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Rimbun Dahan Open Day October 2026

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Rimbun Dahan Open Day October 2026

On Sunday 25 October 2026, our current resident artists will be sharing the results of their residencies with the public.

  • Current resident artists Regina Reyes (Philippines) and Marco Ortiga (Philippines) will be sharing the results of their residencies with the public in their studios.
  • You can also meet current resident poet Raul G Moldez (Philippines) who will give a reading of his ecopoetry and talk about his craft.

Entry is free, no registration required, EXCEPT for the Garden Tour.

Please bring your own picnic!

Schedule

9am-11am Garden Tour. [Entry is free, but registration required. Registration is now FULL. Please enjoy other activities on Open Day.]
11am-2pm Open Studios [No registration required; please drop in]
11am Marco Ortiga demonstration performance of his sound installation in his studio
11:45am-12:45pm Raul G. Moldez poetry reading & craft talk [No registration required; please drop in]
2pm-3pm Lunch break — please enjoy your BYO picnic in the gardens! [No registration required; please drop in]
4pm Marco Ortiga demonstration performance of his sound installation in his studio
3pm-6pm Open Studios [No registration required; please drop in]

Travelling Directions

Address: Rimbun Dahan, Km. 27 Jalan Kuang, Mukim Kuang, Selangor, 48050.

Use Waze to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://waze.com/ul/hw284q6meb

Use Google Maps to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ft5fV9YpGsvciCtU8

Landmarks: Our front gate is opposite Warung Selera Ria and also next to the start of Lorong Belimbing. Do not enter Lorong Belimbing, please enter the front gate from the main road.

Tips for Visitors

  • We have parking inside the compound, along the driveway. Just drive in the front gate and park as indicated along the drive.
  • Bring your own mosquito repellent!
  • We are sorry, Rimbun Dahan is not a fully wheelchair accessible venue. Wheelchair access is possible to the artists studios and some of the outdoor areas, but not to the underground gallery or the heritage houses.
  • Wear practical shoes if you are planning to walk around the garden.
  • Bring an umbrella in case of rain.
  • No refreshments or water provided. Feel free to bring your own picnic, and enjoy it in the gardens; please clean up all your trash.
  • No pets, no swimming — thank you for your cooperation.

If you have any questions, please email arts@rimbundahan.org or WhatsApp Bilqis at +6017-3103769.

About the Artists

Filipina visual artist Regina Reyes spent two months at Rimbun Dahan in 2026 continuing her exploration as text as material, and using thread and embroidery to reflect on memory, labour and the history of domestic work in women. This Open Day, she will be sharing a series of new text and fabric-based works in her studio at Rimbun Dahan. Regina received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2017, and her practice explores memory, domestic spaces, and the fragile intersections between the ephemeral and the enduring. She mainly works across painting and collage, with recent explorations on embroidery and text as material. More about Regina and her residency…

Filipino poet and creative writer Raul G. Moldez spent his 2-month residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2026 writing ecopoetry that seeks to give elements of the natural world their own agency, through language. During Open Day, he will read some poems from his residency and deliver a craft talk on ecopoetry and his personal poetics, at 11:45am on Sunday 25 Oct. Based in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Raul’s literary career spans nearly three decades. His poetry and fiction have appeared in national and international literary journals, magazines, anthologies, newspapers, and online publications. He recently won Second Prize in the 2025 Padya Leoncio P. Deriada Para sa Panitikan (Open Category) for the poetry collection The Memory of Forests and Other Poems. Raul’s interest in ecopoetry arises from the growing tension between human development and environmental preservation. More about Raul and his residency…

Filipino sound artist and kinetic sculptor Marco Ortiga has spent two months at Rimbun Dahan in 2026, focusing on field recordings and deep listening, and creating a site-responsive installation. For Open Day on Sunday 25 October 2026, visitors are invited to step into the role of composer, and use Marco’s custom soundboxes to create their own acoustic landscape. Marco makes work that synthesizes mechanical engineering, ambient sculpture, and live performance to transform the environments it occupies. His sound practice often incorporates custom-built DIY instruments, field recordings, and found sounds to create immersive, audience-driven encounters. More about Marco and his residency…

About Rimbun Dahan

Rimbun Dahan is the home of Malaysian architect Hijjas Kasturi and his wife Angela. Set on fourteen acres outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the compound of Rimbun Dahan is a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms. It features buildings designed by Hijjas Kasturi, as well as two early 20th century traditional Malay houses from Perak and Penang, in an indigenous Southeast Asian garden environment which has been awarded arboretum status. Rimbun Dahan is private property, and is only open to the public on Open Days.

Anas Afandi

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Anas Afandi

Malaysian visual artist Anas Afandi has used his 2-month residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2026 as a period of research and experimentation, cultivating a daily practice of collecting fallen kemboja flowers and experimenting with collecting and documentation methods from botanical and archaeological practices, while thinking about cultural memory and meaning.

