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New Shooshie Sulaiman installation to arrive at Museum MACAN’s Children’s Art Space
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Sketches for the rubber stamping activity at the upcoming UOB Museum MACAN Children’s Art Space installation by Shooshie Sulaiman: 'Main Getah/Rubberscape'. (Shooshie Sulaiman/File)
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ommitted to making art accessible to the wider public, especially children, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN) has dedicated a special space for its younger visitors.
Recently the UOB Museum MACAN announced that for the upcoming season of the Children’s Art Space it commissioned work by Malaysian artist Shooshie Sulaiman.
Considered one of Southeast Asia’s foremost contemporary artists, Shooshie is known for her installation artworks that have been featured in a number of important international exhibitions and institutions, such as the sixth Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia in 2009, the 10th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea in 2014 and the Kadist Art Foundation in Paris in France in 2016.
Shooshie created an installation entitled Main Getah/Rubberscape (main getah translates as "playing latex") for Museum MACAN’s Children’s Art Space. She drew inspiration from natural rubber, a gift of nature that connects Indonesia, her homeland of Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia.
Main Getah/Rubberscape was intended to create a special environment in the Children’s Art Space that stimulates all the senses through form, texture and sound. There would be young rubber trees, locally sourced soil and prerecorded sounds from rubber plantations in Malaysia.
A host of activities are also to be presented at the installation. Children and parents can engage in fun educational activities, such as playing congklak, a traditional game for two persons also known as mancala.
More excitement awaits with another traditional game, laga getah (rubber stone race) and a weekly balloon-making workshop that uses natural latex.
Meanwhile, those with more artistic flair would be able to try activities with specially designed rubber stamps or practice hands-on rubber band braiding.
Read also: Museum MACAN to present works of Gatot Indrajati in Children’s Art Space
The commission is also supported by the Bogor-based Pusat Penelitian Karet (Indonesian Rubber Research Institute), which has helped to source the main materials used in the installation. The research institute has also ensured that the activities are sustainable, as well as child-friendly, according to the museum’s official statement.
Main Getah/Rubberscape, slated to open for public on Saturday, March 1, was the third installation commissioned for the Children’s Art Space since the museum opened in 2017. Previously, on separate occasions the space presented famed Indonesian artists Entang Wiharso and Gatot Indrajati. The former created a site-specific mural and interactive work entitled Floating Garden, while the latter made a cardboard-themed interactive installation entitled Kotak Utak-Atik (tinkering box). (mut)
