Life is full of boundaries, but there’s no limit to the expression of art.
With no rules and baseline, art becomes a way for anyone to freely express their ideas. The best artwork in the world may even come from items that you least expect.
To inspire people to explore urban art, the 2nd instalment of the inaugural Urban Xchange Festival is being held at Penang’s mainland Raja Uda this year.
Organised by the Hin Bus Depot team, the community-oriented aims to expand the Penang artistic landscape by enabling cultural, artistic and social exchange through art. The festival, which saw murals painted around George Town last year, is bringing a mix of murals and art installations to Butterworth.
The most impressive art installation of all is “The Star”, a 4-storey high star-shaped multi-dimensional installation that is made out of steel cables and LED lights.
Officially launched on 7th November, the huge light installation was created by homegrown talent Ong Jun Hao. It is the centrepiece of the art festival that kicked off 31st October this year.
To complement the project, the installation was video mapped by Adomas Zudys aka AWK, a Berlin-based media artist who created a multi-layered video mapping piece called “Late@Hin: The Constellations” for the Hin Bus Depot outdoor area from 1st to 5th November.
From today until 15th November (Sunday), locals and tourists alike can still explore “The Star” site from 8pm to 10pm, guided by their wonderful helpers.
Starting to rain in Penang. Day 5 #urbanxchange
A photo posted by @yesjm on
Nov 6, 2015 at 12:30am PST
Another highlight for this year’s Urban Xchange will be the mural created by world-famous street artist Alexandre Farto from Portugal. Popularly known as Vhils during his graffiti days, the artist is creating a a portrait using his famous drilling method onto a wall of a building that used to be the very first hotel in Butterworth.
The 2-week art festival is also featuring artworks by other international artists including Twoone from Japan, Y.E.S. from Spain, Nafir from Iran, DTFD from the UK, and Daleast from China. DTFD is exhibiting his photography on Malaysians at Hin Bus Depot on Jalan Gurdwara. Local artists such as Kenji Chai and Bibichun have participated in the festival as well.
"The future you hold" Front of finished mural with Charlie(the boss cat) @hinbusdepot in Penang/Malaysia for Urban exchange. I had very great 8days there, painting this mural and created one more mural in George Town. Meeting new and old friend, lots of drink. There was lots of great local, and internatinal art program goes on at @hinbusdepot go check out what they are up too. Thank you so much again for everything guys! Hope to see you all some time some where in the world again! #hiroyasutsuri #twoone #ux2015 #hinbusdepot #penang
A photo posted by TWOONE/ Hiroyasu Tsuri (@t_w_o_o_n_e) on
Nov 8, 2015 at 11:26pm PST
Latest mural completed, a real pleasure to have @daleast over for this year Urban Xchange Made possible by the guys at @district_shopgallery #UrbanXchange #ux2015 #HuttonLane #ArgyllLane #GeorgeTown #Penang #UNESCO #Art #phoenix #fire #contempraryart #mural #heritage #hinbusdepot #Daleast #Streetart #Festival #urbanart #Diatrictshopgallery
A photo posted by Nicholas Stavri (@nicholas_stavri) on
Nov 9, 2015 at 4:17am PST
@t_w_o_o_n_e 's newest mural for Urban Xchange. An absolute pleasure to meet and work with you dude! Catch you in Berlin #UrbanXchange #ux2015 #StuartLane #GeorgeTown #Penang #UNESCO #Tiger #Art #contempraryart #mural #heritage #hinbusdepot #Twoone #hiroyasutsuri #Streetart #Festival #urbanart
A photo posted by Nicholas Stavri (@nicholas_stavri) on
Nov 8, 2015 at 12:48am PST
#wip #Sabek @sabeknonsense for #UrbanXchange festival in #Penang #Malaysia #ux2015 @hinbusdepot
A photo posted by AruallaN (@aruallan) on
Nov 6, 2015 at 5:31am PST
#louiselow #ux2015 #art #mirror #urbanexchange #sculpture #chopsticks #spoon #tanjetty #floating
A photo posted by louiselow (@louiselow) on
Nov 10, 2015 at 6:44pm PST
Urban Xchange 2015 is happening from 31st October to 15th November.
For more information, visit Hin Bus Art Depot’s Facebook page or Urban Xchange’s official website and Facebook page.
Sources: The Malaysian Insider, The Star Online, The Malay Mail Online.