chose to disobey.

Clockwork

Location: 60 Turns Lawn
Choreographed by Fauzi Amirudin
Performed by Denise Tan, I-Lyn Tan, Joelle Jacinto, Joyce Chan, Lee Jia Xi, Regina Toyad, Ving Yee of Balletbase

We negotiate between tradition and the modern; we try to find a balance between the two, until they are harmonious – “like clockwork”. Yet there is also an effort to stop time, and we try to make that universal pause before coming into a hopeful, uncertain, inevitable future.

Kelvin Atmadibrata

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Kelvin Atmadibrata

Kelvin Atmadibrata (b.1988, Jakarta, Indonesia) recruits superpowers awakened by puberty and adolescent fantasy to assemble formidable armies of outlaws. Equipped by shōnen characters and macho ero-kawaii, his antiheroes contest the masculine and erotic in Southeast Asia. He works primarily through performances, often accompanied by and translated into drawings, mixed media collages and objects compiled as installations.

During his residency in Rimbun Dahan, he plans to expand a narrative that is triggered by a Malayan historical figure, Laksamana Cheng Ho. He seeks to learn the Admiral’s influence in today’s society, in particular in regards to his masculine identity and how it has potentially structured the perception of power, race and religion in modern politics. This will also be motivated by cultural findings during his stay in Malaysia, discussions and exchanges with locals as well as his constant interest in virtual RPG elements.

The resulting project is described and photographed below (performance photos by Nazir Azhari). Kelvin updated his progress in weekly blog-like entries on his website.

Tidal Bulge is the rise and fall of masculinity caused by the combined effects of gravitational forces exerted by one’s racial and economic status and the self conflicts.

Initiated by the interest towards Laksamana Cheng Ho’s treasure fleet, the project navigates around Malaysian Chinese masculine identities by figuring various struggles faced. Approached through RPG game theories, the visual aspects of the works are designed to be decided by the participants in forms of paper collages and their performed elements.

The participants are imagined as crews or sailors of a treasure fleet in voyage. Sea travels utilize lunar navigation as compass which also becomes the underlying historical prescriptions of the Chinese ethnicity throughout Malaya Peninsula. Apart from that, other game characters-based visual decisions are motivated by Malaysian cultural elements that suggest close proximity and relevance to astrology and the science of gravity.   Within social context, this participatory work is a plea towards racial and ethnic representation, their potential of indigeneity as well as its masculine connotation within Malaysia.

 

Sabine Reindel

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Sabine painting at the New York Met Museum

Sabine Reindel is a German-born fine art painter, whose work concentrates on cityscapes. During her six-weeks residency at Rimbun Dahan she will continue her series of cityscapes she has started to create while she was practicing law as an attorney in the United Arab Emirates. Thereafter she continued working on cityscapes in San Francisco where she earned her master of fine art at the Academy of Art University, in New York where she studied at the New York Academy and the Artist Students League of New York, and in artist residencies in Thailand, Singapore and France.

My art is about journeys, exploring new places and making them my own. My work concentrates on cityscapes of the United Arab Emirates, where I practiced law for the last eighteen years, San Francisco, where I received my education in art, New York, where I took classes at the New York Academy of Art and the Arts Students League of New York, Thailand, Singapore and France where I had artist residencies over the last two years.

My first calling has not been art. I went to law school in Germany and then worked as an attorney in the Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Over the last two decades I moved a lot and I lived in thriving places that changed and still change a lot. With my paintings I try to explore the similarities of these places, but mostly concentrate on the differences. Each place has its unique architecture, which reflects its own unique location on the globe, its special light, its one of a kind flora and fauna. Seeing what make each place so unique makes painting for me so exciting.

Elise Luong

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Elise Luong

Elise Luong is an Australian-born artists’ manager who has spent the last ten years working extensively within a diverse number of contemporary art platforms. Bilingual in English and French, her work includes the project management, development and curation of wildly unique exhibition spaces in Brussels, Berlin and Hanoi, showcasing visual arts, performing arts, and new media. A recent co-author of the internationally distributed book Street Art Today, Elise is dedicated to working alongside and within an international network of artists, designers and creative thinkers.

During her residency at Rimbun Dahan she will be continuing her research concerning artist-in-resident programs following on from her recent residency at Bamboo Curtain Studio in Taipei which saw her produce the podcast What’s up with Taiwan?

Using Rimbun Dahan as a starting point for her research in effective residency management, she will explore the surrounds interviewing a range of residency managers, artists and creative activists in order to gauge the attributes and problematics facing creative hubs based in Asia. During her time in Malaysia she will be focusing on a new topic: that of the artists’ experience in residency settings. She will also be developing her own residency project which shall see the light in Hanoi during the course of 2017.

Elise is co-founder of Undecided Productions to see more of her previous event work click HERE.

Laura Skocek

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Laura Skocek

Laura Skocek is an artist with a focus on sculpture, installation art, smart materials, and video & animation. She is based in Vienna, and will be in residence at Rimbun Dahan for the month of February. For more information on her work, visit her website.

Physiological rhythms and non-tangible states of consciousness are the basis for my sculptures. Digital scan works revolve around the transformation of movement – fleeting moments caught on camera that are expanded into an infinite rhythmic composition. I am also interested in the interplay of art and societal processes.

citizens, Video, duration: 1 min. 40 sec. resp. 20 seconds, 2015. In citizens temporal and spatial structures around arriving people and playing children dissolve. The scene is situated in a non-defined ‘city haven’. The look of the city can be guessed during a brief moment when the temporal axis is shifting and one catches a brief glimpse of one of the buildings. It is hinted at the ambiguity that these people have to deal with. Winner of the ’20 seconds for art’ competition issued by KÖR and Infoscreen, 2015. The work can be viewed here.

Forced Leisure, Interactive hammock, 100x400x100cm, techniques used: sewn conductive thread, Arduino + vvvv, 2015. By Cristoph Gruber & Laura Skocek. For more information and video of the work, please click here.

reconfigure(d) – object 1 + 2. The works reconfigure(d) – object 1 + 2 are the result of ongoing artistic research in the field of consciousness, subjective experience and states between sleep and wakefulness. During the phase of falling asleep, the hypnagogue phase, we slowly drift into the world of associatively combining images and word chains. The thalamus makes it possible for us to follow logical thoughts. According to new research this structure of the brain falls asleep before the Cortex, that is why thoughts coming up during this phase are not regulated.

  • Kinetic Object, 100x200x40cm, spring steel wire and knitted wire, hidden Nitinol-mechanism, Raschendorfer Shift Shield, Ultrasonic Sensor, Arduino-microcontroller, 2013.

  • Installation, 300x200x300cm, spring steel wire and knitted wire, hidden Nitinol-mechanism, circuit board, Arduino, 2013