LANGKAWI ART BIENNALE 2024
Date : 25 -31 January 2024
Venue : Park’ N Ride Langkawi
Energy of the top
Just as the Earth rotates around its axis as it revolves around the Sun, life continues to revolve each day as we resume our life after a long period of lockdowns due to the pandemic.
The moment lockdowns were lifted, it “unleashed” everyone to pick themselves up, to face the challenges that the pandemic has damaged. There is this desire for a BETTER TOMORROW and at the same time, in the midst of the reality of the situation, where lives were lost, and businesses were closed, they had to start afresh and find their source of ENERGY where they can put themselves on the path to RECOVERY.
This is similar to how the traditional game of TOP SPINNING, known as ‘Gasing’ in the Malay community, is played. A string is carefully and tightly wrapped around the top for a powerful force to create tension for the top to spin endlessly. Thus, it is a metaphor for where everybody finds within themselves the latent energy, that positive energy to come out from this pandemic where so much has been damaged.
Interestingly, spinning tops have originated independently in many countries around the world, evidenced by archaeological finds in ancient Rome, and tops (traditional and modern) are still played from across Europe to Asia and the Far East.
So, we invite all LAB 2024 participants to bring tops from their home countries as a collective metaphor where each can SHARE their unique ways to spin their tops and also their journey to recovery from the pandemic into the new norm.
About the theme : RESET
As we all saw and experienced painfully, the world was hit badly by the Covid-19 pandemic, throwing a wrench into the works of the modern world. The spinning world almost literally stopped in its tracks. However, history has shown us that humans are resilient and constantly evolving to cope with the changing environment.
In the ancient world, many glorious civilisations like the Egyptians and Incas have come and gone. In more recent centuries there were wars & diseases like the Bubonic Plaque that caused a global pandemic – Black Death, resulting in 75-200 million horrific deaths in Europe, Asia and Africa. And it’s still lurking around!
Closer to home, the Kingdom of Siam attacked Langkawi in 1821 and rice fields and granary were burnt by the villagers themselves to starve & push out the Siamese troops but this failed and Langkawi was captured in 1822. Villagers were taken as slaves, some forced to flee Langkawi, including its Orang Laut, seafaring population. Many attributed this misfortune to a local legend. A few years before the Siamese invasion, Mahsuri was condemned to death after being accused of adultery. Frustrated that no one believed her innocence and angered about the lies the villagers believed, before she died, she cursed that Langkawi will for 7 generations be fraught with misfortune.
Langkawi laid ‘barren’ and backward until 1986 when Tun Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister at that time began a series of economic and infrastructural development under the purview of Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) to awaken Langkawi and mold it into an internationally known “City of Tourism” by bringing in major international exhibitions like LIMA (Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition) and international sporting events like Le Tour de Langkawi and Ironman. This formerly untouched island with its natural beauty attracted hoteliers to set up luxurious resorts like The Datai, Four Seasons, St Regis, Westin and Danna Langkawi. It was also bestowed duty-free status as an impetus for the loads of tourists that was now streaming in locally and internationally. The curse of Mahsuri has finally been lifted? Langkawi has been RESET.
Ground handler
Kian Creative Venture
Once again in 2020, Langkawi, being a City of Tourism, was badly hit as people stopped travelling. But we have braved the wave and after more than 2 years once again, Langkawi is awakening with renewed fervor. It’s going through another RESET.
Now, as lockdowns have been lifted worldwide, the world has put the pandemic behind them although traces still linger. We can see the world moving on, finding new directions and new hope. Where is this source of energy to RESET coming from? Perhaps, this source is from the Humanity within us with people helping people movements; turning to and deepening their faith; strengthening of the family unit and more people seeking to re-connect with Nature. Our need to survive and strive fuels us.
As the world continues to spin, on its axis like a spinning top, life and challenges continue. Similar to the traditional game of top spinning, the way we wrap the string and the tension is likened to how we prepare and equip ourselves to face the challenges ahead. The force and angle of the throw, creating gravitational torque determines how long the top spins. Our energy to move ahead depends on the intensity of our resolve, how we throw ourselves into our endeavor and the results further fuel our ‘spin’.
Supported by
Langkawi Artist Visual Art Association
What this unfortunate pandemic has taught us is to respect and appreciate what we have. To never give up, and that we cannot continue in the old way as one must evolve as all organisms do at one time or another, for survival.
So we RE-strategise our life, RE-invent the way we communicate and work, RE-educate ourselves and change our mindset going forward into the ‘new norm’. We, in one word, RESET.