A kolokoui? A colloquée? A Colloquy.

"Most of our misunderstandings of other people are not due to any inability to hear them or to parse their sentences or to understand their words... A lar more important source of difficulty in communication is that we so often fail to understand a speaker's intention."

(Miller, 1974, as cited in Thomas, 1983, p. 91)

Human communication has come a long way since the Lascaux cave paintings, with anthropologists and art historians having long debated over the intended message of these Paleolithic artworks. What were those people trying to express? Drawing parallels to contemporary artists, artists create because they have something to say. More often than not, contemporary artworks encourage discOurse. In this spirit, step into a conversation with Wei-Ling Gallery through the group exhibition titled, 'A Colloquy. The exhibition features eight contemporary artists: Choy Chun Wei (Malaysia), Cian Dayrit (Philippines), H. H. Lim (Malaysia), lvan Lam (Malaysia), Kameelah Janan Rashoed (United States). Marcos Kueh (Malaysia), Tan Zi Hao (Malaysia), and Yin Yin Wong (The Netherlands). Among them, Cian Dayrit and Kameelah Janan Rasheed are exhibiting in Malaysia for the first time.

This digital era has led to a boom in visual communication to which typography and fonts must be taken into consideration in conveying the subtle nuances of language. Furthermore, language, text, and words have developed their own meanings according to the cultural context of that region through the sharing of ideas, language, and cultures. Even different generations have their own lingo that are indicative of their time. The amalgamation of all these things results in a unique way of communication that makes sense to the people that are familiar with it whilst being confusing to those not in the know. Such heterogeneous ways of communicating may lead to what Jenny Thomas (1983) coined as 'Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Failure,' a phenomenon where miscommunication arises due to misinterpretation.

'A Colloquy' gathers 8 artists whose works challenge the viewer's perception of language and font, highlighting the inherent fluidity and interpretive nature of text in art. The artists explore text as a visual element by deconstructing and reimagining fonts, prompting reflection on the evolution of language and its inherent ambiguity. This exhibition highlights how the artists use fonts and words to craft dynamic narratives, emphasising that while language remains structurally constant, it evolves through cultural shifts, technology, and interpretation. Their choices of font-its style, weight, spacing, and size-shapes how text is perceived. Dermonstrating that despite its seemingly straightorward nature, the visual presentation of text can evoke diverse emotions.

By examining how societal shifts, digital fonts, and global communication influence text, using it both as art and a mirror of changing times, this assemblage of works seeks to provoke thought on how we read, interpret, and interact with language in an ever-evolving world. The interplay between script, language, caligraphy, and visual art is central to the focus oft this exhibition. As in a world where
technology and typography move in parallel, the written language exists in a fragile equilibrium.

References: Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied linguistics, 4(2), 91-112.

Curator: Prissie Ong

It is an edition of one—a singular, static print. Yet, I have always been drawn to the idea of animating my images, of pushing beyond the constraints of the fixed frame. This work serves as an extension of that impulse, transforming the print into a conceptual launchpad for a new exploration of movement and perception. The digital iteration is not merely a reproduction but an evolution, shifting its spatial and temporal considerations. It challenges the idea of finality, existing as an image until it ceases to be one—disrupting the boundaries between stillness and flux, presence and redefinition.

‘Air Shaft Study I–III’ is a large-scale banner installation created for Rasheed’s exhibition ‘in the coherence, we weep’ at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin. Suspended in an open atrium, these overlapping textual banners explore the relationship between language, space, and perception. The work challenges conventional legibility, as the texts blur and shift depending on the viewer’s position, encouraging an interactive engagement with meaning.

Rasheed perceives these architectural spaces as ambiguous zones of contrast where voices and identities merge and shift. This aligns with Rasheed’s broader practice, which examines how language operates within spatial and cultural contexts. By deliberately embracing fragmentation and ambiguity, ‘Air Shaft Study I–III’ disrupts traditional modes of comprehension, opening space for reflection and alternative ways of knowing.

Through this installation, Rasheed continues her exploration of Black experimental poetics, improvisation, and play. The banners are more than just visual elements; they function as conceptual tools that prompt viewers to rethink how text exists and functions in architectural and institutional settings.

