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KONSTRUK is a bamboo installation art project by 15 artists and architects from ASEAN. It is part of a place-making initiative to increase the livability of Iskandar Puteri (formerly Nusajaya), and improve its identity and values.

About
KONSTRUK aims to promote the sustainability and versatility of bamboo as a building and design material, showcasing the creative talents from the region. All bamboo are locally harvested from Pontian, Johor Darul Ta’zim. This is part of the Iskandar Puteri Public Art Program to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Iskandar Malaysia. It is a Khazanah Nasional initiative supported by UEM Sunrise Berhad. Konstruk is developed and project managed by labDNA (Place Identity Sdn Bhd).

Konstruk is the first project of its kind in Malaysia. Whether by design or happenstance, diversity is the order of the day, with an alien spaceship, human hands, a bridge, a cocoon of sorts, and many other strange and beautiful shapes created out of bamboo on display in the area.

Almost 9,000 bamboo pieces of various lengths (up to 12m long) were used for this project.

Location
Puteri Harbour, Iskandar Puteri Johor Darul Ta’zim

Curators

 * Lisa Foo
 * Nani Kahar

Project Managers

 * Ferdaus Nadzir
 * Shazwan Khairuddin

Custodians

 * UEM Sunrise Berhad
 * Theme Attraction Resort Hotel Berhad

In conjunction with

 * ISKARNIVAL Iskandar Puteri 2016
 * Iskandar Malaysia 2006-2016
 * Khazanah Nasional
 * labDNA

Katakan Cinta by Andi Ramdani, Indonesia
''Cinta tidak sekedar kata kata, namun cinta bermula dari niat dalam hati lalu diungkapkan dengan kata dan dilakukan dengan perbuatan. Katakan cinta menjadi bahasa dan tindakan dalam segala hal. Dengan cinta merencanakan masa depan, memelihara kasih sayang untuk kelangsungan hidup anak cucu yang akan menjadi penghuni masa depan. Sekaligus dengan penuh cinta memelihara bumi ini sebagai ruang kehidupan semua mahluk. Sehingga kelangsungan hidup dikelilingi cinta. Dengan cinta mencapai perdamaian bagi seluruh mahluk. Sebab cinta kasih manusia itulah yang akan melindungi cinta sesama manusia, binatang, tumbuhan dan alam ini''. Andi explains “The symbol of love is universal, all religions teaches us about love. Love is not just a word or a language, it stems from the heart and is demonstrated through intentions expressed with words and actions; Our actions in life start as an intention (from the heart) and is then executed (by hand) – hence the combination of hands and heart in Katakan Cinta, a 7m-tall structure. . He also claims "In Indonesia, I usually work with bamboo tali or bamboo apus, but my installation piece in Johor is made of bamboo ori, which breaks more easily."

Andi who was born in Tasikmalaya, grew up playing with many traditional toys and games made from bamboo trained as a visual artist and a sculptor. He has been intrigued by nature, especially bamboo, that he dedicates his artwork to creating with bamboo. Andi’s work with bamboo installation art is always about weaving freely, just like painting on canvas.

Cocoon by Alvin Tan, Malaysia
‘Cocoon’ is a site specific art installation using sustainable bamboo materials to generate a dialogue while seeking balance between human action and the natural environment in the form of a cocoon. It evokes our connection with the natural world to describe the process of transformation, which even relates to its own surroundings: what used to be a lush green coastal mangrove forest now is transformed into development of condominiums and business hubs. It is a reminder to viewers that nature is the root of our existence as a species, even as it sustains and nourishes our existence to this day.

Alvin is an artist trained in Italy, currently based in San Francisco and Johor Bahru. He is a painter and site-specific installation artist, who has exhibited internationally and was involved in the early stages of the ‘Artist Village’ movement in Singapore. In the making of Cocoon, Alvin engaged with the indigenous community known as the ‘Orang Seletar’ with whom he worked side by side.

The Beginning by Annabelle Ng, Malaysia
The Beginning embraces rainwater manifesting the sentimental value towards the unexpectedness of nature, which happens in a random matter, and an essential substance that we all have to wait for. The bamboo installation serves as rain water irrigation system to grow sea almond trees (Terminalia Catappa), commonly found on undisturbed shores. Locally named Ketapang, it is a forgotten tree for the younger generations and used to be preferred as a boat building material due to its durability in water and resistance to termites.

