Today I was at (only) 1 of the forums at Creativity & Spiritual Path event in KL. And I’ve some thoughts to share, that I fear might offend some people. But with a heavy heart (for whatever reason) I quote Salman Rushdie who said, if offendedness is the point at which you have to limit thought then nothing can be said.
That said, to be frank, it is partly my (excuse me, I meant my – main) objective. To offend. Whoever that might be offended. Or perhaps for a better word, to cause some sense of friction. This I arrived after observing what I did at the event, the discussion in the forum, and the post-mortem I had with a few of the attendees and non.
Friction. Perhaps derived from this line I heard recently, that it is through the clash of views, new ideas are born. Whatever the words might be, the point is, until and unless (though not exclusively), there is clash, controversy, friction, difference, distinction, the cause of new thoughts, or thoughts being developed. Either the product, or the process.
And keep in mind, that even the intelligence of one person, is the result of the multi disciplines (or segments) within his own brain, working together to formulate something, which results to us coming up with a word, stringing a sentence, making a decision, articulating a thought.
Even human beings aren’t able to survive alone. There’s always a need for a complimentary element. One that is different and supportive/reliant of the other. The point is, two or more different elements coming together to produce one or more things.
Now to what I observed.
I felt that while some parts, or areas, were very well curated. Some parts weren’t, or at least were neglected or not sufficiently explored. And for the purpose of what I just raised, I will only in the following, raise the negative part with clear intention to perhaps irk your thoughts, twitch your muscles.
For starters, I didn’t see much of art, or creativity, (or Susan – call it whatever you want), were being explored, challenged or provoked in whatever sense and method available (or not yet done so). While I’m not saying that’s its sole purpose, or even it is its purpose in any way, I’m just saying I didn’t see much of that happening.
One or two of the speakers/presenters did achieve this impact (from my end, that is. Nader Khan singing a song called Alhamdulillah in the same manner as Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, is one of the few moments that it did happen). But generally no. Neither were the exhibitors/booths/shops. Nor I think did the organizers thought (much) of exploring this. I’m not sure if this is apt, but safe was somewhat the premise. And I thought that was a little unfortunate.
Secondly, the themes were, whether deliberate or not on the organizers end, but it was still on discussing things like the (challenged) Islamic identity. And if it were in the consumer sense, it was fresh only in the context that it was not traditionally Malaysian, but influenced in the Western/English speaking Islamic sense of Islamic brand.
We/it, seemed to be trapped in this sphere, discourse of the same thing of us and them, which is largely reactionary (albeit progressive in the sense that it avoids/devoids the blame game), and on the latter, trapped in the sense that we’ve not explored ourselves in our own landscape.
For example, if Islamic art/creativity is marketed in one way, using mediums such as Bahasa Malaysia, it’s how it’s always been. And if it’s in English, it very much replicates what the Western Islamic sphere is doing or generally supposedly you Western youth are doing.
But you don’t see a cross-section of the two I’ve just mentioned, the Western method but with the use of Bahasa Malaysia. Or that in the sense of being cool but exploring new or untapped methods, as oppose to just taking a band dressed in rock like attire (with hints of religion accessory, is that supposed to be considered creatively fresh and sufficiently Islamic?).
On that same point, there’s no depth into digging what was the cultural history of this domestic landscape? Whether it’s early Islamic influence or the pre-Islamic influence of the Nusantara. Because what I saw was inevitably elements of Arabic, which while I’m proud of, doesn’t quite do much for the people ‘here.’
Perhaps bring in elements of the wayang kulit figurines? East coast Malaya batik influence? Orang Asli elements? Perhaps this demand is coming too soon from an arm chair ivory tower observer critic (like myself), and that we are indeed en route to this. But no, this is one of those times I think there’s a need by us to be soft.
We have to start putting (1) thought into our own art and (2) develope that, (3) expand that, (4) merge that, as well as (5) explore others. Sometimes jumping straight to step 5 is necessary as a launchpad or reference point, but there’s the danger of falling comfort and relying on that, always wandering into the glass window, forgetting the mirror reflection.
And I think that already happened a long time ago.
*One speaker that impressed me thoroughly, who did, in some ways, explored similar things that I just wrote about is Dr. Amir Zerkgoo, an artist, art historian and Indologist at ISTAC Malaysia. I can’t find a youtube of him, but I will upload in another post, some tweets I put up while he was presenting.
