Spaces of Experimentation and Collaboration in Early 1990s Malaysian Art

Abstract:At the zenith of the Mahathir era, amidst the economic boom and rapid development of the early 1990s, Malaysian art exhibitions were charting a novel path in the arena of installation and performance art. This paper will closely examine three seminal installation art exhibitions, namely Sook Ching (1990), 2 Installations (1991), and Warbox Lalang Killing Tools (1994), where some of the artists involved chose to perform and/or collaborate with dancers and theatre makers, culminating in some of the earliest experiments with performance art in Malaysia. What sets them apart from other installation exhibitions of that period is their use of performance as a tool to confront, unsettle, and challenge audiences in institutional spaces, thereby opening up new possibilities for experimentation and risk-taking.