Local Shindigs!

Urbanscapes is organised by KLue and is the first and only all-day “user-generated” creative arts festival. Urbanscapes aims to bring together communities and participants from the fields of music, arts, lifestyle, film under a single banner to showcase the best of the local scene. Previous Urbanscapes events took place in 2002 (Grappa Soho) and 2004 (KL Sentral). Urbanscapes 2008 will feature involvement from KLue's sister publications Junk and Tongue In Chic. Junk will be hosting the music stages, while Tongue In Chic will be bringing some colour and fashion flair to the marketplace.



The Fairly Current Show, a weekly Internet TV programme focusing on current and quirky affairs in Malaysia. Their very first guest is landscape architect Ng Sek San, who speaks about resident actions to stop the chopping down of 40 year-old angsana trees in Bangsar. Upcoming guests include Adrian Yap, Shanon Shah, Jacqueline Ann Surin, Pete Teo and Yasmin Ahmad.

Enjoy and pass around to your friends.



The Weekend, an exciting new site that features independent Malaysian musicians has just come online. Come see our songsters in action through interview and exclusive performance sessions. You can catch that talented troubadour, Azmyl Yunor, in the first session out 27 July at www.the-wknd.com (and soon on PopTeeVee too!). The site will later evolve to accommodate merchandising (songs, t-shirts, stuff like that ya know) and other cool bits and bobs.

Look for them at urbanscapes also!

British Council brings May's dosage of design.

Seems this year, British Council has been in support for more art/design programmes this year, bringing us onedotzero : reimaging the cities and other delightful events. This month they bring us the International Young Design Entreprenuer which is an intiative to give a local design entreprenuer 7500 pounds to recognise that a finalist may be active as a designer, however his/her work as an artist should be secondary to their focus as an entrepreneur in the promotion of the design industry in their country. Artistic talent will not be factored into the judging procedure – finalists will be judged solely on the merit of their entrepreneurial abilities in the industry.

To find out more details about this and get involve click on the image above, or this link

British Council is also bringing Pecha Kucha night and it will be happening at the beautiful Annexe Gallery at Central Market Annexe on the 24th of May (7.30pm - 10.00pm). The event is a free public event and we will be entertained by dazzling guests Ridwan Kamil and the Creative United Movement (C.U.M)

Helvetica the Screening

Who would have guessed there would be so much interest among local designers in a film about typography and specifically that oldie but goodie, Helvetica. This is very encouraging, no? More than 60 people turned up during our last kakireka smalltalk film screening on 21 Mar. The room above OleCafe never looked "cosier". And afterwards, more than half you agreed you're interested in similar typography themed events in future. interesting... hmmm. What shall we do next to top that?

Previously, I've observed young designers nowadays would just use whatever font that comes pre-installed in their Mac/PC and not blink twice. Or the other end of the spectrum for others I have seen would force fit as many font as they can like there's no tomorrow in a single job. That inevitable rojak font circus parade gives that creative edge, no? To each their own, you say? Down with conformity and readability? The rule is that there are no rules? I wonder how many of you who watched the film discovered a new found appreciation for Helvetica or typography in general.

A big thank you to all those who stayed back for that little typo exercise with the kakireka ident. We hold events so designers can meet up & collaborate so we thot of that game to help break the ice. Hope many of you made few new friends that night. But we do appreciate your creative contributions and will showcase all of the new kakireka logos at the top of this blogsite in due time.

We do this to also show you that kakireka is created for all of you and each new designer that comes in contact with kakireka will slowly but surely, help evolve the kakireka brand. So our logo ident will be never be the same, ever-changing, quirky yet trendy.

Many thanks also to our sponsors, OleCafe (venue), BasheerBooks (refreshments). And thankyou to all those who slogged & helped to make that smalltalk a success, incl. Irina's friends who helped with guest registrations. See y'all again on the 7th of April. Details coming soon.


*Pictures and article pinjam-ed from Kakireka

Kakireka: Helvetica the Movie

Kakireka will be screening Helvetica the Documentary Film on the 21st March (Friday, 8pm) this month, for FREE.
(click on the e-flyer)

21 March SmallTalk: In your (type)face.

Millions of people use and read this typeface every day, on public transport, newspapers, shop fronts and computers. Through interviews with designers and type enthusiasts, the film tells the story of how a typeface drawn by a little-known Swiss designer in 1957 became one of the most popular ways to communicate. Though it has gone in and out of fashion it has never gone away - is this a symptom of globalisation or simply a reflection that it is the ultimate typeface?