About the Artist

Anas Afandi (b. 1991) works across drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation. His practice examines the relationship between the natural world, history, and cultural identity. Through research-driven projects and speculative methodologies, he often constructs pseudo-worlds that question how institutions shape his surroundings. In recent years, Anas’ work has expanded toward environmental politics, colonial legacies, and the construction of cultural narratives, positioning the environment not only as a subject of representation but as a method of inquiry.

About the Residency

Pictures Of You

Over the course of this residency, I focused my research on Taman Sari, a garden in Rimbun Dahan dedicated to the collection and preservation of medicinal and fragrant plants from the Malay Archipelago and its surrounding region. I approach the garden as a model for thinking about culture, investigating how plants can become carriers of history and identity, and how systems of preservation construct cultural narratives.

I am interested in the kemboja; a naturalised, non-native species that holds deep personal significance for me. It became the entry point for this research. Its continued presence in Taman Sari exposes a tension between botanical classification and its cultural significance. Even though it has been part of the garden for almost forty years, it will not be replanted once it dies, keeping with the garden’s commitment in preserving species native to Southeast Asia.

Hence, the anticipated disappearance of the tree one day raises questions beyond botany that shape this project; (1) what happens when something culturally meaningful no longer fits within systems of preservation and (2) how do we preserve forms of attachment and meaning that extend beyond physical material?

One of the projects that I worked on was creating a daily ritual of walking through the garden and gathering kemboja flowers that had fallen from the tree every morning. The flowers were then preserved. By conducting this, I am reflecting how cultural meanings are formed gradually over time and imitating as well as speculating how such meanings come to exist.

In another series, I have conducted fieldworks at Taman Sari. If the garden metaphorically represents the culture itself, the plants within it were imagined as elements that constitute cultural identity. I mapped the garden, marking the locations of each plant. Some of the plants were collected and pressed, along with botanical illustrations that do not adhere to any scientific rules. The color viridian green was chosen as I was looking for a color that gives an almost artificial representation of nature, or in other words, another version of nature rather than the nature itself.

Rather than focusing on producing finished works, this residency has been a period of research and experimentation. Methods from botanical and archaeological practices have been adopted, including collecting, documenting, and examining fragments. This process allowed me to investigate different materials and forms, from which several projects have gradually emerged and will be developed more in the near future.

Southeast Asian Choreolab 2026

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Southeast Asian Choreolab 2026

Emerging contemporary dance choreographers from Southeast Asia have been selected to attend a 9-day intensive residency at the private arts centre of Rimbun Dahan from 13 to 21 June 2026, exploring art and biodiversity.

The program consists of 7 work days with 2 days of excursions to arts spaces or recreational spaces in Kuala Lumpur. Work days in the Dance Studio at Rimbun Dahan consist of sessions exploring choreographic methods, analysis and movement techniques led by invited guest artists and by the participants themselves.

Other activities include live performance viewing, informal socializing and discussions, and networking events. The program will conclude on Sunday 21 June, with a studio showing to share the creative process and artistic development from the Choreolab with the Malaysian dance community and the wider public.

Selected participants must support their own travel costs/airfare to Kuala Lumpur. The project provides local transport, meals, accommodation and access to all activities during the Choreolab.

SEA Choreolab 2026 Participants

  • Hannah Moujing (Malaysia)
  • Farahani binti Mahdi (Malaysia)
  • Trina Acacia (Bali, Indonesia)
  • Melynda Adriani (Berau, Indonesia)
  • Ela Mutiara (Jogjakarta, Indonesia)
  • Bjork Calao (Philippines)
  • Gia Gequinto (Philippines)
  • Lena Caminha (Timor Leste)
  • Linh Trinh (Vietnam)
  • Prapassorn Konmuang (Thailand)

Project Aims

To support and enable emerging Southeast Asian contemporary dance choreographers to

  • Adopt new choreographic tools and physical, thematic and conceptual approaches to enrich their artistic practice;
  • Develop regional networks among their peers and with regional dance institutions, for knowledge sharing, future artistic collaboration and touring;
  • Experience works of art, cultures, places and histories beyond their home, to increase international understanding and to help contextualize their artistic practice.
  • Work with established artists to delve deeper into the choreographic process, and to benefit from their insights, advice and experience.

We hope the participants will have a positive and enjoyable experience at the SEA Choreolab, which will reenergize them and help reaffirm their commitment to their artistic practice. We would like the SEA Choreolab and the networks established here to be an ongoing resource to which the participants may return for inspiration, refreshment, respite and a sense of continual community.

The Artists’ Role in the Biodiversity Crisis

In 2026, the SEA Choreolab will focus on the artists’ role in relation to the global biodiversity crisis. The Choreolab will explore how we can use art as activism to address the loss of non-human species in our own biodiversity-rich region, and whether we should. We will spend time analyzing existing choreographic models and dreaming of new ones. We will also dive into bodily practices embracing the natural elements and transcending the human-nonhuman divide. Invited guests including established choreographers as well as writers, musicians, scientists and environmental conservation workers will bring their perspectives and practices to the studio.

