All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
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A+ Works of Arts | Kuala Lumpur | Dec 2019
2019 | 48m 23s | HD | Stereo | Multi-Channel | Color | Bahasa & English
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace’, is my 6th solo exhibition and my 1st in showing my video works. This exhibition is my ongoing investigation into the possibilities of “exhibition” as a medium of creative expression in itself, instead of an inevitable by-product of a completed series of creative works.
This video exhibition presents a multi-channel video made by re-editing the first three video essays from my 10-year video essay project tentatively titled M.A.W (Malaysian Artist at Work.)
M.A.W. is an experiment in narrative-based, non-fiction filmmaking. Particularly, on different storytelling formats and presentations, using moving images and sound to capture a glimpse of the Malaysian reality over an extended period of time.
M.A.W. videos are made so the ending of the first becomes the beginning of the second and so on. The idea is to eventually link them into a seamless feature-length presentation after ten video essays are completed.
The first video essay from the M.A.W. series is Chia Koon Talk #4 (2014), an essay made in collaboration with Ong Chia Koon, a contemporary Malaysian Chinese calligrapher. The Boy, His Bike & The Map (2015) is the second video made in collaboration with Jeffrey Lim, a graphic designer turned cycling activist. The third video, which will have its Malaysian premiere during the exhibition, is titled ‘Kecek Amplifier bersama Nik Shazwan' (2019), a meandering essay made in collaboration with Nik Shazwan, a maker of tube-based electric guitar amplifiers. This video essay is currently being shown at the Biennale Jogja XV 2019.