ART FOR GRABS + KL ALTERNATIVE BOOK FEST
Arts, Crafts & Books Fair
Annexe Gallery 1, 2 & 3, 2nd Floor, Central Market Annexe

Sat 9 & Sun 10 May, 11am to 8pm

Presented by The Annexe Gallery & Central Market

Admission Free, except where indicated


Art For Grabs, our arts and crafts bazaar, returns for yet another triumphant round of affordable artsy consumerism in a collision of coolness. That’s over 20 stalls selling art, photography, knick knacks, accessories, etc, all for under RM100 (per item, that is!).

This time we also have Marion D’Cruz, Farish Noor and KL Alternative Book Fest, featuring over 20 stalls by local indie publishers (selling books not always available at a bookstore near you).

Everytime we host Art For Grabs, we present a fringe program of exciting events. This time around, we have Bilik Panas! Our “hot room” is only metaphorically sauna-like, it’s actually air-conditioned. The “panas” here refers to the artistic, intellectual and emotional heat that will be generated by the performances, lectures and book launches we’ve got on the menu. See you there!


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BILIK PANAS!!! EVENT SCHEDULE
Admission Free, except for Gostan Forward


SAT 9 MAY

12pm - THE CLOTH THAT CUTS: Re-Appraising Batik as a Trans-Cultural Signifier
Public Lecture by Dr Farish Noor
Presented by The Other Malaysia

Batik is one of the most well-known forms of local art in Southeast Asia, with a rich history, and a much-loved subject of interest among collectors and laypersons alike. Yet Batik is today seen and cast as something essentially linked to the (fixed and homogeneous) identity of nations like Malaysia and Indonesia. This lecture by political historian Dr Farish A. Noor explores the multifarious cultural, ethnic and historical origins of Batik as a form of art, and argues that in the designs of classical Batik we can see the overlapping of various cultural, ethnic and religious influences that cut across all of Southeast Asia and beyond. Far from being an essentialised object, Batik is living proof of the cultural and ethnic hybridity of Southeast Asia, cutting across boundaries of race, class and religion.

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2.15pm - GOSTAN FORWARD
Solo Performance Lecture by Marion D’Cruz
Directed by Mark Teh, Visual designs by Grey Yeoh
Presented by Five Arts Centre
*Admission by RM10 donation

Gostan Forward will showcase Marion D’Cruz in her overlapping roles as a student, dancer, choreographer and educator. The performance lecture traces her growth as a radical artist, revealing her choices, strategies and influences over the span of the 35-year dance career in Malaysia. Marion will tell stories and perform excerpts of her favorurite and most significant dances, including “Terinai”, “Swan Song”, “Urn Piece”, “Chilayu”, and more.

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3pm - BEYOND FEMINISM: The woman as metaphor of the colonised in Echoes of Silence
A Talk by Chuah Guat Eng
(At the loft of Gallery 3)
The woman has always played a key role in accounts of colonial encounters. Generally the encounter is distilled into a ‘love story’ and once the conquest is made, the woman is abandoned, dies or disappears. For the colonised, the story does not end there. Like women in interracial relationships, they are left with half-breed babies. Chuah Guat Eng's novel Echoes of Silence presents the Malaysian colonial experience as a series of romantic encounters. Join the author to discuss the novel.

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4pm - KLAB Book Launch: TAXI TALES ON A CROOKED BRIDGE
Book Launch and Reading by Charlene Rajendran & Friends
Presented by Matahari Books

Charlene Rajendran is a Malaysian teacher and theatre practitioner who has been living in Singapore for eight years, and she refuses to own a car. Taxi Tales On A Crooked Bridge chronicles her conversations with taxi drivers all over the island republic. Quirky and jaunty, this book shows that there's no telling what bridges can be built -- whether the journey is crooked or straight!

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5pm - KLAB BooK Launch: NAJIB’S CHALLENGE: Glory or Oblivion? by Barry Wain & UNMASKING NAJIB by Lim Kit Siang
Presented by REFSA
What will be Najib’s legacy for our beloved country? Barry Wain offers his thoughts on this “hot” topic while LKS compiles posts from his blogs into a book. Officiated by Tunku Abdul Aziz, Chairman of REFSA (Research For Social Advancement)

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6pm - KLAB BOOK Launch: Dewangga Sakti Tertinggal Kapal Angkasa Di Hari Pelancaran Buku ‘KACIP’ Pipiyapong”
Presented by Sindiket Soljah

Dewangga Sakti terdiri daripada 6 orang pemuzik tradisional Melayu zaman sekarang yang melagukan karya-karya mistik dengan bunyian instrumen akustik. Manakala blogger hip Pipiyapong akan melancarkan karya beliau bertajuk Kacip yang lucu dan mencuit hati pembaca.