Trained a classical musician, Annabelle combines various mediums including sound and sight in the installation art format. Based in Penang, she participates in local and international exhibitions. Annabelle likes to communicate her ideas in a subtle manner. The fragmentary nature of her work can be described as an accretion of unknown surfaces and materials inviting audiences to ponder a multiplicity of meanings.

Jamboo by Biji-biji Initiative, Malaysia
This installation called ‘Jamboo’ explores the soundscape that can be created with bamboo. The piece is interactive, inviting visitors to become participants to play this bamboo assemblage. Various handmade instruments, all from bamboo, are integrated with the structure. The creation of Jamboo is inspired by musical instruments such as the xylophone, angklung and drums. Measuring 15m across and 4m in height, Jamboo can house up to 10 people at a time.

Biji-biji is a word of Malay origin, meaning seeds. This ‘makers’ collective wants the seeds they sow to sprout into many more open workshops around Malaysia. Their aim is to encourage replication of their business model in creating many more social enterprises all across Malaysia.

Todak by CODA, Malaysia
Todak is an art installation that explores the boundaries of narrative, art and architecture. Inspired by the legend of “Temasek Dilanggar Todak”, the installation reflects the spirit of the story about Hang Nadim, the boy who saved Temasek from swordfish attacks along its coast. Revered as a saviour, he was later thrown out to sea by the envious King, to die among the swordfish. Todak is a visual representation of the folklore, playing between the images of swordfish impaled into the barricade of banana stems and Hang Nadim drowning at sea. More structural than expressive, the installation spans over a staircase acting as a canopy.

Collaborative Office of Design & Architecture is a design office for architecture, urbanism, ruralism and construction established in 2005 and based in Bandar Baru Bangi. CODA approach architecture as intervention on an urban scale that is driven by chance and coincidence rather than predetermined preferences and solutions.

Bamboo Borders by COLE, Cambodia
Bamboo borders is a representation of a story from Cambodian history.

In 1527 King Ang Chan I, ruled over the area that is now known as Kampong Chnang province, just west of Phnom Penh. In order to protect his royal palace from invading forces he instructed his army to build a wall of bamboo one hundred meters wide around the perimeter. It took them three years to build the bamboo border and for the bamboo to mature. In 1593 after years of losing battles the invaders struck on a clever idea and sneaked into the thick forest of bamboo for three days throwing silver wherever they went. When the local villagers heard there was treasure hidden in the forest they began to cut the bamboo down to find the silver in less than a few months the wall was almost gone and the invading army attacked and took the Palace of Longvek.

If you stay until the sun goes down you can see the treasure twinkling in the moonlight.

COLE is a collaborative design practice working on a range of creative projects globally. One of COLE’s projects was design an innovative fundraising merchandise store for Free the Bears in Laos with the help of the Building Trust using natural materials and sustainable design with bamboo. COLE’s mobile office is currently located in Phnom Penh, [[Cambodia].

Migrant Grove by CHRIS PARRY, Malaysia
‘Migrant Grove’ is a landscape installation made of living bamboo. The choice of species used represents the geography of migrancy in the Southeast Asia region including Indonesia, China, India and Malaysia. The bamboo, once planted will then be marked and carved in a variety of ways. These will include text, ornamental designs and artwork to depict the diversity and richness of cultures that our immigrant population brought with them, along with a sense of the emotional narratives that underlying the choices they made to leave the homes they knew and their experiences in their homeland is conveyed. The installation will form a tunnel of bamboo that the viewer can immerse themselves in while discovering the stories and art that is carved into the bamboo stems.

Chris is a former fashion and textile designer based in New York and London, who on his return home to Johor Bahru, has been exploring botanic and landscape design and installation. In this living installation Chris explores the nature of our shared migrant experience through the diversity of bamboo species which are native to South East Asia.

