Masterclass: Unpacking Fragments of Tuah

Five Arts Centre is a dynamic collective of Malaysian artists, activists, and producers, dedicated to generating alternative art forms and images in the contemporary arts landscape. They are known for cutting edge performances in theatre, dance, music, and young people’s theatre, and incorporate aspects of visual and digital arts as well. Since its formation in 1984, Five Arts Centre has been committed to articulating the complexity of Malaysian culture and identity through explorations and fusions of local vocabularies, forms, and traditions – in relation to the global, modern, and cross-cultural.

Five Arts Centre has been involved in capacity building for the arts with previously managing Arts Network Asia, an organisation supporting regional exchanges across Asia; managing the Krishen Jit Fund (launched together with ASTRO) to support the work of arts practitioners; and serving as the secretariat for the ReformARTsi coalition, made up of arts organisations, practitioners, and academics to build consensus and advocacy on policy reforms for the performing arts. Five Arts Centre has also been recognised for its contributions by receiving the inaugural “Most Inspiring Award” at the 2015 Boh Cameronian Arts Awards, and the 2016 “Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists” award from The Japan Art Association.

Mark Teh is a performance maker, researcher, and curator based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His diverse, collaborative projects take on documentary, speculative and generative forms, and address the entanglements of history, memory, counter-cartography, and the political. His practice is situated primarily in performance, but also operates via exhibitions, education, social interventions, writing, and curating. He graduated with an MA in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Mark’s projects have been presented at ILHAM Gallery KL, OzAsia Festival Adelaide, SPIELART Festival Munich, Seoul Performing Arts Festival, Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting, Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting (YPAM), Kunstenfestivaldesarts Brussels, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum Chiang Mai, Salihara Jakarta, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Fast Forward Festival Athens, MMCA Seoul, Haus de Kulturen der Welt Berlin, and the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, amongst others.

In 2024, Mark was a recipient of the Prince Claus-British Council Fellows Award for Moving Narratives, and is a co-curator at in-tangible institute’s POLLINATION.