Gan Siong King (born in Malaysia) is currently in a state of creative crisis; he is bored. Again. This is something he welcomes, for he believes constant renewal is prerequisite to any creative work and his best work is always ahead of him because the opposite would be disastrous. Gan’s evolving practice is multi-disciplinary and revolves around unpacking orthodoxies in art and social structures as a way to question, reflect and imagine different ways of seeing and being. He is currently exploring ideas about “exhibition-making”, particularly on developing it as a medium in itself.
This is reflected in his recent solo project “Meeting People Is Easy”, (Kuala Lumpur, 2017), a solo exhibition in the form of a month-long open studio and his first online video exhibition “@yarimoriya”, (Japan, 2016), made as part of his residency at ARCUS Project, Moriya. Kecek emerged from a series of conversations with Nik that started in 2016 and continued over the last few years. Sprawling conversations about his work and his thoughts about “work”, interspersed with recollections of Malaysia from our youth and premillennial pop culture, which shaped both our lives. This video is a representation of those conversations that slips between technical facts, jokes, half-truths and blatant lies.
Kecek is the 3rd video from an on-going, 10 video-essays project tentatively titled “M.A.W (Malaysian Artist at Work)” that is made in collaboration, and in conversation with Malaysian artists, with a focus on ideas and imageries of “work” as a theme. M.A.W is informed by recent developments in Malaysia, where so much of the mainstream discourse centers on identity politics, especially on issues of race and religion. M.A.W explores ideas of work/profession and how we choose to do it, as an important variable in shaping who we are and how we see and experience the world. Kecek Amplifier bersama Nik Shazwan is a Malay title and can be translated to “Talking about Amplifier with Nik Shazwan”.
