The Making of Intertwined

6-8 December 2013 . Black Box . PUBLIKA . Kuala Lumpur . Malaysia

Paper origami set design by Lisa Foo in a contemporary dance performance titled "Intertwined". Produced by Toccata Studio

 

Paper origami set design by Lisa Foo

 

My thoughts about this,

we weaved into each other

sharing in the light.

Through thoughts and actions

from each our disciplines

bring meaning to such...

Changing, adapting,

constant tweaking to better

making sense of this...

Single space, the stage

through time, light, sound and movements,

interlace as whole.

Live Origami!

Idea of flat sheet paper

Narratives be told...

Through paper crumpling,

Captures movements of dancers

Sculptures in moments!

Imagine in life,

still moments in each of us;

Intertwined within!
 

 
Paper origami set design by Lisa Foo

INTERTWINED: Set Design by Lisa Foo

6-8 December 2013 . Black Box . PUBLIKA . Kuala Lumpur . Malaysia

Paper origami set by Lisa Foo
 

A contemporary dance performance challenging the idea of collaboration between different disciplines. Choreographer Steve Goh, music composer Ng Chor Guan and installation artist Lisa Foo created a performing art installation interpreting the word "Intertwined". Produced by Toccata Studio.

Mind, Heart and Soul united by twist of fate in harmony and mayhem!
 

 Paper origami set by Lisa Foo

Young Malaysian Artists: New Object(ion) II

01 October - 30 November 2013 . Galeri PETRONAS . Kuala Lumpur . Malaysia

SeaCreature 13 by Lisa Foo exhibiting at
Young Malaysian Artists: New Object(ion) II

Venue: GALERI PETRONAS, KLCC Suria

Artist Statement: Lisa Foo

As I am concern with the speed of materials being formed and sometimes neglected or wasted,  I create installation sculptures with materials from everyday mundane objects like plastic drinking bottles, paper, latex gloves, LED lights, that we often given amiss of their quality;  its banality and its throw-away nature. In my creative experimentation with found objects, I am seeking for that transformation of the unexpected into art and beyond.

Medium: PET bottles, cable ties, LED lights

YMA II is an exhibition initiated by GALERI PETRONAS to celebrate young artists. New Objection is a collective effort to create artwork that are free from any form of restrictions, regulations or barriers. It aims to explore new creative abilities in the hope of discovering new art idioms or vocabulary. Using the combination of modern techniques, these artists manage to skillfully maneuver the traditional aesthetic concepts while highlighting the meaning of their artworks.

Curator : Badrolhisham Mohamad Tahir 



M50: Selamat Hari Malaysia

27 August-17 September 2013 . The Boulevard, PUBLIKA . Kuala Lumpur . Malaysia



"I Love Malaysia" by Lisa Foo

Medium: Latex Glove and Spray Paint
Size: D300 x W500 x H600 cm

Image from M50 Selamat Hari Malaysia catalogue 

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Hari Malaysia, M50 celebrates the ‘Malaysian Spirit’. Balai Seni Visual Negara (BSVN), as an agency of Kementerian Pelancongan dan Kebudayaan, is taking the lead in this nationwide art festival from 26 August to 17 September that will see the participation of 40 art galleries across 13 states including Sabah and Sarawak.

BSVN is hosting an exclusive exhibition at MAP KL and Publika, showcasing 50 artists. The exhibition attempts to encapsulate the aspirations of contemporary Malaysia and articulate the new spirit, 50 years after its birth as a nation state.
Curator     : Nani Kahar. 
Co-curator: Intan Rafiza

 "I Love Malaysia" by Lisa Foo

Medium: Latex Glove and Spray Paint

 

Art Residency at CHHS

4 - 17 June 2012 . Muar Johor . Malaysia

Reflecting the beauty of nature on land that we have given amiss with the artificial seacreature to remind us all to appreciate what we have on this planet. Start taking care of her before it's too late. UP-cycled plastic bottles into seacreatures series of light sculpture installations on trees. The sculptural trees were chosen as part of the installation to have people wonder on our beautiful surroundings that we owned. Further to exhibit to show and to remind us that the useless material of plastic bottles that was only used once or even not used because of it being defective during the manufacturing that it could be turned into something delightful in our environment.

 

Lisa Foo was invited to be artist in residence for Chung Hwa High School Muar Art Festival, celebrating 100th years anniversary with an art festival 2012.

 

Trash to Treasure: Music

Lillian, a folk opera, by Ben Lear performing on 25 October 2011 at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC.

