Ep 01 - Identity

We had the immense pleasure of chatting with Marcos Kueh, a Malaysian Designer and Visual Artist currently based in The Hague. In this short but meaty session, we talked about Marcos’s education background, his experience of transitioning into different disciplines and how he tries to bring his cultural background into his current exploration of works. Marcos also shared with us his experience of bringing his unique version of story telling to a Western audience and the reception that it received. Midnight Mass would like to thanks Marcos for his time in engaging with a friendly chat with Jowin and Sam. A brief bio of Marcos Kueh: Marcos Kueh graduated with his Bachelor’s in Graphic and Textile Design from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in 2022. His practice is about safeguarding contemporary legends onto textiles as tools for storytelling, just as the ancestors of Borneo did with their dreams and stories, before the arrival of written alphabets from the West. Currently his artistic research is focused on evoking the presence of colonial narratives in our present-day lives and conjuring new myths to what it means to be an independent country. In 2022, he was awarded the Ron Mandos Young Blood prize for emerging artists, and his work was acquired by Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. His work has been included in exhibitions around the world, including When Things Are Beings at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2022); This Far and Further at Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands (2022); Common Threads at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur (2017); and Unknown Asia,Osaka, Japan (2017). He currently lives and works in The Hague.  All photos courtesy of Marcos. - MIDNIGHT MASS is a podcast by @bao_terminal (https://www.instagram.com/bao_terminal/) & Design Faculty Inc by @notoscale (https://www.instagram.com/notoscale/)

EP 07 MIDNIGHT MASS: Sam on A Hundred Ways to Erect A Hoarding In Episode 07 of Midnight Mass, Sam shares with Jowin the process behind his current project, “A Hundred Ways to Erect a Hoarding”. Part observational documentation, part visual exploration, the series explores how seeing things with fresh eyes in a new country helped inform his ideas. Talking about his fascination in finding and documenting the everyday sublime that exists momentarily within sites. He also shares how he created his visuals that will be later compiled into an upcoming book of the same title. Link to Episode 07 of Midnight Mass in the BIO.

Apa Khabar! We hope everyone had fun visiting family and friends during the Raya (Eid) season! A few weeks ago, we invited Gary Yeow of XYZ podcast to share about his idea of career growth in the architecture and real estate industry as an architect. He himself has been actively involve in various next gen-oriented initiatives with institution like PAM and also co-founded Lanai Zine with his inner circle of likeminded friends with the hope to expand the new possibilities of architecture practice that breakaway from the traditional mindset. Discussing about the fundamental economics behind the industry can be quite daunting but what's interesting to know more from Gary is that, has the complexity of this service sector pushed him to embrace the idea of being more of a pragmatist while swimming in the pool of hopeless romantics? Perhaps, let's find out with us in this episode! Oh btw, we have reached the end of Season 02! Stay Tuned for Season 03

In this episode, we asked Sam and Adhrah about the journey of Notoscale, a not-romantic-couple-led design partnership and what they have faced back home in Malaysia. Highlighting the non-romantic-couple-led studio in the context of design/architecture practice is essential. We often associate binary-gender founders as lovers instead of just creative partners. Two factors drive the stereotyped perspective. One, many famous design firms, like OMA, Eames Office, etc., are founded by lovers. The second factor is the complex intertwined gender, racial and religious issues in Malaysia. The conversation with Notoscale led us to discuss something broader than their journey, especially Adhrah's.  Gender, racial, and religious issues are significant challenges facing the creative industry in Malaysia. These issues are interconnected and complex, requiring a nuanced understanding of their historical and social context. Malaysia is a culturally diverse society with a population that comprises different ethnicities, religions, and cultures. However, these differences also create barriers to entry and success in the creative industry.  Gender discrimination is one of the most significant challenges facing the creative industry. Women are underrepresented in leadership positions and often face hiring, promotions, and pay discrimination. This issue is compounded by cultural and religious beliefs that may perpetuate gender stereotypes and limit opportunities for women. In addition, women may face barriers to entry, such as limited access to resources and networking opportunities. Traditional gender roles often dictate that men are expected to pursue careers in engineering or technology. In contrast, women are expected to focus on traditionally female-dominated industries such as healthcare or education. These stereotypes can make it difficult for women to break into male-dominated creative fields such as architecture, film and etc.  Racial discrimination is prevalent in Malaysia, with the country's ethnic composition consisting of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and other minority groups. This often manifests as a lack of representation and diversity in creative works and leadership positions in the creative industry. This lack of representation can limit opportunities for individuals from minority groups and perpetuate stereotypes and biases.  Religious issues are also prevalent in the creative industry, particularly in the context of Malaysia's predominantly Muslim population. This can lead to censorship of creative works deemed offensive or blasphemous to Islam, limiting artistic expression and creative freedom  Efforts to address these issues have been ongoing in Malaysia, with the government promoting greater diversity and inclusion in the creative industry. For example, the National Creative Industry Policy(Cendana) and Five Arts Center aims to promote diversity and inclusivity in the industry. However, there is still a long way to go in achieving true diversity and inclusion in the Malaysian creative industry. Education and awareness-raising efforts can promote understanding and empathy among different communities and reduce prejudice and discrimination. Additionally, the industry itself must take steps to promote diversity and inclusivity, such as implementing diversity quotas, providing training on unconscious bias, and actively seeking out talent from underrepresented groups. 

When it comes to copy and pasting🖨 in the creative world, we often see it as a cultural taboo, almost akin to selling our soul to the devil and practicing witchcraft🧙🏻‍♀️. If you're someone who often does this to create their own works, it's no surprise that you'll be on the hall of shame list with others chanting "An Amateur, Un-critical, and Opportunists".🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♂️ But let's take a step back and look at our history textbooks📚. Humans have been able to survive and thrive due to the collective memories and knowledge we share.💬 This knowledge is based on mimicry, so it can be passed on through generations without being lost.🌱 Take for example, why can we enjoy and learn about songs from the past🎵🎶 without much effort? Why are old songs such a great connector for different👴🏻👵🏻👦🏻👨‍👩‍👦 generations? We believe the copy and paste culture has enabled this. The freedom to produce covers of songs has allowed them to reach the masses and encouraged them to learn more about their history.📻🎙 However, it's a different story when it comes to other creative practices. Perhaps this is why music is more appreciated as an art form than others. In this episode, we'll be discussing the copy and paste culture. Is it all bad or are there benefits? Are we biased or is there a silver lining?

Happy Lunar New year and holidays to every Malaysian around. It is a season of reconnecting with family while we all learn from each other as well. May all your wishes be met, in what ever way you wish to have them! Our connection with others has always been about being open about what we think and what we want to learn from them. With humility, respect and openness – it helps us move forward to become a better self, also a better community - being human. In this episode, our hosts Shamin and Jowin will talk about learning and education. Essentially both of us are still figuring out ways on how we both could contribute better to the community! Let's get basic!

Happy New Year and Selamat Petang folks! It's midday of the second workday of 2023. Some of us are still dealing with the holiday jet lag and blues. But hey! 2023 will be an exciting year—we believe it's a time when human creativity will come face-to-face with artificial intelligence. There has been a lot of dystopian conversation about the rise of AI creative-prompt platforms like DALL-E and other GPT-3 trained production models that might bring down the creative/cultural industry. But really, we think these tools might have just opened up a new opportunity for creative collaboration—and this is good news. But how will they help post-colonial nations recalibrate their identities?

This pilot episode is about our uniquely Malaysian perspective of contemporary culture and identity. We will talk about the social relevance of art and design, the means by which to experience art and design in our Malaysian context.