The George Town Festival continues until 7 July, so by the time this is published there may yet still be time to catch the last delights of this wonderful annual event. Originally designed to mark the first anniversary of Penang’s World Heritage Status, it has grown in the last four years not only in size and scope but also in depth and stature. It now attracts artists, performers, and events from all over the world to create a truly international experience but also one that celebrates the island’s unique and multicultural heritage.

The opening night gave us a taste of things to come. Indonesian artist Joko Dwi Aviento’s Theatre of Ships, a spectacular installation of massive bamboo poles nestling beside to George Town’s stately colonial City Hall, was formally opened with a dainty sprinkling of rose petals. Aviento’s semi-abstract vessels seem to move up and commanded by the rhythm of unseen tides and as he says, “The ship boat faces east, that is the symbolic direction of new hope. The island’s historical position as a place where passenger ships brought all sorts of different nationalities who live harmoniously together.” The installation will be there for the next six months, so make sure you see it when you are next visiting Penang.

The second delight of the evening was a performance of Italian chamber music by I Musici from Rome. The concert hall is a short walk away from the Theatre of Ships but to get to it you have to cross a small bridge across an imaginary river. The artist Vin, originally a Penangite, but now a Singapore resident, has made a firefly installation, which is in fact part of a much larger project, a series of secret gardens which will pop up throughout the festival all over the City. Vin has planted a small empty riverbed with lalang grass, cat’s whiskers, and angel flowers and camouflaged fibre optic lights. As you walk across the bridge, you trip an unseen sensor which triggers the lights to create a sea of dancing fireflies which accompany your journey.

I Musici are a group of a dozen musicians who perform without a conductor which means that they have to work unanimously with complete respect and equality amongst themselves. The exquisite tone of the stringed instruments combined with the interpersonal harmony of the players created a breathtaking evening. They began with a selection from the great Italian operas and ended with their signature piece, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Rarely has music of this quality been heard in Penang and the audience rapturously demanded not one, but two, encores.

It seemed quite a leap from Baroque Italy to the next morning’s offerings: a trio of exhibitions at the E & O Hotel. You can never cross the portals of this august hotel without being aware of its long heritage. It hasn’t always been as well-maintained as it is now. Long-term Penang dwellers can recall a time in the last century when the décor was a little tired and the service distinctly lacklustre.

But today’s elegant E & O was the perfect backdrop for a display of Luili crystal, an art both old and yet contemporary. Taiwanese artists Loretta Yang and her husband, Chang Yi, have revived the old technique of glassmaking stretching back into the Chou dynasty and infused it with fresh meaning. They work in glass because it’s both firm yet fragile, and they use it to explore the notions of compassion and impermanence that underlie their Buddhist personal philosophy. Loretta’s monumental flowers were the most impressive part of the exhibition for me, but I found their personal story almost as interesting as their art. Once prominent in the Taiwanese movie industry as a leading lady and a film director, they decided to change direction in mid-life to fine art and taught themselves the immensely complicated techniques of pate de verre (glass paste) “by trial and error.” Now based in Shanghai as well as Taiwan, they have galleries selling their work in KL and Singapore.

Tiao Nith Somsanith, an artist from the former royal house of Lao, presented his exhibition, Memories of Gold, a selection of delicious gold thread embroideries from Indo-China. Tiao trained as a clinical psychologist but now works as an artist of gold thread embroidery and gold leaf work. He has personally revived this ancient art and teaches extensively. I enjoyed the natural forms the best. Gold thread on silk recreate leaves, branches and trees and often the orginal stem of the leaf has been left as part of the work. The third artist, Marie Dargent, is no stranger to Malaysia, having lived here during the 1980s. She has created a vision of George Town based on John Brunton’s photographs which she prints and then embellishes with all sorts of textures, paint and substances. The result is not so much George Town but a Town called George, an imaginary place where one can dream about how George Town might look in a parallel universe.

All this richness in less than 24 hours! I am already exhilarated and exhausted in equal measure. The only question is – how am I going to last the month of the festival? If the George Town Festival’s not on your radar yet, make sure you pay a visit in 2014. It gets better with each year.

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Source: The Expat July 2013
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