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6.40pm - KLAB BOOK Launch: Berseronok dengan Perempuan Dalam Poket
Pelancaran buku Puisi Poket 1: Akulah Perempuan Muda itu oleh Shaira Amira
Presented by Sang Freud Press
Buku Akulah Perempuan Muda Itu adalah himpunan puisi seorang perempuan muda, Shaira Amira,  yang lahir melalui konsepsi imakulat di sebuah negeri jauh satu waktu dulu. 
Puisi Poket adalah satu usaha untuk mengambalikan puisi kepada yang hak, yakni kau dan aku. Cukup kacip dan comel untuk disumbat di dalam kocek, ia sesuai dibawa dan dibaca di mana-mana; sewaktu menunggu teman di elarti, sewaktu naik elarti bersama teman dan selepas menyalakan rokok di belukar bawah landasan elarti setelah habis berbincang bahasa tubuh dengan teman.

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8.30pm - GOSTAN FORWARD
Dance Lecture Performance by Marion D’Cruz

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SUN 10 MAY

11am - MEDIA UNDER NAJIB: Hope or Disappointment?
Forum featuring Wong Chin Huat, Tricia Yeoh and Ibrahim Suffian
Presented by Centre For Independent Journalism (CIJ)
In conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, CIJ hosts a public forum on the topic "Media Under Najib: Hope or Disappointment?".

Panel speakers include:
Wong Chin Huat, political analyst and chairman of Writers Alliance for Media Independence;
Tricia Yeoh, special assistant to Selangor state Chief Minister;
Zaharom Nain, associate prof of Communication Studies, USM.

The forum will focus on:
i. Interpreting Najib as the new Prime Minister in the context of vocal clamour both for reform and for further entrenchment of traditional status quo.
ii. Current or possible future trends that affect or involve the media and expression.
iii. What Malaysia needs badly in terms of reform and can Najib deliver those?

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12.30pm - PENCERAHAN DAN KOSMOPOLITANISME
Talk by Khalid Jaafar, director of Institut Kajian Dasar
Khalid Jaafar akan bercakap tentang buku-buku terbitan IKD dan konsep di sebalik penerbitannya. Khalid juga akan menyentuh tentang kontroversi yang melanda IKD akibat beberapa buah yang dikatakan memesong umat Islam.

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2.15pm - GOSTAN FORWARD
Dance Lecture Performance by Marion D’Cruz

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4.30pm - READING LOLITA IN KL
Forum/Reading
Presented by Sisters In Islam (SIS)
Celebrate the freedom to read! Join Marina Mahathir, Cecil Rajendra, and others as they read poetry and excerpts from books, plays, scripts, etc that have been banned in many countries throughout history.

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Also happening at The Annexe Gallery at the same time during Art For Grabs!

KL PHOTO AWARDS 2009
Annexe Gallery 4, 1st Floor, Central Market Annexe

CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography Workshop
Sat 9 & Sun 10 May, 2pm

Steven Lee attempts to define what contemporary photography for portraiture is, and will walk through the 46 finalists of the first KL Photoawards 2009. Participants will have 24 hours to plan and photograph a portrait session of their friends or family, and return the next day to show, discuss and receive feedback of their newly photographed portraits. Steven Lee, an award winning freelance photographer based in UK, is also the initiator of the first KL Photo Awards for contemporary potraiture. Free - limited to 20 persons.

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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY, A BOLD NEW APPROACH by JIMIN LAI
Photography Workshop
Sun 10 May, 5pm
Admission fee RM40

Have you ever been afraid of photographing strangers? What equipment should you use? How do you maintain distance and yet obtain great street images? Jimin will take a small group onto the streets of Kuala Lumpur to capture scenes and people up close. Jimin Lai was formerly Chief Photographer in KL for Agence France-Presse, Senior Staff Photographer for The Star daily newspaper, and Stringer for REUTERS.

http://www.annexegallery.com