The Birds by Earth Heart (EH He), Malaysia
Johor has the world’s second biggest mangrove forest. We preserve our natural environment as much as possible to keep our world green. Birds coming from everywhere migrate to our wonderland and enjoy themselves. This is just like people from different cultures come to Malaysia and enjoy the peaceful multi-cultural society. While cultures around the world value their individual traditions, beliefs, and norms that make them unique, Malaysia becomes popular, gathering all differences into one nation of harmony and unity. The birds are the symbol of world migration and travelling. The nest is designed as a symbol of peaceful welcoming home for every nation and culture. Malaysia has an amazing potential as a place to link people around the world regardless of differences and geographical boundaries.

Earth Heart Art & Culture is a collective of artists dedicated to supporting heritage and art in Johor. They are called EH HE because they think the EARTH without art is boring, and the HEART without art is not complete. Take out art it’s just EH HE. They need each of us to create the ‘art’.

Tunggak Semi by Eko Prawoto, Indonesia
Tunggak Semi (In Javanese, tunggak is post, and semi is blooming or growing leaves) at Konstruk is a set of six bamboo portals, each comprising three arches and two circles, that when combined look like a flower bud blooming, soaring and reaching for the sky. Its base measures 6m in diameter, with a height of 10m. For Tunggak Semi, Eko is assisted by five bamboo carpenters from Indonesia and a few other volunteers. This bamboo construction is an attempt to make an object to have dialogue with the surrounding site. The existing site is dominated by the tall building and it’s rather massive character is then confronted with the slender bamboo construction, high but with a transparent gesture consisting of linear and curvy forms. Bamboo is sometimes known as a rather under-rated and regarded as traditional construction method. Well, this is not completely wrong, but maybe it is also important to show bamboo’s capacity in our contemporary context as a possibility to become an alternative construction material. The installation represents the growing process, but with a feminine spirit as the name is inspired from the location Puteri (Princess) Harbour at Iskandar Puteri. Consisting of a growing, monumental character yet with the curvy form of a female and ornately. The feminine spirit, the strength, the life giver, the caring and embracing, protective nature of the motherly. It is like a growing plant that after birth flowers and rises, reaching to the sky yet still attached and belonging to the earth as a best wish to the future of this place.

Eko who lives in a village about 25km from Yogyakarta, is one of those who is very much at home with bamboo ; is an architect and educator who combines contemporary design with local knowledge, commenting that he views his buildings as social entities as much as physical objects. He has researched earthquake resistant buildings made from materials such as bamboo, straw and coconut wood and is working to re-introduce these to the general public.

Axis Mundi by Leeroy New, Philippines
This installation is a combination of forms which represent the ‘Axis Mundi’, also known as the symbolic center of the world. In many different mythologies it manifests itself in the natural landscape with some imposing features like monolithic mountains or deep caverns and even gigantic trees. These kinds of places are said to possess great spiritual energy and are seen to function as portals because they are believed to be the points where the earthly realm, the underworld, and the celestial planes converge. It is no coincidence the structure resembles a rocket ship or a space pod. The use of bamboo to create a sci-fi looking structure is symptomatic of this generation’s struggle to reconcile ancient traditions with visions of the future.

Originally trained as a sculptor, Leeroy is an artist and designer whose practice overlaps and intersects with film, theater, product design, performance and fashion. He is able to integrate this inclination to move from one mode of creative production to another as the spine of his creative practice.

FLOW by Pow Ideas, Malaysia
FLOW is a bamboo installation inspired by the malleability and fluidity of bamboo. Once broken down into thin strips from its rigid whole, bamboo takes on a completely new character. Using digital form-making techniques, the torus and loop nature of the installation is a direct critique to its site, a formal grid of towering palm trees. Weaving through four palms trees in mid-air, the installation creates an illusion of weightlessness and dynamism, allowing passersby to meander beneath its shadow and void beneath. By varying its cross section profiles, various densities of bamboo strips are formed. Spanning 8m in diameter, it loops around on itself and gives the illusion of being suspended in mid-air. FLOW is the materialization of the unseen energy within the harbor, reminding us to learn from nature and to maximize its potential using contemporary craft techniques.

A design studio based in Kuala Lumpur co-founded by architects Kyle E and Jun Ong, which experiments with small-scale ideas that go beyond architecture. With an emphasis on materiality and spatial narratives, Pow’s works include a pocket park within a factory, interactive art installations and stage sets for fashion events.

