Writer, performer and co-founder of Five Arts Centre Marion D’Cruz (Photo: Five Arts Centre)
Five Arts Centre is indeed 40 years old!” gushes co-founder Marion D’Cruz. “I often wonder, ‘How come we are still here? Why are we still here?’”
When she formed the theatre collective in 1984, together with Chin San Sooi and three others who have passed on — theatre director and critic Krishen Jit, writer K S Maniam and visual artist Redza Piyadasa, the vision and mission was to tell the Malaysian story in varied and innovative ways, through experimentation, interdisciplinary work and training.
“These, among others, were key concepts. There was no real thinking about longevity. We went from project to project. But slowly, and quite organically, the company evolved. Members came and left. Projects created ranged from performances and workshops to talks, forums, a conference, publications, archives and more,” D’Cruz says.
Planning became more deliberate, collaborations with talented individuals increased and the centre gradually expanded.
“It’s hard to encapsulate how I feel. There is so much to be grateful for. I am thankful for these 40 years of art making. My own work and career were supported by Five Arts and it still is. I am thankful for the many artists and collaborators who have created and worked with us. I am thankful to the government, corporations and individuals who have sponsored Five Arts in cash and kind. I am grateful to the audiences for their generosity of support.
“Most of all, I am thankful we are a collective! It is not easy. One must listen deeply to each voice and each must share willingly. This process is curious, tricky, sometimes sticky, and prickly. But it is so worthwhile.”
She ruminates on how far they have come, while being excited about the dynamic new generation of artists at the forefront of Five Arts Centre now. “This is the absolute best thing. It gives me extraordinary joy,” says D’Cruz.
To mark its milestone anniversary, the institution will host the Arts Producers Workshop led by member June Tan. The producer and screenwriter — who has been a stage and tour manager, as well as produced numerous local and international co-productions since 1997, including Baling, Version 2020, GE14 and A Notional History — will address gaps in the local performing arts ecosystem.
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“I think first, we want to recognise that we didn’t get to be 40 years old just by doing shows. Being an arts practitioner in Malaysia inevitably makes you think about the lack of arts infrastructure and capacity-building. Being a collective, we have been involved in different things, and it became clear that we should try and address some of these gaps in our community through workshops, sharing among peers and online archives,” says Tan.
“At the same time, it is really vital to work against and resist isolation and silo-fication, and to stick our heads out and wonder what other artists are doing, what our neighbours are doing. Being curious helps us grow, so it was important for us to present Ho Rui An’s work.”
The Singaporean artist will hold the world premiere of a lecture performance with generative artificial intelligence (AI) at Five Arts Centre, ahead of a run at the Centre Pompidou in Paris later this year.
Figures of History and the Grounds of Intelligence examines the impact of state archive images entering artificial neural networks, tracing the histories of state planning, global networks and cybernetics from the Cold War to today’s AI boom. It questions the implications for representation when generative AI models use “memory” not to narrate history, but to endlessly generate new outputs.
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“When we toured Baling (a Five Arts production directed by Mark Teh) in Braunschweig, Germany, I met Ho, who was part of a cohort of emerging artists brought together by the festival to meet and exchange ideas. I then became intrigued with his work when I caught one of his performance lectures, Solar: A Meltdown in Yokohama,” says Tan.
The starting point for this is a wax figure of a white anthropologist who toiled under the hot sun in one of the colonies, so the figure was “sweating”. This work carried on using perspiration to discuss colonialism with examples from popular fiction, which was unexpected.
“I asked him if he would consider presenting something at Five Arts, and he proposed Dash, which explores living in an era where futures are often hedged. The 2017 performance begins with footage from a dashboard camera capturing the infamous Ferrari-taxi accident in Singapore. With Ho’s new performance lecture on artificial intelligence, I’m eager to see how he will direct our attention and where it will lead us,” she says.
The Art Producers Workshop was conceived when a younger producer approached Tan, expressing her feelings of intimidation and uncertainty about her work in producing. “I told her there isn’t a right or wrong way to produce. We all learn by doing. She needed guidance, especially from someone with my experience. This inspired me to create a space for both emerging and senior producers to share their methods and experiences. The workshop will focus on what it means to be a producer, project financing, audience development and social media, and conflict resolution when resources are limited.”
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It will also cover arts management. “We have artists and venues, but we need more producers, programmers and managers who understand how to contextualise, manage and present art projects to the public.”
Tan brings with her a wealth of experience in this area as she once served as the director of TPAM (formerly Tokyo Performing Arts Market, now known as Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting). She is also a secretariat and committee member of ReformARTsi, a community coalition advocating policy change in the arts and culture sector.
D’Cruz is thrilled about the line-up and believes it marks a significant step towards her vision for the decades to come. “My dream is that we keep the ball in the air! That we keep making work, evolving, changing, being relevant and inclusive. My dream is that there will always be a seat for all of us at the Five Arts table.”
The Arts Producers Workshop will take place from July 13 to 16, 10am to 6pm, while Ho Rui An’s 'Figures of History and the Grounds of Intelligence' will run on July 14 and 15 at 8.30pm. Both events will be held at GMBB, 9th Floor, 2 Jalan Robertson, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. (fiveartscentre.org)
This article first appeared on July 8, 2024 in The Edge Malaysia.