SEA Choreolab 2026 is Edition #8 of the Southeast Asian Choreolab series which started in 2014. For more information about other editions of the SEA Choreolab, click here.

The Southeast Asian Choreolab is a project by Rimbun Dahan and MyDance Alliance, and is Inspired by Iconic Fishes. It is supported by Laura Fan & Claire Barnes.

Awika Samukrsaman

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Awika Samukrsaman

Thai textile artist Awika Samukrsaman was in residence at Rimbun Dahan from September to November 2025, creating site-specific weaving projects which make visible lines and trajectories that once existed, whether of humans on the pickleball court or of plants interacting with manmade structures.

About the Artist

Awika Samukrsaman (b.1991, Surin, Thailand) received her Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts (BFA), Thammasat University, residing and working in Ratchaburi, Thailand. She is interested in learning and developing basic weaving for everyday use and communication which is rooted from traditional culture and has been a part of everyday life. Awika’s interest in texture in textile works has brought her into folk wisdom among local ethnic groups. She has been a member of Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture since 2018 and was a manager in 2018-2019. Awika co-founded Wisdomative* in 2019, a platform for developing local weaving art and crafts and in 2021 she co-founded PhiFa collective that runs art-based research projects to retrace, reinterpret and restore Thai northeastern (Isaan) ancestors and heritage.Co-founded Yoonglai Collective,and t-rex veggie brand.

She was a representative artist of Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture in Churning Milk: the Rituals of Things project for documenta fifteen, Kassel, Germany (2022), Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia (2021), and artist in residency program at Bamboo Curtain Studio, Taipei, Taiwan (2019). In 2020 Awika participated in the Exhibition and a prize winner of the Early Year Project by Bangkok Art & Cultural Centre, Thailand (2020), joined Klongsan Fest, Suvarnabhumi Mosque and Charoen Rat, Bangkok, Thailand (2019), Bangkok Layers contemporary art exhibition curated by Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok, Thailand (2017) and Pop Up Museum project curated by Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture, Nong Pho, Ratchaburi, Thailand (2014).

https://www.instagram.com/awika_s
https://www.instagram.com/imnualnin


About the Residency

Traces of What Once Existed and the Conditions of Allowing Relationships to Form

This project explores the “conditions of coexistence” between human–human, human–structure, and human–nonhuman life forms. It draws on ecological modes of relating — ranging from mutual support (Mutualism) to restricted, competitive, or extractive forms of connection (Competition / Parasitism) — as a way to think about the varying degrees of benefit, loss, and negotiation embedded within every relationship. At the same time, it engages with the sensibility of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO), which regards all things as possessing their own agency and ontology. Walls, fences, grids, branches, and threads each have histories, capacities, and ways of acting upon one another.

Here, “traces” are not treated as mere residues of the past, but as evidence of collision, contact, exchange, permission, and proximity. They function as markers of where something was once allowed to exist, and where it was denied.

Certain human relationships resemble plants that are “allowed to grow only in some directions”—not because the relationship lacks authenticity, but because invisible systems, circumstances, and timings quietly govern the shape it is permitted to take. This project investigates these “traces of permission”: moments of connection that once took place—clear or faint, intentional or incidental—and asks what form a relationship might assume if it were never cut back, redirected, or prematurely pruned.

Work 1: Tracing the Intrusions of Boundaries

This piece begins with the relationship between human-made structures and the plants that attempt to grow alongside them. Fences, grids, and walls become objects with agency structures whose functions, limits, and permissions are defined by human hands. In contrast, branches and vines navigate those limits, seeking small openings through which to enter, attach, spread, or slowly encroach upon spaces that were never built for them.

The threads in this work act as an “extension” of branches that have been cut away. They return possibility to what has been silenced. By weaving new paths beyond the point where growth was interrupted, the work temporarily restores visibility to life that once occupied the space but has since been removed.
It becomes a record of intrusion, resilience, and the desire to exist within a system that grants only partial permission.

Work 2: Do you see the line between us?

This piece shifts toward human-to-human relationality, articulated through the language of textile processes. The weaving process as metaphors for the fiber of relationships,  tight, loose, fluid, obstructed, directionless, patterned, intermittent, responsive, or delayed. Each thread reflects a rhythm and  the frequency of exchanges, the pace of response, the distance one person allows, and the extent to which another is permitted to enter their emotional space.

In the ongoing project Social Weaving, the warp functions as the net of a Pickleball court, while bundled threads (Weft yarn) act as the movement of the ball being hit back and forth. This recreates conversation as an energetic exchange. Each passage of a thread (Weft yarn) through the warp becomes a “sentence,” an action, or an emotional gesture. The gaps between threads, the tension and looseness of the textile, record the intervals, uncertainties, and shifting stability of communication.

Together, they form a tactile archive of a relationship that once existed.

