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.