Friday, September 9, 2011

THE ART SCENE IN MALAYSIA

The Balai Seni Lukis Negara has always been the hub of Malaysian art. Exhibitions are being held throughout the year featuring many local artists, many of whom are still crawling to the international art scene. Much work has to be done here.

On the other hand the Tourism Ministry of Malaysia has kicked start an initiative to bring in world renowned art works in hopes of making the country an international hub for contemporary art tourism.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said she had started discussions with international art agencies to bring in major pieces of art to be exhibited here and certainly not at the Balai Seni Luki Negara.

"We are having discussions with some government agencies and some museums to bring all those art work to be exhibited here in order to boost our tourism sector," she said after launching the 1Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism festival (1MCAT) here today.

But the Minister said so far no commitment could be made as those art pieces were expensive with insurance very costly and this is an understatement as far as Malaysia art is concerned.

"Many people travel around the world just to look at one piece of art work from international artists such as Van Gogh, Menay, Vanie and we want to part of their stops," she said.

However, she said the organising of the 1MCAT festival from July to September, would showcase the most explosive, dynamic and provocative art produced by internationally acclaimed Malaysian-born artists through a series of exhibitions and seminars nationwide.

We will have to see about that.

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