Clan Dayrit (B. 1989)

Based in Manila, Philippines

Shrine of the Battle Dance 2

Objects, embroidery, and digital print on fabric
(Collaboration with Henry Caceres)
154cm x 136cm
2024

‘Shrine for the Battle Dance 2’ is a powerful critique of the ongoing exploitation in the Philippines. The work highlights the continued extraction of the country’s natural and human resources, framing relentless commercialisation; particularly the rapid expansion of malls at the expense of public spaces, as a deceptive illusion of progress. Through found objects, textiles, and layered imagery, Dayrit challenges colonial legacies and capitalist expansion, exposing the structures that sustain systemic oppression.

In this work, he uses language to reclaim indigenous and local terms, critique capitalism and urbanisation, satirise political rhetoric, and expose how words have historically been used to justify oppression while also serving as tools for resistance. The use of a mix of indigenous, Filipino and Spanish-derived terms reflects how colonialism has shaped the Filipino language. By reclaiming historical narratives and emphasising collective struggle, ‘Shrine for the Battle Dance 2’ functions as a critique of power as well as a call to resistance.

'Lipunan noon pa man, tunggalian noon pa man,
Ang mulat na masa ay mesiyas noon pa man'
(Translation: Society has always been, conflict has always been. The enlightened masses have always been the messiahs)

"Mulat na masa ay mesiyas noon pa man," embroidered at the bottom of the work, translates to "The enlightened masses have always been the messiahs," aptly reflecting the piece's core message.

Mulat na masa ay Mesiyas noon pa man is a visual critique of colonialism, state oppression, and capitalist exploitation, while emphasising historical memory, resistance, and collective power. Through layered imagery, Dayrit challenges official narratives and highlights ongoing struggles for justice and land rights. His use of deconstructed text through vowel omission creates a cryptic, coded appearance, reflecting how bureaucratic and institutional language abstracts and obscures meaning to reinforce authority. This technique, often seen in his cartographic and embroidered works, transforming language into a fragmented but potent tool for deconstructing historical narratives and power dynamics.

The work reclaims history from colonial and capitalist forces, asserting that the masses are the true agents of change and liberation. Its symbols collectively expose the exploitation of land and labor, the manipulation of history, and the resilience of the people. Ultimately, this piece serves as both a critique of power and a declaration of the masses' ability to awaken, resist, and reclaim their place in history.

The contemporary is a recursive enterprise. It marshals the absorptive, parasitic power of late capitalism to reinvigorate moribund and overused archetypes to renew its relevance. This installation plays with the recursive potentials of the Chinese word “又”(you), meaning “again”. In Chinese reduplicatives, the morphological repetition of a word inflects its semantics. Doubling the word “又” produces “双”(shuang), meaning “pair”; tripling it produces “叒”(ruo), meaning “solidarity”; increasing it fourfold produces “叕”(zhuo), which, ironically, denote “lacking”. The recent internet expression “又双叒叕” furthers the irony, for it points to the constancy of change through repetition. The morphological potential of the “又” produces various recombinant and synthetic states. It is perhaps this inflation of again-ness that delineates the cosmology of the contemporary. The whizzing of time and the loss of temporal gravitation push the society into overdrive. The contemporary synthesizes the old and new, the historical and speculative, the global and local, to create a sense of recursivity and timelessness that is the contemporary. As if expunged from the material present, the contemporary is time without teleology: it returns, revisits, rethinks, revises itself. Contemporary is not so much the crisis of capitalism, but a capitalisation of crises, again and again.

Yin Yin Wong (B. 1988)
Based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Holaan Travel Service
Lightbox, acrylic paint
87cm x 87cm
2023

This lightbox plays with the words ‘Holaan’ and ‘Lotus’, which both start with the character ‘Hé (荷)’. Wong’s mother once stated that one should never pick a lotus flower in the wild, as they grow near quicksand, and picking them could mean getting stuck and drowning in the process. Wong heard in this a metaphor for the leap their parents and immigrants like them took to venture to the West in search of a better life.

Yin Yin Wong (B. 1988)
Based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Lucky Star
Wood, acrylic paint, water hose, electric wire
58.5cm x 168cm
2023

From all the shop facades Wong encounters, the shops designating Thai or Chinese Massage are the most confronting. Shops of which the blinds are more often than not closed—words bold and direct in red or black. More often than not, the shop signs are the worst maintained; letters peeling, neon lights flickering—they are places Wong has never seen the inside of, knowing that many of them are places offering illegal sex work. The labour of physically servicing another’s body in order to survive is the stark reality of many South-East Asian women in the Dutch diaspora.