Fresh from the success of Open Studios Penang 2022, the team is back with the first edition of Open Galleries Penang with hopes to inspire and rejuvenate engagement with local art spaces.
By Miriam Devaprasana
Penang has a lot to look forward to as the weekend ushers in Open Galleries Penang (OGP) 2022. The inaugural installation of OGP features over ten galleries and alternative spaces aimed to promote a sense of awareness, connection, and wider engagement with the local visual arts ecology.
OGP is a passion project of Ivan Gabriel, an independent curator and multidisciplinary artist based in Penang. Inspired by Gallery Weekend Kuala Lumpur, Ivan explored the idea of a similar concept for Penang in 2019, having recognised that while there were collaborations among local galleries, they were few and often short-term. Seeing this as a gap in the ecosystem, Ivan mooted the idea early this year to the team behind Open Studios Penang (OSP), in which he is also involved. Together they decided to launch OGP 2022 to reintroduce the practice of viewing art in person and to foster better, collaborative relations between spaces and the people involved in the Penang visual arts industry.
OSP 2022 itself met with much success and saw an encouraging reception between local and global communities, the latter largely comprising expatriates and tourists. This is an important marker of who makes up the community of art consumers and enthusiasts, particularly so in considering how art is seeing a re-emergence in post-pandemic Penang. After all, art is marketed as one of Penang’s main offerings.
Read more: Open Studios Penang 2022: Promoting the Visual Arts in Penang
However, while much of the focus is on street murals, iron rod sculptures, and, more recently, the giant urban art murals on shipping containers, there remains much more diversity in the Penang (visual) arts industry to discover. And they are deserving of increased support, resources, funding, engagement, and stakeholder participation to further continued, sustainable growth. OGP 2022, therefore, stands in the gap with specific intentions to highlight the importance of galleries in the local visual arts ecosystem.
Understanding the Penang’s Visual Art Ecosystem
Like every other living organism, the arts industry requires a healthy ecosystem to ensure survival and positive growth. While all environments are complex, the most basic levels of participation are the artists and their works; the individuals and spaces that support the work by way of purchase, authenticating, and exhibiting; and the institutions that provide protection, preservation, and education. Art galleries fall into the second category, and while galleries generally exhibit and sell artworks, they play a significant role in the art industry. A healthy and balanced relationship between all three levels of participation is necessary for shaping a visual arts ecosystem that thrives.
Read more: Gallery representation: What it means and how to find the right fit
Penang has several art galleries, the majority of which can be found within the city of George Town. This includes the Penang State Museum & Art Gallery, the bulk of privately-owned spaces, as well as cafes, restaurants, and lifestyle stores that also function as alternative art spaces. Then there is Hin Bus Depot which serves as Penang’s only creative hub—a constant for both the local visual and performing arts industry. In tandem with exhibition spaces are the people behind them: gallery owners, gallery directors, managers, marketing and creative directors, and the equally important, though often side-lined curators, exhibit designers, art writers, and critics.
Breaking Ground
With the success of OSP 2022 as a catapult, OGP 2022 offers a different kind of engagement with the visual arts ecology in Penang. Where OSP centred the varied methodologies to the discipline, i.e., studio practice, mediums and technique; OGP shifts the focus to space, setting, and people, highlighting the vital relations between galleries and/or alternative spaces, the people involved in them, the artists, and their works. Underscored by the same tenets of OSP 2022—inclusivity and diversity—OGP remains a community-driven festival and presents itself as yet another initiative by local artists, curators, managers, art lovers, and advocates to contribute to and shape the local art ecosystem.
OGP 2022 breaks ground by primarily bringing together existing galleries and alternative art spaces to provide a weekend of gallery hopping. With guided tours and walkthroughs, viewers have the opportunity to engage with gallery managers, curators, and artists regarding the artwork, space, and setting. This inadvertently creates moments for informal dialogues to take place between participants who may otherwise find no reason or opportunity to interact. OGP 2022 also functions as a nucleus, bridging available exhibition spaces and key individuals for cross-collaborations and long-term relations. This presents the opportunity for traditional and/or commercial-type settings to experiment with alternative models, ultimately stretching the possibilities of synergy through explorations of aesthetics, creativity, settings, and resources.
More importantly, OGP 2022 encourages our society to return to, and embrace the practice of viewing art in person in accessible surroundings. While the circumstances of the past two years have propelled engagement with artworks through digital scapes, nothing beats attending in-person exhibitions and gallery openings. Although both digital and in-person art viewing are creative experiences in their own right, seeing art in person rekindles and enhances our art appreciation, allowing us to capture and reflect on art, its voice, and expressions in ways virtual tours or still pictures simply cannot. It also offers forms of reconnection with our communities as we examine what it means to be human—people and ideas brought together by, and for, the love of art.
As a framework, OGP 2022 offers several points of consideration for stakeholders. Because art galleries and alternative spaces play a crucial role(s) in the visual arts ecosystem, it is vital that more attention is given to these spaces and the systems they perpetuate. Is there a danger of these spaces being seen as self-sustaining? Perhaps, though I believe it would be careless to think that. Rather, institutions and government stakeholders should see this as an opportunity to strengthen its supporting mechanisms in terms of resources and funding, as well as collaborative ties with all spaces and participants involved to build a healthy visual arts ecosystem.
Meanwhile, stakeholders should also ensure continued engagement with the community OSP and OGP 2022 have built. Armed by experience, Ivan Gabriel observes a gradual shift in the demography of art enthusiasts and consumers, with increased participation from those aged between 25 – 40 years. This is an important assessment to monitor the value and relevance of visual arts to the younger generation. Ivan also notes that exhibitions and gallery openings are largely dependent on word-of-mouth marketing, greatly contributed by local and global communities sustained by OSP. They also form an important aspect of the (visual) arts industry, lending to the fact that it is a community of artists, advocates, and art lovers who initiate and encourage the growth of Penang’s art scene.
Read more: Local Gallery Representation: The Art of Today
OGP 2022 pioneers with many new and exciting features: Blank Canvas hosts Spotlight by PAD, Narrow Marrow holds its first exhibition showcasing artist Hao Yuan Cheng, the World Buddhist Stamp Gallery exhibits its first show (Rumput Rumpai by Ch’ng Kiah Kiean), and Alex Leong holds his seventh solo at The Art Gallery Penang. In this way, OGP 2022 gives visitors a weekend of engaging with culture, narratives, communities, buildings, and more through an accessible and inclusive programme. Here, viewers and stakeholders alike get to ask transformative questions like “what qualifies as an art gallery?” and “how do spaces and settings interact, perhaps even elevate the artworks?”
But, more importantly, is the question of whether these spaces matter to the community and what can be done to support and fund them. OGP 2022 acts as a driving force towards determining the trends of engagement and sets new horizons for the local visual arts ecosystem to look forward to.
A full programme of guided tours, walkabouts, and special rates is available at Open Studios Penang.
Miriam Devaprasana is an observer and dabbler of creative expressions. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Sociolinguistics and hopes that one day, her work will help form a new way of thinking ‘Malaysia’. Read her blog at mdev16.wordpress.com