Mirage: Disused Public Property in Kuala Lumpur

Mirage : Disused Public Property
Mosquito Buildings Project
By Yao, Jui-Chung + Lost Society Document + Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo (Taiwan)
Photography Workshop Project collaboration with Lostgens’ Contemporary Art Space

When the new semester began in February 2010, Yao Jui-chung, presiding over the first classes of the fine arts departments at Taipei National University of the Arts and the National Taiwan Normal University, asked the students about their expectations for this class: did they wish to follow the normal class format, where the teacher would teach related knowledge, or would they like to use the class to do a “mosquito hall” investigation? The fifty-some students at the two universities decided to make a Taiwan-wide “mosquito hall” survey as the assignment for this semester.

Through half a year of investigation across the island, the students identified one hundred and forty seven “mosquito hall” locations, compiling the 684 page book Mirage – Disused Public Property in Taiwan, which outlines an absurd situation in Taiwanese society, embodying the fact that “misguided policy is worse than corruption.” Meanwhile, this artistic action took part in the 2010 Taipei Biennial Movement Project. It was widely reported in the media, and attracted a high level of attention from the government, even prompting a call from the Vice President and a visit from the Premier of the Executive Yuan, who advised all relevant departments to engage in an inspection of said facilities, ordering them to revive all mosquito halls within a year or consider demolishing them.

Through two years of homework, the students’ art action was like a stone thrown into a pond, sending ripples outwards, shaking a presumably calm society and forcing them to face reality. The significance and value of this “participation” lie in the fact that it is both a collective action by Yao Jui-chung and his students, and in that it used artistic methods to hold up a social issue to scrutiny and engage the awareness of the people in regards to that issue.

Sub Project of Topography of Mirror Cities
Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan
Talk & Screening
Venue: Lostgens’ Contemporary Art Space
Date: 12th August 2017
Time: 2pm – 5pm

Mirage: Disused Public Property in KL
Photography Workshop (13 -15 Aug 2017)

Workshop Day 1:
KL Mirage- Disused Public Property Shooting
Venue: Mosquito Hall in Kuala Lumpur
Time: 9am – 2pm Date: 13th August 2017

Workshop Day 2:
KL Mirage- Disused Public Property Shooting
Venue: Mosquito Hall in Kuala Lumpur
Time: 9am – 2pm Date: 14th August 2017

Workshop Day 3:
KL Mirage Photo Aggregated
Venue: Mosquito Hall in Kuala Lumpur
Time: 1pm – 4pm Date: 15th August 2017

Hulu Langat

IKBN Dusun Tua terletak di KM25 Jalan Hulu Langat Selangor dengan keluasan 81 ekar. Pada tahun 1941 kawasan ini merupakan Markas hospital Tentera Jepun, kemudian dijadikan tempat latihan tentera British. Selepas perang dunia kedua, tempat ini dijadikan pula sebagai Pusat Latihan Pasukan Polis Hutan PDRM. Pada tahun 1966 tempat ini diambil alih oleh Kementerian Kebudayaan, Belia & Sukan dan dikenali sebagai Pusat Anggatan Belia Pelopor Negara. Pada tahun 1969 ia bertukar nama dan dikenali pula sebagai Pusat Latihan Belia Dusun Tua dan pada tahun 1991 sekali lagi nama ditukar sebagai Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara dan dirasmikan oleh Dato` Annuar Musa bersempena dengan perayaan 25 tahun Jubli perak Institut ini. Pada masa kini terdapat 5 Jabatan ( Automotif, Mekanikal, Awam, Elektrik dan Elektronik ). 13 bidang kemahiran telah diwujudkan di Institut ini bersesuaian dengan keperluan serta kehendak semasa pembangunan negara. Jabatan Pengajian Umum dan Cawangan Penyelarasan dan Kawalan Kualiti juga telah diwujudkan bersesuaian dengan keperluan semasa.

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - Unknown
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - Unknown
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Photography Artwork

Workshop

Keramat Mall far from thriving

The RM70 million project is kept alive only by a number of shops and, perhaps, the Urban Transformation Centre.

KUALA LUMPUR: It was billed as a “modern and comfortable” place for traders and hawkers to do business. However, after more than seven years, Keramat Mall is far from being the buzzing marketplace it was envisioned to be. It is an expensive reminder that things can go wrong when the authorities make decisions without understanding the needs of the people. Then Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) wanted to provide traders at the old Datuk Keramat market with a building that would house a wet market, a dry market, a food court, a multipurpose hall and parking bays. The cost of the project was RM70 million. “We were not consulted,” said Shoid Chee, Chairman of the Datuk Keramat Malay Hawkers and Petty Traders Association. “In the end, the authorities ended up building a mall that was neither trader friendly or consumer friendly.” This complaint was echoed by a trader at the old market who identified himself only as Latif. “There aren’t enough parking bays,” he said. “The space allocated for us to sell meat was on the top floor and the drainage was bad. If we slaughtered chickens, it wouldn’t be long before the place would smell.” He added that loading bays were not constructed properly, forcing traders to haul their goods up the stairs from the lorries. There were 424 traders at the old market and only 91 made the move; so many customers continued to shop at the old market.

