Visual Studies @ UM
Program and Faculty News
Concerning the appointment of Dr. Genevieve Gamache as consultant supervisor.
TENUNG art exhibition 16 – 30 July 2022 at Piyadasa Gallery, Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya
Candidature Seminar Week 26 - 28 July 2022 at Piyadasa Gallery, Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya
Program and Faculty News
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the departure of our long-standing faculty member, Dr. Genevieve Gamache, from the Visual Studies Program. Genevieve, also better known as ‘GG’, has decided to return back to her home country in Montreal, Canada. Genevieve joined the department in 2016 and took over as the Head of the Visual Arts Program in 2019. Under her leadership, the program weathered through many challenges, including the recent global pandemic crisis that required significant revaluation of our approaches to teaching and learnings. During her tenure, student applications into the Visual Studies Program have also increased significantly. We cannot thank Dr. Gamache enough for her dedication and commitment to the department. We wish her all the best in her future undertaking. Bon voyage!
The department also wishes to record our heartfelt appreciation to Puan Suraini during her tenure as our dedicated administrative officer in charge of PhD student affairs in the Postgraduate Office of the Faculty of Creative Arts. Puan Suraini will take up her new administrative appointment in the Faculty of Medicine.
Finally, we like to extend a warm welcome to our new Dean of the Faculty of Creative Arts, Prof. Hanafi Hussin. Prof Hanafi will be taking over from Prof. Nasir Hashim, who has retired after leading the Faculty for 13 years. Prof Hanafi is no stranger to the Faculty. He was previously Deputy Director of the Cultural Centre (the former name of the Faculty of Creative Arts) before moving to the Department of Southeast Asian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Dr. Simon Soon has been appointed to succeed Dr. Gamache as Program Coordinator for Visual Studies. All further inquiries about the Visual Studies Program can be directed to him at simonsoon@um.edu.my
Concerning the appointment of Dr. Genevieve Gamache as consultant supervisor
We regret to inform students who were under Dr. Genevieve’s supervision that the initial announcement made by our former Dean of the Faculty regarding Dr. GG’s appointment as a consultant for thesis supervision has met with some unforeseen difficulties. As it turns out, University regulation states that to qualify for the appointment of a consultant, the candidate needs to be affiliated with an institution or organisation. Over the past two weeks, we have been in discussion with Dr. GG on how best to fulfil this qualification. In the end, given that Dr. GG is certain that she will be leaving the academia in the foreseeable future, she is not interested in pursuing any form of institutional affiliation in Canada. As a result, it is not possible for the University to grant her the appointment that was initially agreed upon.
Dr. GG is however committed to seeing through her students over a transition period. This transition period will last for three months and she has already been in touch with her students about this matter. In the mean time, most of her students have already been assigned to either Dr. Roslina Ismail or Dr. Simon Soon as caretaker supervisor. For students previously under Dr. GG who are unsure of their appointed supervisor in the system, please contact the Postgraduate Office to find out.
If you like to change supervisor, please get in touch with the lecturer who you wish to nominate as your supervisor to inform them about your intention. You will need to fill up a form (which you can download here) and submit the form to the Postgraduate Office in order for the office to process the change. You may also wait for the arrival of the new lecturing staffs before nominating for a change of supervisor. During this transition period, you have an assigned supervisor in the system who you can speak to for all administrative matters, while you continue to work with Dr. GG on your research.
We understand the arrangement is not entirely ideal. However, we are working hard to resolve our current shortage in teaching staff. We hope that by creating a more open channel of communication, we can work together as a team towards improving the running of the department. We plan to organise a Town Hall after our Candidature Seminar Week and we look forward to having you join in the dialogue to explore ways of fostering a more robust teaching and learning community for Visual Studies in the near future.
TENUNG art exhibition 16 – 30 July 2022
Students completing their Malaysian Art course (ROD7004) this semester will be organising and presenting a group exhibition at the Piyadasa Gallery in the coming two weeks. This exhibition features 14 artists, both local and foreign, who have been inspired by different aspects of Malaysian culture.
To learn more about TENUNG, do check out the exhibition’s website. The exhibition opens this Saturday 16 July 2022 at 10AM. There will be a curatorial speech around 11AM. Do drop by if you’re around campus!
The details are as follows:
Dates: 16–30 July 2022
Time: 10AM-4PM (Daily)
Venue: Piyadasa Gallery, Faculty of Creative Arts, University Malaya
In addition to having works on display, the exhibition organisers have also put together a series of talks ps
Malaysian Art Talk
Date: 16 July 2022 (Saturday)
Time: 2:00PM
KL-based painter Rais Azmi, who has been exhibiting his work in galleries all over the country (and Indonesia), will be gives us a low down on the Malaysian art scene.