"Lear's most recent project is perhaps the best marriage of his interests: over a week this summer in Vermont, he undertook the Lillian Bottle Project, a collaboration with light sculptors Mah Su Sim and Lisa Foo. Lear and some helpful friends turned 3,000 plastic bottles into LED light sculptures, which will take the stage with him (and an orchestra, gospel choir, and projected animation) tonight at LPR."
excerpt from Trash to Treasure: Ben Lear's 'Lillian' by Alexandria Symonds

image from Nylon Blog

River Meets Light : Exhibition

15-28 August 2011 . 11am-7pm . White Box . MAP@Publika . Jalan Dutamas 1 . Kuala Lumpur

Exhibition of a mixed media performance Installation by Lisa Foo

Saturday, 20 August 2011 - Come and experience the Mobile Phone Orchestra, MPO conducted by Ng Chor Guan at the River Meets Light Exhibition.

Special appearance National Laureate, A. Samad Said and his son guitarist composer, Az Samad.

7pm-8pm: Arrival of guests * Light refreshment
8pm: Exhibition opening * Performance

More info at Facebook event page - River Meets Light: Exhibition
or contact theriverartproject@gmail.com

River Meets Light Premiered July 2011

29 & 30 July 2011 . Fri & Sat . 830pm . Prangin Canal . George Town . Penang . Malaysia Eco-Light Sculptures and Installation by Lisa Foo.

PLASTIC RIVER CREATURE --- Plastic bottles turned into living sculptural puppet to mimic living creatures in our rivers. What is to become of our rivers choked with plastic trash, polluting and killing the livings in it?

The River Art Project presents River Meets Light, a mixed media performance to advocate the need to revive our river heritage. Encompassing light design, eco-sculptures & installation, expressive movements, music, poetry and visuals, this site-specific work invites the public to join in an evening of experiential showcase to trace the past, present and future relationship between our rivers and communities.

RIVER OF PLASTIC --- Plastic trash turned into sculpture to mimic our dying rivers. Are we to replace our actual rivers with artificial rivers for our future generation?

PLASTIC CREATURE --- Plastic worming its way into the nature surrounding our rivers and threatening the lifespan of the nature and creatures living in it. Are we to only watch these living creatures on documentaries?

Plastic beast sampling the water in the Canal and being poisoned by the pollutants in it. Therefore, the struggle and violent movements till the end of its death. Are we to witness such tragic of the real living creature in our rivers?

ABATTOIR --- Our rivers are becoming the slaughterhouse by the plastic trash on daily basis. Do we not care of the other livings that co-exist with us?

BOAT OF PLASTIC TRASH --- We allow plastic trash drift onto our rivers day by day, polluting and killing our source of life in the rivers. What are we to say of our action?

River Meets Light exhibition will be held on 15-28 August 2011 at:-

White Box, MAP @ Publika
1 Jalan Dutamas 1, Dutamas
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening night on 20 August 2011 . 8pm

More info at facebook event.

LFSS at The Lillian Bottle Project

An international artistic collaboration with composer Ben Lear, designer Hayden Dunham and a group of friends in New York City.

Lillian: A Folk Opera by Ben Lear with installation set eco-light sculpture of underwater sea creatures designed by LFSS. Made at The Gulley, a beautiful, forested estate with a strong, artistic history, where the house once belonged to Robert Frost and then to artist, Kenneth Nolan, by Ben Lear & a group of friends with mixed-plastic bottles found at TAM waste-management facility in Shaftsbury, Vermont.

"... the sculptures you see in these photos. They’ll be part of the set for an upcoming Lillian performance. A couple months ago, I googled 'plastic bottle light sculptures' and the first result I found ... in Malaysia, Lisa Foo and Mah Su Sim, design and build sculptures far more beautiful than I’d imagined. I got in touch with them and they offered to design pieces for me."

"These pieces will be truly glorious; we will marry design and activism to create stand-alone works of art that happen to reflect a global, dire issue: plastic pollution!"

- BEN LEAR -

The installations will be featured at the Opera Festival in New York City this August 2011. These sculptures are made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles.

More info on Lillian: A folk opera by Ben LearPhotography contributed by Ben Lear & friends.

River Meets Light: July 2011 premiere

29 & 30 July 2011 · Fri & Sat · 8.30pm · Penang Malaysia

in conjunction with George Town Festival 2011

Set & installation with recycled materials by Lisa Foo.