Rimbun Dahan Open Day November 2025

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Rimbun Dahan Open Day November 2025

On Sunday 30 November 2025, our current resident artists will be sharing the results of their residencies with the public:

  • Jenny Logico-Cruz and Blonski Cruz of Langgam Performance Troupe (Philippines)
  • textile artist Awika Samukrsaman (Thailand)
  • curator Joella Kiu (Singapore)
  • visual artist Mao Sovanchandy (Cambodia) with her collaborator Yuryphal Tum
  • interdisciplinary artist Aliansyah Caniago (Indonesia)

An interactive musical artwork by musical instrument maker and sound artist Hewodn (Indonesia) will also be on display.

Entry is free. Registration is required only for the garden tour. All other activities are open for drop-in without registration.
Please bring your own picnic, plus walk about our gardens at your leisure, explore our heritage house and the underground gallery.

THE GARDEN TOUR IS NOW FULL and registrations are closed. All other activities on Open Day from 11am to 6pm do not require registration — please just drop by!

Schedule

9am-11am Garden Tour [sorry — FULLY REGISTERED. Please drop in for activities from 11am onwards.]
11am-2pm Open Studios
11:30am-12:30pm “The Inheritance of Taste” — performance, lecture and sample food serving by Langgam Performance Troupe
2pm-3pm Lunch break — please enjoy your BYO picnic in the gardens!
3pm-6pm Open Studios
4pm-5pm “The Inheritance of Taste” — performance, lecture and sample food serving by Langgam Performance Troupe

Travelling Directions

Address: Rimbun Dahan, Km. 27 Jalan Kuang, Mukim Kuang, Selangor, 48050.

Use Waze to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://waze.com/ul/hw284q6meb

Use Google Maps to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ft5fV9YpGsvciCtU8

Landmarks: Our front gate is opposite Warung Selera Ria and also next to the start of Lorong Belimbing. Do not enter Lorong Belimbing, please enter the front gate from the main road.

Tips for Visitors

  • We have parking inside the compound, along the driveway. Just drive in the front gate and park as indicated along the drive.
  • Bring your own mosquito repellent!
  • We are sorry, Rimbun Dahan is not a fully wheelchair accessible venue. Wheelchair access is possible to the artists studios and some of the outdoor areas, but not to the underground gallery or the heritage houses.
  • Wear practical shoes if you are planning to walk around the garden.
  • Bring an umbrella in case of rain.
  • No refreshments or water provided. Feel free to bring your own picnic, and enjoy it in the gardens; please clean up all your trash.
  • No pets, no swimming — thank you for your cooperation.

If you have any questions, please email arts@rimbundahan.org or WhatsApp Bilqis at +6017-3103769.

About the Resident Artists

Jenny Logico-Cruz is a contemporary performance-maker, educator, and cultural worker. Blonski Cruz is a dramaturg, producer, filmmaker, and photographer. For the past 10 years, with Jenny as artistic director and Blonski as company manager, Langgam Performance Troupe has focused on experimental, process-based, interdisciplinary approaches, and practice-as-research works. The group has gained significant cultural notoriety in the independent theater landscape, becoming known as a producer for bold and innovative underground performance works. Read more about their project >>

Joella Kiu is a curator and art historian based in Singapore. She studies how artists employ the visual, textual, counter-cartographic, speculative and mythological to communicate urgent ecological conditions and contemporary lived realities. spent a month at Rimbun Dahan in November 2025, experimenting with writing with a more personal voice and pushing past the thorny exterior of the durian. The text will be printed as physical booklets that will be free to take (while stocks last!) on Open Day. A digital copy will also be available. Read more about Joella’s residency >>

A musical instrument installation, ‘The Trees’ Longing for Fertile Soil in the Industrial Age’ by East Javanese sound artist Hewodn, will be available for visitors to play during Rimbun Dahan Open Day. Agus Nur Wahidin, known as Hewodn, is a traditional instrument-maker and sound artist, who spent a month at Rimbun Dahan in September 2025. Born in Banyuwangi, East Java, he currently lives in Tuban. He attended the Islamic University of Malang, where he joined student theater and music groups. His group Unen-Unen Rengel focuses on playing ancient folk instruments from East Java, some of which are rare or almost extinct. Hewodn has learned how to construct these instruments, and often shares his knowledge through workshops and performances. Read more about Hewodn’s residency >>

Awika Samukrsaman (b.1991, Surin, Thailand) received her Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts (BFA) from Thammasat University. She lives and works in Ratchaburi, Thailand. Awika’s interest in texture in textile works has brought her to the folk wisdom of local ethnic groups. She has been a member of Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture since 2018. Awika co-founded Wisdomative in 2019, a platform for developing local weaving art and crafts, and in 2021 she co-founded PhiFa collective. On Open Day, Awika will show a number of site-specific weaving works which seek to make visible vanished connections between humans, plants and manmade structures. Read more about Awika’s residency >>

