2022 | around 14 mins | 1080 x 1920 | Stereo | Color | Bahasa & English with English subtitles
Pelacur Muzik
For your eyes only,
please do not share.
Project brief
Pelacur Muzik (PM) is my new rip-roaring video essay featuring singer-songwriter Suiko Takahara (Taka) of The Venopian Solitude.
This video shares the same title as the main track from Taka’s recent album Hikayat Gundik Berirama. Both the song and video are playful expositions on the intersection between art and commerce, between passion and sustaining a creative practice.
PM remixes the approaches of documentary film-making with the sensibility of music videos. Occupying the gap between non-fiction and documentary. It is light-hearted and narrated in simple everyday language.
PM is not for sale and will be shared for free via YouTube upon completion. A selection of short conversations with Taka on various aspects of her work will also be shared on my website.
Demo version of Pelacur Muzik (2015)
Stills from Pelacur Muzik (draft July 2022)
Part of A Larger Project
PM is the 4th video from a larger video essay project on Malaysian artists. Tentatively titled MAW (Malaysian Artists at Work). MAW started in 2014 with the objective of mak 10 video essays. It is strictly non-commercial.
MAW is a creative exercise in storytelling with moving images and sound. And aims to capture a slice of Malaysian reality over an extended period of time. With a focus on imagery and ideas of ‘work” as an important variable in shaping our identity.
All MAW videos to date are self-funded and available for free on YouTube. Some of them are adapted into video installations which are also free to view. Each video takes on average about a year and costs between RM25k - RM35k to produce.
Please click on the photos below to access the individual project page.
Kecek Amplifier bersama Nik Shazwan (2019)
The Boy, His Bike & The Map (2015)
Chia Koon Talk (2014)
The musician
Suiko Takahara
Bandleader, singer-songwriter, actor, writer (and now podcaster!) Takahara Suiko is the brainchild behind The Venopian Solitude, an experimental electro-pop-nusantara indie band. In 2014, their album, Hikayat Perawan Majnun (Tales of a Lunatic Damsel), was nominated for three categories in the prestigious Anugerah Industri Muzik 2014 (). In 2016, she became the first 1st ever Malaysian alumnus of The Red Bull Music Academy. When uploading quick, electronica-tinged songs, she also publishes under the moniker, Viona. In 2016, she also won Best Hip-Hop Song for the song 'Janji' with Altimet as the singer and co-lyricist. She also co-hosts Buah Mulut — a podcast of conversations with her former husband, Anwar Hadi. Best Engineered Album, Best Arrangement in Song, Best Music VideoAIM 2016. (exrazaid.com)
The visual artist
Gan Siong King
I tell people I make paintings and video works. But actually, I make meaning.
My artistic practice revolves around unpacking expectations of the status quo and art into simpler parts. Then rearranging these parts in different ways to create meaning by imagining other ways of seeing.
I approach painting in various ways. For the past decade, I’ve been developing my paintings beyond image-making. Approaching them as conceptually, as an act of object-making, and as a genre. Often using representation/copying as a means to explore different subjects.
My videos are a counterpoint to my paintings. Where storytelling precedes concepts. They always include other people and their concerns. Both in the making and in their presentation. And usually feature imagery and themes of work/labour.
Recently, I’ve included writing and exhibition-making in my practice. I’m interested in developing the various formats in both forms as a bridge for communication and collaboration with others.