Artistic Collaborators: Aida Redza, Tan Sooi Beng, Lisa Foo

Artistic Director: Chee Sek Thim

Creative Team: Hasnul J. Saidon, Ng Chor Guan, Yasunari

Poetry by A. Samad Said, Cecil Rajendra

Performers: Alla Azura Abal Abas, Izzardzafli Padzil, Kent Tan, Nur Hilyati Ramli, Nurul Akmal Abdul Wahid, Reese Lee

Musicians: Andy Siti, Christina Wang, Farhan Jufry, Kang Su Kheng, Sivasilan Muniandy

Produced by Ombak-Ombak ARTStudio.

More info @ facebook event page.

River Meets Light: Workshop Performance

Saturday, 12 March 2011 · 8.45pm · Sg Pinang - Lorong Kulit, Penang

River Meets Light first workshop presentation of mixed media performance encompassing light installation with recycled materials - plastic bottles & bags, dance, music and visuals in an evening of experiential showcase to trace the past and present relationship between our rivers and communities.

Photography by Okui.

River Meets Light in the making

12 March 2011, Saturday 9pm @ Sg Pinang - Lorong Kulit, Penang Malaysia

River Meets Light first workshop presentation of mixed media performance encompassing light installation with recycled materials - plastic bottles & bags, dance, music and visuals in an evening of experiential showcase to trace the past and present relationship between our rivers and communities. Held in conjunction with International Day of Action for Rivers, this workshop presentation is part of work in progress for the July 2011 Premiere Performance during GeorgeTown Festival.

River Art Project presents

River Meets Light

Saturday, 12 March 2011 · 8.45pm · Sg Pinang, Penang

A Mixed Media Performance encompassing light design, dance, music and visuals in an evening of experiential showcase to trace the past and present relationship between our rivers and communities.

Appalled by the deteriorating state of our rivers, River Meets Light aims to inspire the need to restore our river heritage and to reaffirm the importance of protecting our national treasures for future generations. It also seeks to act as a catalyst to stimulate artists and to engage the general public to experiment with sustainable and creative ways of using recycled objects in the environment.

Utilising river sites as the performing stage, this site-specific work incorporates the ebb and flow of creative expressions along the river, proving that through new art and culture, we can still progress while protecting the environment.

The first workshop presentation, held in conjunction with International Day of Action for Rivers on March 12th, will lead to a sequence of events, including a premiere performance during the George Town Festival at the end of July. Concurrently, an exhibition will be conducted to raise awareness of the unfortunate state of our rivers and the need for its revitalization.

more info @LFSS facebook event

Artistic Collaborators: Aida Redza, Tan Sooi Beng, Lisa Foo
Creative Team: Yasunari
Poetry by Cecil Rajendra
Performers: Reese Lee, Kent Tan,
Nur Hilyati Ramli, Izzardzafli Bin Padzil
Musicians: Kang Su Kheng, Sivasilan Muniandy

Produced by Ombak-Ombak ARTStudio

With support from the Krishen Jit-Astro Fund
Special thanks to:
Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah USM ,
Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara, Negeri Pulau Pinang,
Balai Seni Lukis Negara
Marion D' Cruz
Carolyn Lau

The Light Stuff

LFSS in Surface Asia magazine February 2011, Issue 2 page 143.

Featured under 20 Product Talents:

To design products that stand out in an object-saturated world takes originality and skill. In the first of a two-part series, we showcase 20 emerging Asia-Pacific Designers who've got the goods.

excerpt from Surface Asia, issue 2 page 132

Surface Asia magazine on facebook.

Grant for River Art Project

News of River Art Project receiving grant from the Krishen Jit-Astro Fund 2010.

Reflections: Collaborative process by Aida Redza and Lisa Foo at Melaka Art & Performance Festival 2010

Sunday December 5, 2010
All for Art
By GEOFFREY YEOW

A fund that honours a theatre icon enables local artistes to pursue their dreams and bring their work to the public.

THE grantees of this year’s Krishen Jit-Astro Fund comprise practitioners from various backgrounds chasing different visions, all in the name of art. They are Ho Sheau Fung, Aida Redza and Lisa Foo for The River Art Project; Chong Sheau Ching for A Portrait of Perseverance; Suzy Sulaiman for the Digital Architecture Heritage Trail and Adrian Pereira for The Desa Mentari Youth Project.

The largest award of RM12,000 goes to The River Art Project, the brainchild of dancer-choreographer Aida Redza and light installation artist Lisa Foo.