Mao Sovanchandy, a multidisciplinary artist from Cambodia, and her collaborator Yuryphal Tum, spent two months at Rimbun Dahan in 2025, drawing inspiration from the regenerative nature of mulch. They will share their experiments with water hyacinth pulp, plaster, photography, food and performance at Open Day on 30 November 2025. Mao Sovanchandy (b. 1998) is an independent multidisciplinary artist exploring mixed-media works that reflect environmental and social issues, as well as societal norms, drawing from self-reflection and personal experience. Sovanchandy’s collaborator Yuryphal Tum (b. 1992) is an independent artist and architect from Cambodia. Her practice encompasses sculpture, installation, architecture, and archival work, often assembling meaning from small fragments and found materials. Read more about Chandy and Yury’s residency >>

More info about resident artists coming soon…

About Rimbun Dahan

Rimbun Dahan is the home of Malaysian architect Hijjas Kasturi and his wife Angela. Set on fourteen acres outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the compound of Rimbun Dahan is a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms. It features buildings designed by Hijjas Kasturi, as well as two early 20th century traditional Malay houses from Perak and Penang, in an indigenous Southeast Asian garden environment which has recently been awarded arboretum status. Rimbun Dahan is private property, and is only open to the public on Open Days.

SEA Dance Collective

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SEA Dance Collective

Trần Minh Hải (b.1993) is a contemporary dance artist and choreographer based in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ny&Khun: Sreynoch Khun (b.1996) and Ny Lai (b.1997) are a contemporary duo based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Muhamad Erdifadilah (b.1997) is a musician from Bangka Island, Indonesia.
Pebri Irawan (b.1997) a dancer-choreographer of the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Briefly accompanied by Chan Kar Kah, artist and educator of Marrow Collective and Suiyi Dance Company, Malaysia.

We are Southeast Asian artists who met at Southeast Asian Choreolab 2024 in George Town, Penang. During the program, we formed a strong connection not just through training, but through deep conversations about our work, ideas, and what matters to us. We shared how we create, what inspires us, and our thoughts about art, culture, and the world. Even though we come from 3 different countries, we found many similarities in our culture, how we think and work. This connection is still new, yet we want to keep exploring it. We hope to create something special together. We believe in strong visuals and the idea of “less is more.”

On Sunday 24 July, together with invited members of local dance community, we will perform a short outdoor ritual in the garden at Rimbun Dahan. What you’re about to witness is a living painting. Over the past two months, we’ve been living, listening, moving, and creating at Rimbun Dahan. In the stillness surrounded by nature and time, we found something we now want to share with you, not to impress but to express. This is a spiritual offering and meditation in motion. We’re not here to show off yet we’re here to show up. With every step, every pause, every breath, we’re painting. Painting with the colors of silence, of calm, of curiosity. This is a time for simply being.

Rimbun Dahan Open Day August 2025

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Rimbun Dahan Open Day August 2025

On Sunday 24 August, our resident artists Renz Baluyot (Philippines), Alice Sarmiento (Philippines), and MixerJ (Myanmar), as well as contemporary dance choreographers Sreynoch Khun and Ny Lai (Cambodia) and Trần Minh Hải (Vietnam) will share works they have created during their residency and insights into their artistic practice. Angela Hijjas will also give a morning tour of her 14-acre native garden.

Entry is free. Registration is required only for the garden tour.
BYO picnic, plus walk about our gardens at your leisure, explore our heritage house and the underground gallery.

Register for the Garden Tour: [UPDATE: Registration for the garden tour is full. All other activities on Open Day are free for drop-in entry, from 11am to 6pm.]

9am-11am Garden Tour
11am-2pm Open Studios
2pm-3pm Lunch break — please enjoy your BYO picnic in the gardens!
3pm-6pm Open Studios
3pm-4pm Alice Sarmiento in conversation with Wendy Sia (Gerimis)
4pm-5pm Contemporary dance collaboration demonstration and group practice

Travelling Directions

Address: Rimbun Dahan, Km. 27 Jalan Kuang, Mukim Kuang, Selangor, 48050.

Use Waze to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://waze.com/ul/hw284q6meb

Use Google Maps to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ft5fV9YpGsvciCtU8

Landmarks: Our front gate is opposite Warung Selera Ria and also next to the start of Lorong Belimbing. Do not enter Lorong Belimbing, please enter the front gate from the main road.

Tips for Visitors

  • We have parking inside the compound, along the driveway. Just drive in the front gate and park as indicated along the drive.
  • Bring your own mosquito repellent!
  • We are sorry, Rimbun Dahan is not a fully wheelchair accessible venue. Wheelchair access is possible to the artists studios and some of the outdoor areas, but not to the underground gallery or the heritage houses.
  • Wear practical shoes if you are planning to walk around the garden.
  • Bring an umbrella in case of rain.
  • No refreshments or water provided. Feel free to bring your own picnic, and enjoy it in the gardens; please clean up all your trash.
  • No pets, no swimming — thank you for your cooperation.

If you have any questions, please email arts@rimbundahan.org or WhatsApp Bilqis at +6017-3103769.

