INTERVIEW BY YAP SAU BIN (2014) 
Aliran Semasa {RearView Forward}: “Confluence and Branching of Media Technology in recent Malaysian Art"
Balai Seni Visual Negara

1. What role does media/technology play in your art? What do you use it for? As a mean or end, process?
(For example, a communicative/expressive tool, aesthetic and artistic experimentation and play, a platform/mechanism/embodiment of critique, a philosophical inquiry on its own, etc.)
In recent years there has been a shift in artistic practice with regards to the making of video/new media works. Advances in new technology mean that artists can now edit their work on a personal computer. Perceiving it in a positive perspective, I am taking the advantage of this accessibility to make full use of what the technology offers. Not limited by technological change, I see myself as part of the change and want to participate in it.  I believe, sometimes an artwork have to be pushed to cross certain limits, just for the sake of visual experiments.
In most of my early works, media/technology plays its part as an end process, where the final, physical presentation of the artwork took place. Some people think that I am an expert in technological gadgets/media, but honestly I’m not. I did frame by frame animation in flash, edited video in a really slow laptop with pirate software and I did 3D projection mapping in a very ‘manual’ way. But throughout the years, I’m becoming more comfortable dealing with this media/technology in my art, and honestly, one of the factors influencing it is my economic stability. I really believe that money plays important part in my development as a media/technology practitioner.
For the time being, this media/technology has been influencing my way of thinking, seeing, and creating art – in both form and content of my works. And I’m not saying it is a good thing. Sometimes I want to break free out of it.
Another thing is, since my visual research requires me to deal with a lot of experiments, one important thing that I found out throughout my practise is that, in producing new-media based artworks, ‘high-tech’ tools will absolutely help in producing better results – it is the same concept of ‘using quality paint in creating better paintings’, which I think will always be a valid statement. But in the same time, I believe it would be naïve to think that technology has somehow solved all the problems that one associates with all manner of creative processes. For example, having programming skills or being skilled in working with certain computer applications does not necessarily result in interesting or innovative work. The key notion in art relies highly in the conceptual process – so that the tools and materials we use are only useful if they can help us to realise these concepts.
2.  What is your thought on media technology in relation to your art practice? How would you describe its role and relationship to your practice?
How do you approach them two (media to art, art to media, or perhaps media and art are inseparable to you)?
I believe an artist needs to constantly think, explore and reflect. I have enjoyed exploring new and sometimes difficult mediums. While I believe I have always had  the ability to create art with my hands through drawing and sculpting, I have always try to push myself to explore and work with numerous mediums ranging from a charcoal to create a drawing, to the virtual line in creating vector images. The experience of handling both of the real and virtual tools had made me conscious of the relationship between the two different worlds in one way or another – as to me, ironically, waiting for a video to be rendered is just the same as waiting for an oil paint layer to dry. I still have to wait.
Technology has been a catalyst for me in generating the presentation and expression of an idea. Sometimes, it even helps me to expand or elaborate a certain idea. This reminded me of a quote from a legendary film maker from Indonesia, Garin Nugroho, who once stated; “Idea muncul apabila teknik tidak lagi menjadi hal”. I really believe that sometimes our technical capabilities might decide on what we should do.  Science and Technology has the ability to extend and stimulate my imagination,  while the development of new media, for instance, may strengthens existing cultural forms and languages, including the language of conventional art forms like paintings and sculptures. Yet, in the other hand, the area of Fine Art may help in drawing out Science and Technology from its rigid form, humanizing it or instilling the values of aesthetic into it. As a supporting example, in my artworks, the digital screens and projectors have been used in a different way, sometimes in a very poetic and spiritual way, in order to let it come out of its rigid nature.
In dealing with the images and symbol from the virtual, and with the intention of creating new images out of it, it is obvious that in my case, more process are taking place in the computers, dealing with softwares and programs, rather than in the real workplace. But in the same time, the final presentation will always demand the use of real material, or real space to act as the interface between the artwork and the audience. This process of transferring -from ‘real’ to ‘virtual’ and vice versa has been a challenge for me ever since – although some process might be as simple as using a printer - to print the digital image out from the computer.
3.   What are the ideas, reading or theoretical framework if any, that inform your practice especially in context of usage of media technology?
Please share what were the influence or how did you come about to this juncture?
(Studio/residency/ professional development; recent concerns – from social, cultural, political or technological environment; readings or past studio training etc.)
One of the determining factors for me in searching for the right images, symbols, metaphors and analogies to be applied into my artistic process is my ever-going quest for identity. Although I was born and lived in Kelantan, I never saw a real Shadow Puppet show until I was 23. In 2003, during my diploma years in UiTM Machang, The National Art Gallery together with Eddin Khoo, the founder of PUSAKA (a cultural organization) had come to Machang to create a documentation on Wayang Kulit (Traditional Shadow Puppets) performance of the famous Dalang ‘Pak Dolah Baju Merah’. For the first time, I witnessed my first live performance of wayang kulit and instantly fell in love with it. The first show had amazed and encouraged me to find further relationship between the ‘wayang’ and my interest in animation. Furthermore, considering the fact that ‘Multimedia’ had already existed in our Asian root of culture I tried to find the relationship of the traditional performance and the contemporary visual arts during my Degree study years – and it somehow leads me to my reading on digital culture/screen culture. I tried to digest McLuhan view, and later fell in love with Paul Virillio. I dig Nam June Paik’s, Bill Viola and other video artist works as reference.
My research on the Malay Shadow Puppets had also led me to the finding of the concept of ‘Pohon Hayat’ (The Tree of Life) or also known as ‘Pohon Beringin’ and ‘Pohon Budi’, which is the main basis for the concept of the performance. It symbolically represents the universe and also the spiritual and religious relationship of human and their Creator. The concept has since serve as the basis and the backbone of my body of work that deals with the issue of temporary life, second life, question of faith, question of real/virtual, existentialism etc.
Later, I am doing research on the issue of internet as human second life. I’m not sure how Wayang Kulit has brought me to the point, but I always feel the relationship of the two. And sometimes, I tried to relate the concept through my own way. (refer ‘Pohon Series’ digital prints)
In another point of view, looking back at several of my previous artworks, i accidentally found certain elements that have certain similarities with the approach that was done by Bill Viola and Fabrizio Plessi - the flowing, melting appearance that suggest the property of liquid. Although what i originally plan to express in my artworks is actually the idea on the excessive, 'overflowing' data from the internet, but what interest me more is how i have subconsciously relate the light from my projections as something more natural, obvious and recognizable such as water. One of the most obvious example is the work titled ‘Information Overflow’ (2010), and Your Axis Mundi? (2011). It somehow reminds me of the usage of the term 'currents' for electricity and also internet terms such as 'web surfing' and 'flood' (a term for a website overflowed by too many click/visitor). This finding has encouraged me in creating a more complex body of work that deals with the same approach.

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