ART TALK ON CURATORIAL PROJECTS BY ROOPESH SITHARAN
Dialog seni oleh seniman dan kurator Roopesh Sitharan telah berlangsung di Rumah YKP pada 27 Ogos 2007. Peserta yang terdiri daripada pelukis, pelajar, pensyarah serta wakil BSLN telah diberi kesempatan berdialog seputar isu dunia seni media baru serta peranan dan potensi kurator dalam bidang seni.
Roopesh merupakan sebuah nama yang agak baru dalam dunia seni tampak tanahair. Namun begitu, anak muda yang sedang menyambung pelajaran di peringkat PHD dalam bidang kuratorial di San Fransisco ini, sudah membuktikan keupayaannya melalui beberapa siri projek kuratorial di Malaysia dan di Amerika Syarikat. Walaupun lebih cenderung ke arah seni internet (Internet Art), beliau masih 'turun padang' untuk projek seni awam seperti LAMU (yang bakal berlangsung dengan kerjasama KTM pada tahun ini) serta beberapa inisiatif lain.
Melalui pembentangannya yang memberi peluang kepada audiens menyelami dunia seni media baru dalam pemerhatiannya, dapatlah dirumuskan bahawa 'value' (nilai) penerimaan masyarakat terhadap sesebuah karya seni berbeza mengikut konteks persembahannya.
Siri pembentangan oleh Roopesh di YKP ini merupakan yang ketiga setelah sesi dialog dan bengkel kurator di acara notthatbalai dan BSLN, sebelum presentasinya di USM, Pulau Pinang.
Sebarang minat tentang isu-isu kuratorial, hubungi beliau di rs@roopesh.net
An art talk by artist and curator Roopesh Sitharan was held at Rumah YKP on 27th August 2007. Participants comprised of artists, students, lecturers and the National Art Gallery’s representative were given the opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to new media art and the roles and potentiality of curators in the art field.
Roopesh’s involvement in the country’s visual art scene is quite recent and hardly noticed. Nevertheless, this youngblood who is currently pursuing his PHD in curatorial studies at San Fransisco, has already proven his skills through several curatorial projects both in Malaysia and the United States. Although he focuses more on Internet Art, he does involves himself with public art projects such as LAMU (organised with KTM’s cooperation this year) and a few other initiatives.
Through his presentation that invites the audience to delve into the world of new media art that falls under his research, it can be concluded that a society’s value of art appreciation differs according to different contexts.
Roopesh’s presentation at YKP is his third after the dialog session and curators workshop held at notthatbalai event and National Art Gallery, before proceeding to his next in USM, Pulau Pinang.
For those interested to know more about curatorial issues, please contact him at rs@roopesh.net
BIOGRAPHY
Roopesh Sitharan is an educator, researcher, curator and an artist. He is currently operating independently from San Francisco, California and associated with Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia. In 2001, he served as researcher, consultant and tutor at Multimedia University, Cyberjaya and in 2004 he was invited to represent Malaysian New Media arts practitioners for 2004 Thailand New Media Arts Festival (MAF04) in Bangkok. His area of specialization is online Malaysian art, online cultures & interactive technologies. He finished his Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Digital Media Arts year 2001 and MA from California College of Arts in 2006. He was involved in several National as well as International Projects and Showcases of Digital Arts such as the 2003 International Juried Immedia Digital Arts Showcase, goto ("Net.Art") from Asia, Third Place Gallery by Sony, Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) 2002 Showcase. He was even featured as the Artist of the day at Museum of Computer Arts (MOCA) and in 2006; his project “uploaddownload” was selected to represent Malaysia for Asean New Media Arts competition. Since 2002, Roopesh has been contributing as online publisher for renowned new media arts online portal called “Rhizome.org”. He has also curated and co-curated several national and international exhibitions and workshop, including the 2002 and 2003 showcase of student’s work from Multimedia University, Uploaddownload: online collaborative art workshop exhibited in Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Thailand: Malaysia online Media Arts discussion and collaborative event organized in National Art Gallery of Malaysia and Raffles Design school in Thailand, “The Unexpected in public domain” exhibited in Southern exposure, San Francisco, California and “San Francisco Video works” exhibited in Super Deluxe and Art Initiative, Tokyo, Japan. His writings has been published in several local and international Journals and magazines such as Learnardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) and presented during Media Arts symposium at Petronas Gallery, Malaysia. Judging upon his outstanding achievements, in 2004 and 2005, Roopesh received merit scholarship award from California College of arts and fellowship grant from Asian Cultural Council, New York to pursue his masters’ education in California College of Arts. He received Leadership awards from CCA for 2004 and 2005 and volunteered for Sigraph 2005 art exhibition organizing committee. In 2006, Roopesh served as Program coordinator for a residency program in collaboration with Sun Microsystems as part of the San Jose ZerOne/ISEA 2006 Electronic Arts Symposium held in San Jose, California and in November 2006, he was awarded researcher in resident by Asian Cultural Council to investigate and document Media Arts organizations and operatives in New York.