About the Resident Artists

Renz Baluyot, visual artist from the Philippines, was in residence at Rimbun Dahan for two months in 2025, experimenting with dyeing fabrics with rust using a resist technique, and working with copper and aluminium as grounds for paintings. Born 1989, Saudi Arabia, Renz focuses his art practice on the relevance of the past to the present. His work centers on urban decay (rust, tarpaulins, and objects) and artifacts, alongside traditional still life and landscapes, investigating how these marks of the past have influenced the present under oppressive political and economic systems. Primarily a painter, Renz Baluyot has worked on sculpture, textiles, and installations. He received his BFA from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, and has completed a number of artist residencies in the USA, Japan and the Philippines. In 2019, he was one of the artists presented at the exhibition Living Earth: Contemporary Philippine Art, curated by Luca Beatrice and Patrick Flores in Milan, Italy.

MixerJ, a visual artist of Karen descent from Myanmar, has spent two months in residence at Rimbun Dahan, creating character drawings in his signature intricate abstract style, and transforming them into portable cutouts. Originally based in Yangon until 2024, MixerJ has since continued his art practice by spending most of his time in Bangkok, Thailand, and traveling between neighboring countries. MixerJ studied graphic design for commercial purposes, and since 2017, he has been actively participating in the Myanmar art scene as a visual artist. He has previously exhibited his work in both Yangon, Myanmar, and Bangkok, Thailand. In 2024, MixerJ took part in the “Artistic Response to Burma to Myanmar” exhibition organized by the British Council Yangon in collaboration with the British Museum. His artwork, “The Weaving Dream: A Peaceful Home with Beautiful Bedrooms,” was acquired by the British Museum for its permanent collection.

Educator, freelance writer and independent curator Alice Sarmiento (PHIL) will be in conversation with Wen Di Sia artist, writer, and advocate from Gerimis Art, a group that documents and supports the arts, culture, and local economy of the Orang Asli. Alice will also be sharing printed drafts of the Malaysia sections of ‘Once A Vibrant Tradition’, a text that negotiates the tensions of craft and community caught in the crosshairs of capitalism. Alice’s writing and curatorial work centers feminist, relational, and community-engaged practices, while her work as a critic casts a feminist lens across Filipino cultural production, ranging from contemporary art to Pinoy showbiz. As a curator, Alice has worked on the curatorial teams of the inaugural (and so far, only) Manila Biennial in 2018 as well as the Visayas Visual Art Exhibition and Conference (VIVA ExCon) in 2023. Before returning to Rimbun Dahan for the second month of her residency in August 2025, she founded Spare Bedroom, a space for restaging installative and relational works, in order to extend their public programs and reactivate engagement with their community.

Contemporary dance choreographers Sreynoch Khun and Ny Lai (Cambodia) and Trần Minh Hải (Vietnam) are in residence at Rimbun Dahan in August 2025, and will give a short showing of their meditative walking ritual on Open Day including a few members of the local community. The choreographers met at the Southeast Asian Choreolab at George Town Festival last year, and they are continuing to explore their cultural links during their 2-month residency. Even though they come from three different countries, they have found many similarities in their cultures, how they think and work. Collectively, they believe in strong visuals and the idea of “less is more.” They have devised a simple walking ritual inspired by honouring the dead across different traditions, incorporating heritage textiles. If you would like to be part of this offering performance, please WhatsApp 017-310 3769. More info about their collective residency.

About Rimbun Dahan

Rimbun Dahan is the home of Malaysian architect Hijjas Kasturi and his wife Angela. Set on fourteen acres outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the compound of Rimbun Dahan is a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms. It features buildings designed by Hijjas Kasturi, as well as two early 20th century traditional Malay houses from Perak and Penang, in an indigenous Southeast Asian garden environment which has recently been awarded arboretum status. Rimbun Dahan is private property, and is only open to the public on Open Days.

Rimbun Dahan Open Day July 2025

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Rimbun Dahan Open Day July 2025

On Sunday 27 July, our resident artists Fauzan Fuad (MSIA), Isabella Ong (SIN), Rommel Joson (PHIL) and Low Pey Sien (MSIA) will be sharing the fruits of their residencies in their open studios.

Angela Hijjas will also give a morning tour of her 14-acre native garden. Works by recent resident artist Gigi Giovanelli(USA) will also be on show in the Underground Gallery.

Entry is free. Registration is required only for the garden tour.
BYO picnic, plus walk about our gardens at your leisure, explore our heritage house and the underground gallery.

Register for the Garden Tour: https://forms.gle/C1e1d9jrzyPi57jX6
[Other activities on Open Day do not require registration; just walk in to join!]

9am-11am Garden Tour
11am-6pm Open Studios

Travelling Directions

Address: Rimbun Dahan, Km. 27 Jalan Kuang, Mukim Kuang, Selangor, 48050.

