IMAGINING TAMAN LARANGAN

Experimentations at Rimbun Dahan Southeast Asian Arts Residency Imagining Taman Larangan, 2024 2:30 min Single-channel video installation, Projector, Zine, Antique Cabinet

In our encounters with Malaysian folktales, the Taman Larangan, or Forbidden Garden, is a central part of the world-building in these stories.

We explored and observed the plants grown in Rimbun Dahan’s garden and estate to reimagine the forbidden garden mentioned in Hitam Manis and Tualang Tree. We believe that such a garden should feel familiar to our Southeast Asian sensibilities.

This artwork honours the magical realism, the supernatural and the animistic parts of Malaysia’s cultural heritage.

SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION

PROJECTION INTO ANTIQUE CABINET

Since completing 'Madu', our AI-based animation featuring the folktale 'Hitam Manis and the Tualang Tree', it has sparked even more introspective conversations about biodiversity mentioned in Southeast Asian stories and how we relate to nature.

In our Hitam Manis animation, the term ‘Taman Larangan Diraja’ (Forbidden Garden) was a key visual space we had to design. These taman (gardens) are architectural spaces mentioned in the Sejarah Melayu and across other folktales from Southeast Asia. We wondered about the function and aesthetics of such gardens. In designing a fictional forbidden garden, do we make comparisons to actual historical royal gardens in Southeast Asia? What kind of biodiversity would the royal palaces have encouraged? Did any parts of their designs endure through to our modern times, if at all?

In our research, we noticed parallels between the layouts of forbidden gardens and Rimbun Dahan. We turn again to our palace gardener, Hitam Manis, for inspiration. What would it be like, if we were to imagine and design the scene of the ‘Forbidden Garden’ inspired by Rimbun Dahan?

Our stay at the Rimbun Dahan was foundational in aligning our creative philosophy with the environment around us (and even experiencing a storm in the process). We formed meaningful connections during the residency, and our research and experiments led to the Bakawali films, a collaboration with musician, composer, and soundscape designer Gardika Gigih, who was also an artist-in-residence at the time.