In 2013, Keramat Mall was given what had the potential to be a lifeline when a small office of the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) moved in. But the impact of this was limited, said Shoid. “It’s not everyday that a person needs to go to a UTC. People go there with very specific purposes. So how many stalls can benefit? “That is why only the food stalls and and maybe stationary shops and insurance agencies have some business.” A look around the mall reveals more closed shutters than open ones. On some shutters, there are warning notices about unpaid rental arrears. A trader who declined to be named said only some shops were busy, and that many opted to open only on weekends when the mall would be slightly busier. He also said there were many entrepreneurs who had applied to open shops at the place but could not get DBKL’s permission. Asked to comment on this claim, a DBKL spokesperson said the council was filtering these applications to ensure there were not too many businesses of the same type. “If everyone opens the same shops, then it will not be sustainable,” he said. For Shoid and the other traders who have refused to move to Keramat Mall, there may be a reward in staying at the old market, now that a plan to redevelop it into a three-storey market is close to being finalised.

Artwork

Automatic Street Toilet

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - Jalan Bukit Bintang • Jalan P. Ramlee • Jalan Dang Wangi • Jalan Ampang • Jalan Sultan Ismail • Jalan Conlay • Istana Budaya • Jalan Tun HS Lee • Medan Pasar • Hang Tuah • Bangsa
Governance Institution - DBKL
Date of Construction - 2006
Cost of Construction - 1 Toilet RM 4k, Total RM 920 Million

Lok Ann Hotel

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - 113, Jalan Petaling, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - 1938
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Medan Selera

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - 64, Jalan Rotan, Kampung Attap, 50460 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - DBKL
Date of Construction - Unknown
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Post Office 1911

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - 15-1, Jalan Balai Polis, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - British
Date of Construction - 1911
Cost of Construction - Unknown

SK Danau Perdana School

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - 37, Jalan 1/109f, Taman Danau Desa, 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - 2003
Cost of Construction - RM 14.5 million

Food Complex

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - 2015
Cost of Construction - RM16 million

Look Out Point

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - B62, Jalan Hulu Langat, 43100 Ampang, Selangor
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - 2001
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Plaza Rakyat

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - KL
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - Unknown
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Public Facility

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - Around Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - DBKL
Date of Construction - Unknown
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Kiosk Buku

Field Study Year - 2020
Facility Location - Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - 2020
Cost of Construction - RM 750,000, 60 small bookcases ,
RM 7,000 - RM12,000 each

KL Abandoned Bungalow

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - KL
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - Unknown
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Man Made Bridge

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - Around Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - Unknown
Cost of Construction - Unknown

PLKN

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - Unknown
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - Unknown
Cost of Construction - Unknown

Rumah Pena

Field Study Year - 2017
Facility Location - 551, Jalan Bukit Petaling, Bukit Petaling, 50460 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - 1932
Cost of Construction - Unknown

River of Life

Field Study Year - 2020
Facility Location - Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50050 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
Governance Institution - Unknown
Date of Construction - 2012
Cost of Construction - RM4.4 billion

YAO Jui-Chung

Yao Jui-Chung was born in 1969. Lives and works in Taipei. He graduated from The National Institute of The Arts (Taipei National University of the Arts) with a degree in Art Theory. His works has been widely exhibited in numerous international exhibitions. In 1997, he represented Taiwan in “Facing Faces-Taiwan” at the Venice Biennale. After that, he took part in the International Triennale of Contemporary Art Yokohama (2005), APT6 (2009), Taipei biennial (2010), Shanghai Biennale(2012), Beijing Photo Biennale(2013), Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale(2014), Venice Architecture Biennale, Media City Seoul Biennale(2014), Asia Triennial Manchester (2014), Asia Biennale(2015) and Sydney Biennale(2016). Yao is the winner of The Multitude Art Prize in 2013 and 2014 Asia pacific Art Prize. We can also find him widely involved in the fields of theatre and films.

Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo

Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo is an independent curator, art critic, art historian, film critic and documentary filmmaker. She has been lecturing in contemporary art and film studies at several universities, and lectures at Department of Architecture, Tamkang University currently. Her research interests are curatorial practice, curating as a form of social practice and critical thinking; film studies, cinematic essay; gender politics; urban studies, space research.

Current Art and Research Projects:
Topography of Mirror Cities in Asian cities (2015-ongoing), as curator.

LSD (Lost Society Document)

LSD is a group made up of students from Taipei National University of the Arts and National Taiwan Normal University. In the beginning of the semester in 2010, YAO Jui-Chung asked the students about their expectations for this class whether to follow the normal class format or to investigate the “mosquito buildings”. The students decided to do field studies. They identified 147 cases in six months and compiled the book Mirage I: Disused Public Property in Taiwan, which outlined the absurd situation in Taiwanese society and embodied the fact that “misguided policy is worse than corruption.” Meanwhile, this artistic action took a part of the 2010 Taipei Biennial Movement Project. It was widely reported by the media, and attracted a high level of attention from the government. It even prompted a call from the Vice President and a visit from the Premier of the Executive Yuan. After the meeting, YAO & LSD have constantly been working on the project and published Mirage almost every year: Mirage I (2010), Mirage II (2011), Mirage III (2013), Mirage IV (2014), Mirage V (2016) and Mirage (English version, 2016). The numbers of LSD members have increased to over 230 students and growing. The students’ art action was like a stone thrown into a pond, using artistic methods to hold up a social issue to scrutiny and engage the awareness of the people in regards to that issue. This Project Was showed at Taipei biennial (2010), Shanghai Biennale (2012), Beijing Photo Biennale (2013), Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale (2014), Asia Triennial Manchester (2014), Asia Biennale (2015) and Sydney Biennale (2016).

All photography provided by
LSD KUALA LUMPUR
Chan Sing Ying • Cheong Wey Jin • Chong Yi Lin • Gan Sze Hooi • Goh Ying Shen • Puah Chin Kok • Sim Hoi Ling • Tan Chee Hon • Tan Kian Ming • Wong Xiang Yi • Yeoh Lian Heng

Field Study