Use Waze to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://waze.com/ul/hw284q6meb

Use Google Maps to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ft5fV9YpGsvciCtU8

Landmarks: Our front gate is opposite Warung Selera Ria and also next to the start of Lorong Belimbing. Do not enter Lorong Belimbing, please enter the front gate from the main road.

Tips for Visitors

  • We have parking inside the compound, along the driveway. Just drive in the front gate and park as indicated along the drive.
  • Bring your own mosquito repellent!
  • We are sorry, Rimbun Dahan is not a fully wheelchair accessible venue. Wheelchair access is possible to the artists studios and some of the outdoor areas, but not to the underground gallery or the heritage houses.
  • Wear practical shoes if you are planning to walk around the garden.
  • Bring an umbrella in case of rain.
  • No refreshments or water provided. Feel free to bring your own picnic, and enjoy it in the gardens; please clean up all your trash.
  • No pets, no swimming — thank you for your cooperation.

If you have any questions, please email arts@rimbundahan.org or WhatsApp Bilqis at +6017-3103769.

About the Resident Artists

Born in 1987 in Kuala Lumpur, Fauzan Fuad is a painter and photographer whose artistic vocabulary draws heavily from the worlds of punk, vandalism, skateboarding, and raw urban visuals, blending them with influences from the western Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s. His solo exhibitions have appeared at China House in Penang, Zon Tiga in Kuala Lumpur, and Rissim Contemporary in Kuala Lumpur. His work has also been featured in international exhibitions including Gwangju International Art Fair and Espace Commines in Paris, and locally at the Malaysian Art Expo, FINDARS Art Space, White Box at Publika and HOM Art Trans Gallery.

Filipino painter and book illustrator Rommel Joson is currently teaching drawing, illustration, and print production design at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts where he is also taking his post-graduate studies, Rommel’s roles roles deal with the intersection and interaction of text and image. His art practice draws from artifacts such as reading primers, children’s books, encyclopedias, illuminated manuscripts, information graphics, comics, and even print ads. Part of his process involves creating unreadable glyphs and ciphers that mimic the texture and structure of recognizable books and texts.

Isabella Ong (b. 1992) is a Singapore-based artist whose work explores the relationship between data, form and environment. Working across installation, code and text, she examines how ecological, cultural and technical systems are structured and represented. She received her MArch in Design for Performance & Interaction from The Bartlett, UCL, and a BA (Hons) in Architecture from the National University of Singapore. Her practice is shaped by ongoing collaborations across disciplines and communities, engaging with material processes alongside physical computation and generative methods, translating natural phenomena into spatial and visual languages.

Low Pey Sien (b. 1991) is a Malaysian cultural worker from Kuantan, Pahang. With a background in architecture, she mainly works in photography, film, and graphic media, lately actively exploring themes on body, shame and identity. Her recent video works include video art “Wani-Onna” (2024), dance documentary ”Movement: We Are Bodies” (2022), dance film “La La Li Ta Tang Pong” (2020), video art “Keroncong Kuala Lumpur II” (2017), and video art ”Invisible Old Klang Road” (2016). When she is not creating, she freelances as curator, producer, and graphic designer, mainly working with her friends, to bring their creative works into this world.

Gigi Giovanelli is a sculptor based in New York City. She studied Fine Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is currently pursuing a BFA in Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design. Her practice centers on sculpture as a form of storytelling, grounded in material sensitivity and emotional resonance. Rooted in her upbringing in North Carolina, Gigi’s work reflects a lifelong physical and emotional closeness to nature. Gigi was in residence at Rimbun Dahan in June 2025; her works will be displayed in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan on Open Day.

About Rimbun Dahan

Rimbun Dahan is the home of Malaysian architect Hijjas Kasturi and his wife Angela. Set on fourteen acres outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the compound of Rimbun Dahan is a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms. It features buildings designed by Hijjas Kasturi, as well as two early 20th century traditional Malay houses from Perak and Penang, in an indigenous Southeast Asian garden environment which has recently been awarded arboretum status. Rimbun Dahan is private property, and is only open to the public on Open Days.

Eligibility for the Southeast Asian Arts Residency at Rimbun Dahan

admin Uncategorized

To be eligible for this residency, applicants must be BOTH citizens of AND residents of a Southeast Asian country. For the purposes of this application, the Southeast Asian countries are: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and including Timor Leste.

In case of doubt, please review the following examples.

  • Person A is a citizen of Thailand (a Southeast Asian country) and lives in Thailand. => Person A is eligible to apply.
  • Person B is a citizen of Thailand (a Southeast Asian country), but has been living for 15 years in the Philippines (another Southeast Asian country). => Person B is eligible to apply.
  • Person C is a citizen of Thailand, but has been living for 4 years in Australia (not a Southeast Asian country). => Person C is NOT eligible to apply.
  • Person D is a citizen of the USA (not a Southeast Asian country) and has been living for 7 years in Singapore (a Southeast Asian country). => Person D is NOT eligible to apply.
  • Person E is a citizen and resident of Taiwan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka/Bhutan/Papua New Guinea (not Southeast Asian countries). => Person E is NOT eligible to apply.
  • Person F is a citizen of Malaysia and splits her time living between London and Malaysia. => A borderline case. Please contact us to discuss.