Bucky Balls by Ramlan Abdullah, Malaysia
At this point of time there are three sculptures that have been designed for the public art project, Konstruk, in Puteri Harbour, Johor Bahru. Bamboo became the main material for this ‘Bucky Ball’ light form. The formation was based from the idea of Carbon Nanotubes. This piece is about production and reproduction trying to make things work, cohesively and in a coherent manner. Sometimes the nature of the structure looks like something else. These are ideas I am dealing with besides the lightweight. Transparent forms have been introduced, during the process of making and managing the materials. These forms seem to possess a strong relationship to architecture because of my involvement with construction material throughout my working life. In the making of such a sculpture, the question of coherence and suitability of the sculpture into its context has always arisen. Borrowing from a common cliché, ‘what goes around comes around’. It somehow rings true in the world we live in, our surroundings and everyday occurrences. I sometime start my work with fantasies, quite a lot of them actually, toying and playing with them in my mind. When I transform them to paper more often than not they will start with a small circle, a tiny dot and expanded into larger circles or spheres or even spirals and somehow a body of form takes place. In the language of symbols, circles often manifest unity as a dominant characteristic and repeated circles within a circle usually symbolizes the cosmos.

Trained as a sculptor, art to Ramlan is visual record of the human’s psyche and consciousness. For him art is also a means of re-experiencing the making of objects. A ‘monument’ or ‘site’ is understood to be any construction or place of historic importance which results from human activity. Studying these sites can facilitate awareness, enjoyment or knowledge of the historic environment and our cultural heritage.

Shelter by Studio TATUM, Singapore
This artwork is an installation of weaving structures that is in the spirit of the widely used bamboo basketry, informed by a vernacular understanding of ‘shelter’. These forms are suspended, meandering about the designated site and its unique landscaping. The inner cores of the work provide a different world for those who duck their heads into the structures, as their views switch with this interaction, an onlooker being now the participant, who would be integral as the work itself. Metaphorically, the blue colours painted in the inner core of the work represent the sea and the sky, the elements connecting Singapore and Johor, or, the sea and the sky in between any lands, or indeed the universe. The hung elements, for instance the bells, interact with the natural elements such as the wind, rain and sodium saturation composition over the course of the duration of this installation. Inspired by the maritime history that Singapore and Malaysia shares, Settlers reimagines a human settlement based on the foundations of the communities, that have constructed the locale’s socio-cultural fabric, with special focus on the foundational roles of basketry, maritime trade, sea-dependent sustenance, the notion of ‘shelter’, place-making, and most importantly, the natural elements shared by the straits bordering Northern Singapore and Johor.

An art and design studio founded by artist Gerald Leow. The studio acts as an agent for creative design work and processes bringing people together across different disciples and practices to realise projects to their full potential. TATUM’s current portfolio includes, but is not limited to, theater sets and exhibition designs.

Sapan by Thor. Kaichon Thailand
‘Sapan’ is a Thai word that translates as ‘Bridge’. The tension and flexibility of bamboo are the key factors for using it to build the bridge. The palm trees in the area nearby can act as a base vertical structure, where the bamboo can be held onto. By utilizing the palm trees nearby we help contain costs and effort. Using bamboo construction members like pegging and knotting with ropes efficiently to strengthen the bridge, minimizes the risk of the bamboo breaking apart. Lastly, the construction joints are basic and ordinary with bamboo construction presented on this bridge installation.

Thor. Kaichon was founded in 2011 by Thai architect, Thanapat Boonsanan as an homage to his fondness for bamboo and architecture. Thanapat has dedicated himself to researching techniques for non-toxic preservation of bamboo with a focus on insect, mold infestation and treatment methods. Through the integration of this research with innovative building construction techniques, Thanapat and his studio continue to produce remarkable and innovative works.

Organic Drop by Zakaria Sharif, Malaysia
Created from the character of a formalistic, organic form, nature or object of life. The ideation and formation of ‘Organic Drop’, which looks like drops of water, seeds, sweat and oil droplets, is as a symbol of liquid. This is the interpretation of ‘Organic Drop’ as the forces of nature with unique verities forms and shapes. Therefore, each form was created with abstractions of its own.

Trained in visual art and as a sculptor, Zakaria’s works are created from formalistic elements and information. His thoughts on art and ideas, inspired by nature, speak about our way of life and living together by sharing the beauty of the visual world.