This experimental project is a mixed media performance encompassing light installation design, dance, music, and visuals, which will be held at two river sites. It will begin with a workshop performance at the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur next March, to coincide with the International Day of Action for Rivers. This will be followed by the grand premiere at Sungai Pinang, Penang, during the George Town Festival in July 2011.

Aida and Foo first worked together last year in The Light Show, a light sculpture exhibition. Since then, their partnership has grown as they share a similar passion in expressing their art accompanied by the elements of environment and nature.

Aida has advocated community projects and social causes while Foo has focused on using recycled material for many of her projects to raise environmental awareness. For the River Art Project, they have approached ethnomusicologist Dr Tan Sooi Beng to provide a mix of traditional and contemporary music to complement the other components.

“We want to show that we can make a difference through our art but we have to find the right balance between dance, music and design first,” Aida explains.

Aida and Foo’s aim is to raise awareness of the importance of recycling and draw attention to the amount of rubbish dumped in the rivers around Malaysia. Foo’s specialty is creating light sculptures of various shapes and sizes out of recyclable materials.

“With this, the public can see that the plastics they throw out can be something delightful, and not just simple waste,” Foo says.

This project will also attempt to dig deeper into issues surrounding rivers and the effect these have on the communities living around them.

excerpt from The Sunday Star

Reflections @ Melaka Art & Performance Festival

27 Nov 2010, Sat 7.30pm at Malacca Riverside

A collaborative process by Lisa Foo & Aida Redza, the initiation of our River Project in 2011. 

Performed by Aida Redza and Hilyati Ramli.

Light installations constructed of recycled plastic bottles & plastic bags by Lisa Foo. Reflecting the amount of plastics thrown into the river that could be turned into a delightful play of lights.

 "Imagine flower reflections dancing on the surface of water,

oh, what a delight it would be"

Reflections is a performance installation of dance and light, deeply rooted in the natural environment and relying on a 'basic state' of materials and trash, constructed around a range of sounds and sight that reflects the performance site - the river as a magical space of play and transformation. The installation will lead the spectator to the heart of generous visual, kinetic and auditory ambiances that are modest, sensorial, simple and contemplative.

More info on Melaka Art & Performance Festival 2010: MAP10

THE ENERGY TRAP: Painting & Sculpture

Art Exhibition -- Presented by Valentine Willie Fine Art, VWFA 
Thu 8 to Fri 23 Apr 2010

at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours: Sun to Fri, 11am to 8pm | Sat, 11am to 9.30pm
Admission Free

Lisa Foo is one of the participating artist in this exhibition with her latest work of plastic sculpture titled OCEAN ABODE.

OCEAN ABODE, 2010 
Recycled PET bottles, wire mesh, nylon string, 
metallic paint (golden yellow & black metallic),  
LED light bulb, 380 x 120 x 70 cm
Photo by Soo Lee Chua

"The need to be creative heralds the formation of a cellular community, energy moving energy about. It motivates and gathers inspiration, and the end result is an exterior reflection of interior goings-on, albeit abstracted or full of symbolism. Sometimes we forget that art is about energy; personal energy which differs with every individual who tries their hand at being an artist." 

- Suraya Warden, curator of The Energy Trap - 

Harnessing the spectacular energy of some of Malaysia’s most interesting contemporary artists, Valentine Willie Fine Art (VWFA) presents The Energy Trap: Painting & Sculpture, a fun and dynamic exhibition curated by Suraya Warden at The Annexe Gallery.

Participating artists include Abdul Latiff Ahmad Padzali, Azam Aris, Bibichun, Cheong Tuck Wai, Fabian Tan, Gan Chin Lee, Hee Chee Way, Lim Keh Soon, Lisa Foo, Low Eng Seng, Mohd Safwan Ahmad, Saiful Razman, Samsuddin Wahab, Syafiq Ali’am, Tan Chee Hon and They.

More info at VWFA

LFSS in Fantastic Recycled Plastic

Fantastic Recycled Plastic is a book that discovers the creative potential of recyclable plastics. It's filled with imaginative and whimsical projects, whether it's wearable art or dimensional figures, toys or lights, for all ages to craft with recyclable plastic bottles as the medium. 

Plastic sea creature #1 by LFSS on page 103. 

Fantastic Recycled Plastic: 30 clever creations to spark your imagination by David Edgar & Robin A. Edgar. Published by Lark Books, NY. First edition 2009.