If you have questions or concerns about your eligibility, please contact arts@rimbundahan.org before you apply.

The reason that our residency eligibility is only for Southeast Asian citizens who also live in Southeast Asia is because we would like to reserve these opportunities for artists who are committed to being members of arts communities in our region, and artists in our region generally have far fewer opportunities than other artists who live in more developed countries.

We realize that this restriction may unfairly discriminate against some worthy applicants, and it is not intended to be a judgment on the quality of your art or your contribution to Southeast Asian arts communities. However, given that we are a family-run and family-funded organization with limited capacity, we have put in place this eligibility restriction to allow for the practical management of our application process.

<– go back to the Southeast Asian Arts Residency main page.

Since we are looking at the stars, somebody must need them…

admin Events, Open Residencies, Uncategorized
Since we are looking at the stars, somebody must need them…

Work-in-Progress Showing

Sunday 19 May, 7:30pm
The Dance Studio at Rimbun Dahan
The work-in-progress performance will last about 30 minutes, followed by Q&A and discussion.
Free entry, no registration required.

Présenté par Groupe A – Coopérative Culturelle [FB IG]
Artistic direction : Pascal Marquilly [FB IG]
Sound composition : Rodolphe Collange [FB]
Video creation : Nicolas Tourte [FB IG]

[Translated from the original French, below]

Performances of wayang kulit in Kota Bharu, Kelantan
Shadow puppets and discordant sounds
A mythological tale and childlike smiles

A border in the far North
A few soldiers and congested roads
A makeshift vehicle

The moucharabiehs at Jahar Palace
Set against a backdrop of lace, the play of light glides across the floor
Spaces preserved from the furnace

White-hot beaches and sparkling waves
Insects sizzle in the sunshine
A few temples here and there, the voice of the Muezzin

All around, the forest, impenetrable and imperious
A misty green mass, teeming yet fragile
A few coloured sparkles

Gaping holes, exploitations
Palm groves as far as the eye can see
Ribbons of tar smoke

A city bristling with grey towers
An amorphous underground panorama
Upside down

Humid, dense air
Threatening low clouds
Electrically charged skies and sudden storms

In Selangor, a haven of peace
A few barks and fleeting ghosts
A botanical garden and facetious monkeys

The haughty words confine conversations
The night defies the darkness
Dark silhouettes outline the azure sky

This heat…

————

We carried out an initial creative residency in April 2023 at Rimbun Dahan. We have sketched out a mechanical shadow theatre that aims to question our representations of nature. After a month’s work, we’re adding to it with new research and trial and error. In the night, we no longer seek the light, but rather the darkness.

Puisqu’on regarde les étoiles c’est qu’elles sont à quelqu’un nécessaires…

[FB IG]

Direction artistique : Pascal Marquilly [FB IG]
Composition sonore : Rodolphe Collange [FB]
Création vidéographique : Nicolas Tourte [FB IG]

————

Des représentations de Wayang Kulit à Kota Bharu, dans le Kelantan
Des marionnettes d’ombres et des sonorités discordantes
Un récit mythologique et des sourires enfantins

Une frontière à l’extrême Nord
Quelques militaires et des routes encombrées
Un véhicule de fortune

Les moucharabiehs du Jahar Palace
Dans un écrin de dentelles des jeux de lumière glissent sur le plancher
Des espaces préservés de la fournaise

Des plages chauffées à blanc et les vagues scintillent
Des insectes grésillent sous le soleil
Quelques temples ci et là, la voix du Muezzin

Tout autour la forêt, impénétrable et impérieuse
Une masse verte brumeuse foisonnante pourtant fragile
Quelques éclats colorés scintillent

Des trous béants, des exploitations
Des palmeraies à pertes de vues
Les rubans de goudrons fument

Une ville hérissé de tours grises
Un panorama clandestin amorphe
Sens dessus dessous

L’air humide et dense
Des nuages bas menaçant
Un ciel chargé électrique et des orages soudain

Dans le Selangor, un havre de paix
Quelques aboiements et des fantômes fugaces
Un jardin botanique et des singes facétieux

Les paroles altières confinent les conversations
La nuit défie les ténèbres
Des silhouettes sombres dessinent l’azur

Cette chaleur…

————

Nous avons effectué une première résidence de création en avril 2023 au centre d’art Rimbun Dahan. Nous avons esquissé un théâtre d’ombre mécanique, qui a pour ambition de questionner nos représentations de la nature. Nous augmentons celui-ci, après un mois de travail, de nos nouvelles recherches et tâtonnements. Dans la nuit, nous ne cherchons plus la lumière, mais bien à rejoindre l’obscurité.

————

All monochrome works pictured on this page: scalpel cut on 250gr Bristol paper