Come to the 21 March 7:21 SmallTalk and get close and personal with the world's most popular typeface which celebrated its 50th birthday last year.

Please email us at kakireka@gmail.com or defunk.info@gmail.com, early to get seats as they are only limited to 50.

Re - Imagining the City

Bookmark your diary again as we've got exciting news, onedotzero will be making an appearance in early April to astound us with his creative project Re-Imagining the City.

Re-Imagining the City focuses on our shared urban future through the eyes of designers, architects, film makers and creatives. Curated by the British Council and onedotzero, Re-Imagining the City is part of CREATIVE CITIES, a cultural and artistic project promoting global citizenship across East Asia.

Through two days of films, visual art and sound, discussion and reflection on the city we inhabit, featuring UK and Malaysian creatives, we will explore the role artists play in how cities are planned and experienced and how they help us understand our surroundings as we view the city through their eyes.

Dates: 5 to 6 April 2008

Watch this space for more updates!

SCREENING: GRAPHIC CITIES
Curated by onedotzero, a compilation of film and moving image exploring the contemporary city experience and evocative interpretations of the urban environment.

PANEL DISCUSSION: CREATIVES ON THE CITY
D-Fuse and local creatives, artists and, dare we hope, city officials, will gather to discuss the role artists play in shaping the cities in which we live.

LIVE A/V PERFORMANCE: SURFACE
By D-Fuse in collaboration with local video artists, a visual examination of Kuala Lumpur, mixed and performed alive.

Kecik Kecik 2

It seems there is an apparent trend of an increase in design exhibitions and events popping all over kl almost weekly like mushrooms. Within the last six months designer flea markets, exhibitions and all have been popping up all over kl gaining a momentum and a strong following at each event.

Having been to quite a few of these events from Youth 08's designer's bazaar, to kecik kecik 2 (yesterday night), I can't help feeling excited (but not to the extent of a giggling cheerleader) to see designer's works every time, regardless whether on print or on a t-shirt and I would like to believe there is a certain element of surprise that an audience expects.

I attended the opening of kecik kecik 2 yesterday at Central Market Annexe, joining me were two of my friends who I ask tag along to have a look at the 'local' scene of design work and exhibition. Kecik kecik 2 was on the second floor of the Annexe, in a small intimate gallery. When we arrived, there were people already bustling inside browsing through the array of design works strung up on a wall like a big family portrait.

The small gallery contained around 50 pieces of works from a diversity of designers locally, stretching from wall to wall. Artworks shown spanned from personal photograph shots telling away ghost stories of lost cities to crazy monkeys (that look pretty awesome mind you), to pix elated disfigured messages.There were a few interesting design pieces, that were well framed and conceived, but the majority seemed to lack a certain quality in their work that was worth buying(even though I know this is subjective, but I got a few responses about the work and prices shown), as the prices of a few works were exceedingly high. I have to say it was somewhat disappointing with the overall standard of the works sold, as we felt a majority of the works weren't worth the value it was sold for and it should be the curator's responsibility to balance this, as well as sort out other technical aspects such as lighting,etc. Here are just a few pictures from the event.




* all pictures taken by a kawan

Kakireka

I've been attending a monthly event called Kakireka recently and its rather interesting as its a monthly platform that has been set up by a group of designers who want to engage, support and organize design events by designers for designers. They are a non-profit group of designers dedicated towards building bridges between designers by providing help, support, action and a voice for the entire design community in MALAYSIA. Anyone interested in design whether you’re a student, graduate, design professionals or enthusiast are most welcome to join in their activities.

They've had some interesting speakers ranging from Jo Kukathas from Instant Cafe (that created eye opening experience of acting workshops on role play and influencing the state of the mind) to Michael Quay from M&C Saatchi, a strategic planner (who gave a small presentation on consumer insight through his experience working with various types of clients)

They are currently taking a break in February, but I heard they will be resuming their sessions in March (every 7th and 21st of every month).

Get Moooving Movable Art 2008

Bookmark your diaries as there will be a design/art event at Palate Pallete Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, 2nd March. The event starts from 5pm onwards and promises live performances, a poster showcase, art installations, a lucky draw and hopefully alot of KL's young designers. To see more details on the event just click the picture.