NFT Artist Talk
Date: 19 July 2022 (Tuesday)
Time: 10:00AM
Listeners get to dive deep into the world of Non-Fungible Tokens, also known as NFTs! Hear from Malaysian NFT artist RoachPunk, who has been making waves in the local NFT scene!
Batik Workshop
Date: 26 July 2022 (Tuesday)
Time: 10:00AM
This is a hands-on appreciation of the wax-resist dyeing technique applied to fabric. The workshop will be conducted by TENUNG’s very own artist, Wong Sze Yoong.
Candidature Seminar Week 26 - 28 July 2022
Dates: 26 - 28 July 2022 (Tuesday - Thursday)
Venue: Piyadasa Gallery, Faculty of Creative Arts, University Malaya
Our inaugural Candidature Seminar Week will be held during the last week of July 2022. We like to thank everyone for your thoughtful feedback and invaluable suggestions for the improvement of our proposed model. Following from our discussions in the comments thread, we have agreed to the suggestion of holding at least four Candidature Seminar Weeks over the course of year (two at semester’s end as two more during the mid-semester break). We like to invite you to join us for the first Candidature Seminar Week that will take place in the Piyadasa Gallery from 25-28 July 2022. Lunch and afternoon tea will be provided, as the semester is coming to a close, come and meet other fellow students and learn more about each others’ research.
Tuesday 26 July 2022
10AM-11AM: Wang Yunwei (PhD/PD) ‘Paper-cutting Art in Guanzhong of China: Oral History, Practices and Symbolism’
11AM-12PM: Jie Liu (PhD/PD) ‘The Shanghai Training School of Fine Arts and Modern Art Education in Henan (1912-1949)
12PM-1PM: Clarissa Lim (MARes/CD)(Online) ‘An era for collective creativity: Art and Cultural Collectives in Malaysia from 2010s to present’
Panelists: Dr. Akiko Sugiyama, Dr. Ong Kian Siew and Dr. Roslina Ismail / Dr. Simon Soon
1PM-2PM: Lunch Break. Lunch will be provided.
2PM-3PM: Ho Chee Jen (MAMixed-mode/CD) ‘Building Common Ground in Malayan Communist Theatre’
3PM-4PM: Dennis Ong (MAMixed-mode/CD) ‘Communities of the Selangor Museum’
Panelists: Dr. Akiko Sugiyama, Dr. Ho Kee Chye/ Dr. Valerie Mashman, Dr. Roslina Ismail / Simon Soon
Wednesday 27 July 2022
11AM-12PM: Mageswary Manickam (PhD/PD) Immersive Installation Art as an Intervention for Burnout among Medical Students: A Transdisciplinary Approach
12PM-1PM: Amira (PhD/Thesis Seminar) - Bio-art and Aesthetic experience: the exploration of bacterial art as research by practice
Panelists: Prof. Jalaini Abu Hassan, Prof. Misni Misran, Mr. Khalel Ramadhan
1PM-2PM: Lunch Break. Lunch will be provided.
2PM-3PM: Husna (MARes/PD) Best Practices in Directory Building
3PM-4PM: Nur Syafiqah Jalil (MAMixed-mode/PD) Seni Ekologi
Panelists: Dr. Rosdeen Suboh, Prof. Jalaini Abu Hassan, Mr. Khalel Ramadhan
Thursday 28 July 2022
10AM - 11AM: Dzul Afiq (PhD/CD) Pengkaryaan dalam kalangan Pelukis-Pelukis Abstrak Melayu Malaysia melalui Estetik Seni Timur
11AM - 12PM: Nurul Fitriah (MAMixed-mode/PD) Young Women Artists in Malaysia Contemporary Art: A Discourse Analysis
12PM - 1PM: Hu Zhao Kai (MAMixed-mode/PD)(ONLINE) Research on Narrative Shifts in the Construction of the Chinese Science Fiction Film Genre, from 1980 to 2019“ (ONLINE)
Panelists: Dr. Premalatha Thiagarajan, Dr. Ruzaika Omar, Prof. Jalaini Abu Hassan
1PM - 2PM: Lunch Break. Lunch will be provided.
2PM - 3PM: Zhao Long (PhD/PD)(ONLINE) Social Life of Xiamen Port City
3PM - 4PM: Rowenna Soibin (MAMixed-mode/CD)(ONLINE) Architectural Inculturation: A Case Study of St Joseph Cathedral
Panelists: Dr. Akiko Sugiyama, Dr. Sangwoo Ha, Dr. Roslina Ismail / Dr. Simon Soon