the new renaissance

Amidst the breaking tide of new claims of marginalized birthrights, more candlelight vigils, even more demands for higher wages, national anthem salutations and all the frilly juicy drama fee-weets-pweet that has crowned 50 years of nationhood, I am reminded of a burgeoning arts scene in Malaysia that was spurred by an intrinsic search for self. Identity took form in concrete roofing, indigenous house parlante, situationist landscape paintings and a glamorized music scene which we trolleyed with pride and purpose. The question they posed was “Do you love me?”
Somewhere in-between we now find ourselves as geese from swans. The coy of the bird’s nest rustles with invidious beaks whilst an exodus across the divide to find ‘the new land of the rising sun’ increases. A new RENAISSANCE is needed over the cries for national reformation.

I like to believe we all still do…

gold lion

.yeah yeah yeah
.show your bones ep
.2006

محاولة, مسعى, همة

In deliberation we find a sense of solace that in some ways represents our upbringings, be it a redundancy towards the culture that we seem to embody (subliminal or consequential); and in some regards is it imperative that we know what impossible goals we are trying to achieve if we are endeavoring to attain the possibilities of it… in this respect, it should be clear that in some ways we might be very far of the mark. It is only human to try for we are……..only.

(only a part of an expanding paper series) only human

poot

you know when the jeans you are wearing are too tight when you expel gas and it lingers like a warm sensation for more than 10 seconds...winters round the corner. sustainable enough for you?

/

The existence of the Homebody/Kabul lies in the intersection of binary relationships formed by the economy of discourse. Through this act of cross-pollination they each find form and are transformed through the displacement of themselves, found by the creative opportunity caused by migration.

In the same way as books migrate and are nomadic, colonialist literatures being one that is sued to mediate between different cultures demonstrates its existence through the explorative representation of a world at the boundaries of civilization, a world that has not yet been domesticated by the colonial impulse to reference and classify; "…reducing the unmediated slovenly complexities which exist ….in space by making of complicated nuanced things their simple non-nuanced identicals.”

This position between the Self and Other is complicated through the displacement enacted by the bookends of the play (Homebody and Mahala, the Kabuli librarian), repositioning the Other inside the Self. This concrete action taken in the face of great uncertainties resounds the danger of not even attempting to “sample”, rendering their boundaries only penetrable by books. The catalyst of this situation is propagated by the colonial myth of primitive (east)/civilized (west) cultures.

In more local contexts, we are familiar with the claim of terra nullius by Cook and the myth of the noble savage; the Other. Both concepts that have become key terms in social and cultural analysis to explain ways dominant groups characterize subordinate groups as problematically different, where other narratives are left out and others reinforced by their constant repetition.

On more recent times, the Tampa affair and the internment of mostly Arabic refugees in Australian camps seems a familiar story. It is critical in this aspect to lend a soft ear and offer a hand by speculating and creating architecture that positions itself within these boundaries. We must not be afraid to “sample”.

" You came from out of the sky,
Your skin and your eyes,
Colours of bronze, the moon in your ear
Twinkled and shone."
-crosby stills nash + young-

maybe some of this

Graffiti Research Lab L.A.S.E.R Tag can be found at http://graffitiresearchlab.com. makes me want a laser pointer with compatible projection device.
...and i think this took place in rotterdam with UN STUDIO's Erasmus bridge in the background.

woot. want laser. woot

bubble-circle-button-tentacle

An old man once pointed out to me that good architecture along with its services on a civic scale should entice its audience. With no pun intended on the theatrics of a go-go dancer, I stumbled onto this building/thing/tentacle/button shop in Birmingham. Designed by Future Systems at a whopping cost of 530 million pounds it stands as the flagship store of mega retail giant Selfridges. Now, you will have to argue that besides its curvaceous alien like form it does funnily enough fit quite snugly to its context. As an urban apparatus, it provides pockets spaces that induces traffic flow around and through its parts = more window gazers = more income, creating a pedestrianized environment; much the current fashion accessory amongst urban planning bodies today. So, five chopstick bowls yums ala makansutra pass SIRIM chop...wholesome content approved!
Though, I am still left wondering what the catalyst to its appealing good looks was. My deductions, are as follows :

1. speaker systems
2. tentacles conquering EL MUNDO!
3. tentacles chasing humans to spend spend spend. zap zap.

entranced yet?
the top floor with adjoining promenade. $$cha-ching.ching.$$

the battleground of geometric debate..tentacle vs. faceted tentacle wanabe
+ a little coffee hut that has a sea like nature to it outside the development. i like
and might i add if i may that good architecture makes you want to go and grope it...not the go go dancer you perv! squidge squidge.

shonibare

Yinka shonibare's 'How to Blow up Two Heads at Once (Gentlemen)' at the Friedman Gallery.

london

the Barbican centre (1971-1982) by the architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, famous for conceiving the golden lane (Europe’s largest multi-arts and conference venue within a 35 acre residential development), sang the funeral procession for modernity and is best remembered for wearing the crown as UK's ugliest building in a recent poll taken by the BBC.
frankly, I quite like it.. i got lost in it for five hours.


a recent commission by Richard Wilson at the curve gallery, Barbican centre.


National Gallery - Sainsbury Wing extension (1988-1991) by Venturi Scott-Brown and associates. Complexities and contradictions ... whats all the fuss about?


iron work at the V&A museum.
first row (L to R) door lock (chastity belt?), pot hanger, chopping knife (why?)
second row. balustrade detail, door lock, chicken?cock
third row. i dont know, another pot hanger(damn super gempak), i dont know but would like to think that this is a mask of some sort. looks very lord of the ring-ish.

lie_fe jacket under your seat

total flight time 15 hours
total transit time 8 hours
unscheduled transit 1/12 hours

gulf air *$!*ed me royally not once but twice. weapons of choice = airbus a330-200 and the boeing 777-200 i am now bleeding profusely from every orifice known to man. Alamak exclamation mark-capital A.
Led to believe that there was only 1 stopover from kl to london. via bahrain i bought the ticket and got on the airline. NO. the deceiving pricks decided to stop at Muscat to pick up/drop off more passengers en route to Bahrain. so the merry men/women that were due to leave our aircraft left..only to return an hour later .this time not so merry and very uber black face. (this was because their connecting flight..also to bahrain, could not be found)

passenger count before stopover in Muscat = 253
passenger count after stopover in Muscat = 253

after the arduous 8 hour transit in the kingdom of bahrain (photos to come soon) i was extremely happy to get on the connecting to london as bahrain's airport is a hole. a very big hole in the desert. k lah you got dunes and windy + sandy conditions+ your name got kingdom of attached to it damn big meh! rejoice 3 in 1? bugger.
drained i slept all the way only to be woken up the captains voice on the loudspeaker.

"Ladies and gentleman, we are experiencing landing difficulties due to foggy conditions at london's heathrow airport. Do not be alarmed as we still have an hours worth of petrol on board."

An hours worth! one hour worth of petrol! what the !!! taking to account that Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world and the fact that they rely only on one landing strip (the Heathrow minute) for all their traffic drove me to a frenzy. I, grabbed my pillow; bracing for emergency landing procedure, bent down and was greeted by this sign.



am i on punk'd?

london
i guess the shonky flight is to blame for the mood of the first image. taken whilst walking along the Thames at sunset.