A Notional History

A Notional History is finally being performed in Kuala Lumpur after postponements in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

This critically acclaimed performance has already been presented at TPAM – The Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama (2019), Teater Salihara, Jakarta (2019) and has just finished a tour in May 2022 to Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels – one of the leading festivals in Europe for contemporary performing arts.  

The Brussels Morning publication wrote, “It is an incredible poetic performance in which through music and storytelling they open up the importance of recognising the complexity of history beside what is politically important to tell at this moment.”

After the KL run, it will be staged at the George Town Festival from 16-17 July 2022. photo credit - Komunitas Salihara_Witjak Widhi

---

A Notional History team at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (May 2022) ©Bea Borgers

DIRECTOR

Mark Teh is a performance maker, researcher, and  curator based in Kuala Lumpur.  His diverse, collaborative projects take on documentary, speculative and generative forms, and address the  entanglements of history, memory and counter-mapping.  His practice is situated primarily in performance, but also operates via exhibitions, education, social interventions, curating and writing.

His projects have been presented at Kunstenfestivaldesarts (2022), the First Trans-Southeast Asia Triennial (2021), MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai (2020), Salihara, Jakarta (2019), Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre (2019), Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] (2019), TPAM, Yokohama (2019 & 2016), BIPAM, Bangkok (2018), OzAsia Festival, Adelaide (2018), Fast Forward Festival, Athens (2018), MMCA Seoul (2018), SPIELART Festival, Munich (2017), Haus de Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017), and Bangkok Arts & Culture Centre (2017), amongst others.  Mark graduated with an MA in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.

PERFORMER

Fahmi Reza is a self-taught graphic designer and political activist based in Kuala Lumpur.  As a multidisciplinary artist, he has produced thousands of political graphics since 2002 and challenged Malaysia’s official history through his documentary films and lecture performances on forgotten historical struggles.

Faiq Syazwan Kuhiri is a performer and until recently, a Digital Producer at BFM. With Five Arts Centre, he has performed in Something I Wrote, 2-minute solos - art meets politics, Baling, Version 2020, A Notional History, and Oppy & Professor Communitas, as well as Lee Ren Xin’s B.E.D. series.

Faiq creates his own original music with the band Terrer.

Rahmah Pauzi is a video journalist and documentary maker with an MA in News and Documentary from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, New York University. Currently based in Malaysia, she spent much of the past decade in the U.S. and has done works for outlets such as PBS, Al Jazeera, Channel News Asia, and BFM Radio.  Most of her works revolve around the themes of home, self-exile, crossroads, and the intersection of the factual and the fictional.  Some of her works include VR documentary Return to Chernobyl (Online Journalism Award 2016), 24 (Szczecin European Film Festival), Welcome to Malaysia, and King George Didn’t Know What’s Gonna Happen (Alternative Film Festival 2017).  Rahmah is the Head of Digital Content at IMAN Media Group.

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Wong Tay Sy has been actively involved in the fields of contemporary art, theatre, and film production since 1999.  Working with different arts collectives, organisations, and production houses, she has extensive experience as an award-winning production designer, curator, producer, and facilitator.  In her work and projects, Tay Sy believes in the process of collective creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration, and she is particularly interested in the intersections between the arts and our social environments.  She is a visual arts graduate from Central St. Martins, London.

LIGHTING & MEDIA DESIGNER

SYAMSUL AZHAR works across theatre, film, and contemporary art as a multimedia and lighting designer, often employing technology as a performative element in his work.  He has designed across diverse places and spaces, and collaborated on many projects with Five Arts Centre.

Syamsul is a member of sans, a loose interdisciplinary collective of artists creating works for performance and exhibition.  He is a graduate in Film and Digital Media from Deakin University, Australia.

PRODUCER

JUNE TAN is a biologist, scriptwriter, arts producer, and activist.  Since 2015, June has produced international co-productions that have toured to Australia, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. From 2018-2020 she was a Director for TPAM in Yokohama - a platform reflecting contemporary thinking in Asian performing arts - where she programmed several panels and projects looking into how artists are using performance in society.  June has also presented her work on panels and events in Bangkok, Melbourne, Mumbai, Munich, Tokyo, Saigon, Seoul, Shanghai, and Yokohama.

Currently June is involved in climate activism and she is a member of the coalition to Defend the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve and Gabungan Darurat Iklim.  She is also a film and TV scriptwriter and has written for regional streaming platforms (Netflix, iflix, HBO Asia, and Viu), as well as terrestrial TV networks in Malaysia and Singapore.

STAGE MANAGER

Alison Khor is a multidisciplinary performing artist who graduated from New Era College Drama & Visuals Department (Malaysia) in 2010.  In 2011, she was awarded a scholarship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan) to study at Shih Hsin University and complete her degree in filmmaking.  Alison currently works as a director, actress, singer, and theatre practitioner.  She was also a part of the experimental music duo JacAl Map.  

Alison has been invited to participate in several arts festivals such as the Macau Fringe Festival (2011), Kakiseni Arts Exchange (2012), DongTaiDu Music Festival (2017), and more.  During the Covid-19 pandemic, she co-curated Time Is Art (2021), a 13-hour online festival which featured over 20 international artists sharing different art performances with the public.  Her latest video work DEAR ALISON (2021) received the Special Jury Recognition Award at the 2021 G-Short film festival, held in conjunction with the George Town Festival.

---

Credits 

Director:  Mark Teh 
Performers:  Fahmi Reza, Faiq Syazwan Kuhiri, Rahmah Pauzi
Production Design:  Wong Tay Sy 
Lighting and Media Design:  Syamsul Azhar
Stage Manager:  Alison Khor
Production Assistant and Intern:  Meshalini Muniandy
Producer:  June Tan 

Executive Producer: Five Arts Centre
Coproduction:  TPAM-Performing Arts Meeting Yokohama

----------

Five Arts Centre is supported by Yayasan Sime Darby, CENDANA (Cultural Economy Development Agency) and GMBB.