(A letter to the Daily Express)
I read Richard Sokial’s piece (DE 10th Nov, “Have A Contest..”) on the proposed new art gallery for KK and I agree that we need to think through a lot of things aside for its final design.
KK city is growing more beautiful by the day and the addition of a (beautiful, I hope) new art gallery would be a wonderful addition to that evolving beauty. But more than that, a new building is surely the government’s indication of a new advocacy of enhancing the role of the arts in the life of our community.
The central role of an art gallery is the physical role as a temple of the arts. But the value of a new gallery cannot be measured by the the amount of money put into it, but by the sum total of the civilizing values generated by what an art gallery should truly be.
Art is evolving in all its forms , and I agree with saudara Richard that the design must address all the needs of all the art forms. It cannot be just an empty space but must be accomodative of say, big formats, installations, multi media and other non-traditional art forms.
We have also to address the needs of the artist community, not just in its creative aspect but perhaps more importantly the commercial aspect, for artists also need to eat just like the rest of us, and they need both a conducive and a supportive environment to flourish. Paintings and the other art forms, I think, should eventually be sold, and this is where we should think of ways to encourage the presence of art dealers. It is a fact that paintings are mostly sold by networking and not through galleries. Paintings and other media expressions get sold mostly by networking between dealers, artists and galleries.
The imperative of a new building is that it should immediately be an address which will attract artists from all over the world to come and exhibit their works. In developed countries, art galleries are important tourist destinations. Because of this we need to design activities to cater to diverse needs of both the artists and the public.
Perhaps low budget allocations are limiting the activities of our present art gallery. If that is so, we can rethink how our RM10 million can be better spent. A purely static display gallery will not do much to attract viewers or tourists. We have to engage the public and encourage artists to think of new ways to reach more people. We need to organise more art fairs in different locations. Perhaps we can also sponsor deserving artists to participate overseas like the Sydney Art Fair, to expose them to a wider audience and as a learning experience.
Commercial or personal galleries are still very much nascent in Sabah, and the role of government is therefor even more important and crucial to give impetus to this important activity.
Because of the limited local market and probably because of lack of capital, we have yet to see artists reach out to more people by creating cross breed venues, just like internet cafes, or have them in gift, furniture, antique or clothing shops. Interestingly, the present art gallery is described as “temporarily housed in the Science Centre of the Sabah Museum”. (Look up the Sabah Art Gallery Homepage). We should call it the Art and Science Museum to celebrate the fact that scientists can appreciate art, or that some scientists are artists.
Art does not belong in a separate compartment of a person’s life. Hopefully it should be an essential component of a civilized person’s way of life. A new art gallery for Kota Kinabalu is very important. It should be the much needed soul of a thriving city . In that respect, RM10 million seems to me a paltry sum.
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