Kenangan itu, hanya mainan bagimu, running at Mutual Aid Projects from Dec 19 to Jan 23, may be one of my favorite exhibitions of the year.
It’s tiny – consisting of a single diorama located in a small “showroom” inside the charming yet outdated Wisma Central on Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur – but wrestles with Malaysia’s economic development in a way that is striking, original and incisive.
This site-specific installation is the second of a series by local artist Izat Arif, interrogating Malaysia’s obsession with progress and development. The first installation was held at Ilham Gallery’s Domestic Bliss, where Taman Kenangan was exhibited as a development proposal.
In this phase, the construction of Taman Kenangan has begun, and viewers are being sold the vision of a promising gated community.
Like other development projects in Malaysia, Taman Kenangan is brimming with potential, and the promise of the Malaysian dream.
Entering the showroom, a backdrop on the far wall proudly displays the name of the new development, while adverts that read like Orwellian doublespeak line the two walls.
“Taman Kenangan fosters the protection, restoration and exploration of Gunung Ledang,” one ad reads. On the other side of the wall, “Kehidupan di bandar dengan kesenangan yang tidak terbatas, perlu diisi dengan aktiviti yang lebih bermakna untuk membendung rasa kelapangan di jiwa.”
Meanwhile, a television advertisement in the showroom continues to play marketing messages on a loop. “Be part of the community. Register your desires,” the advertisements read. They promise an ideal living community: “Down to earth kampung style homes. Mountain view homes. Lake view homes.”
The showroom mimics the language of other real estate developments. But the advertisements feel hauntingly divorced from the reality of the project: that Taman Kenangan is being built upon a razed Gunung Ledang.
The diorama is the heart of this installation. What was previously a gargantuan and towering mountain has been cut like a square slice of cake, held up by tiny model scaffolding. Around the dismembered remains of the mountain, the land has been cleared, and vegetation exists only outside the gated community.
This is one of the key paradoxes presented in Kenangan itu, amongst many others: the development project’s claim of national progress and success, while visibly destroying the natural environment, displacing communities and reducing culture to a commodity.