The new not-for-profit gallery will open on November 1 with an exhibition featuring more than 40 artists from across the region.
Words Art+ Magazine Team
Photos courtesy of Muara Arts
October 27, 2026
Artwork Balancing on the Weight of the Unresolved, 188 x 190.5 cm, 155mm bomb shells, brass, hammered brass from artillery shells, 2024 by Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn | Courtesy of the artist and NORR COHAN, New York; Photo by Dan Bradica.
A new gallery dedicated to modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art will open in Kuala Lumpur on November 1, giving artists from Malaysia and the wider region a new platform to present their work.
Muara Arts, established by Shanthi Kandiah and Brahmal Vasudevan under the Creador Foundation, will occupy six restored Art Deco shophouses at Medan Pasar, near the historic meeting point of the Gombak and Klang rivers. The not-for-profit institution is the first of its kind in Malaysia, with plans for an ongoing program of exhibitions, commissions, publications and educational activities.
The institution has appointed Lydia Yee, formerly chief curator of London’s Whitechapel Gallery, as Consultant Artistic Director. Her career spans three decades, including senior positions at museums and public galleries in London and New York, with a longstanding interest in artists with roots in Asia.
Yee will oversee the artistic direction alongside a program designed to accommodate different approaches to contemporary art, from solo presentations to group exhibitions and newly commissioned works.
A Meeting Point for Artists
Muara takes its name from the Malay word for an estuary, where rivers meet. The name reflects the founders’ intention to bring together artists, ideas and audiences from different parts of the region, including members of the Southeast Asian diaspora.
Artwork Tampan Womb of Time, 170 x 165 cm, Tulip petal collage on paper, 2017, by Jennifer Tee | Courtesy of the artist and Tina Kim Gallery; Photo by Michiel Elsevier Stokmans
“Muara Arts is born of a desire to nurture Malaysia’s arts community and to foster cultural expression and dialogue, both at home and across borders,” said Kandiah and Vasudevan, founders of Muara Arts.
Muara Arts occupies approximately 20,000 sq ft across six shophouses dating from the 1930s. Designed by Dr Tan LM Architect and Sean Carpenter of Linear Vista, the gallery retains the buildings’ Art Deco character while adapting them for exhibitions and other arts-related activities.
Medan Pasar is closely tied to Kuala Lumpur’s beginnings. The square once served as a commercial center, with traditional merchants eventually giving way to banks and finance houses as the area changed through the 20th century.
Now the site is part of a broader effort to bring cultural and public activity back to the historic square. The wider development will include a theatre, outdoor events, cafés, restaurants, shops and other amenities, with Muara Arts forming a key part of the plans.
Yee said the gallery was conceived as a place where artists could meet, exchange ideas and develop new working relationships.
“This is a remarkable moment for art in Southeast Asia, and Muara Arts has been conceived to capture it. Like the confluence of rivers from which it takes its name, the gallery is a meeting point; a place where artists from across the region, including those of the diaspora, can return, exchange knowledge and forge new collaborations. I am honored to be realizing this vision alongside Brahmal and Shanthi,” she said.
A Reference for Southeast Asia
The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, A–Z of Southeast Asian Art: A Critical Dictionary, brings together more than 40 artists whose works examine the region through its history, politics, geography, ecology and culture.
Artwork The Far Side of Apo Island, 224.2 x 175.3 cm, Oil, Acrylic, Gold Thread, Plastic Buttons, Lace, Sequins on Stitched and Padded Canvas, 1989 by Pacita Abad | Courtesy of Tina Kim Gallery and Pacita Abad Art Estate; Photo by Hyunjung Rhee.
Curated by Yee and Zhen Feng Ang, the exhibition takes inspiration from Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen’s ongoing project The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia (2017–ongoing), using the alphabet as a framework for exploring the region.
Works across painting, sculpture, textiles, installation, video and works on paper respond to words and concepts associated with Southeast Asia. Rather than presenting a single account of the region, the exhibition brings together different interpretations of its histories, cultures and contemporary concerns.
It begins with “A for Animism,” featuring a mixed-media installation by Zarina Muhammad, and “A for Archipelago,” represented by a video installation by Martha Atienza. “B for Buffalo” pairs a sculpture by Nadiah Bamadhaj with a textile work by Marcos Kueh, while “C for Corruption” includes a new sculptural work by Pio Abad and Frances Wadsworth Jones from their series The Collection of Jane Ryan & William Sanders. The exhibition ends with “Z for Zoomorphism,” featuring Paul Pfeiffer’s Live Evil (Kuala Lumpur).
Yee sees the exhibition as an introduction to contemporary art from Southeast Asia, as well as an experiment in how an exhibition can be assembled.
“A–Z of Southeast Asian Art operates on multiple levels as an open and inclusive introduction to Southeast Asian contemporary art; as a diverse and complex collection of artworks exploring key concepts, motifs and questions about the region; as a curatorial experiment using an algorithmic set of parameters to generate an exhibition. Ho Tzu Nyen’s The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia has been phenomenally important helping us to think about art from the region and developing a new model for exhibition making,” she said.
The participating artists come from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. The list includes Pacita Abad, Pio Abad, Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, Martha Atienza, Tiffany Chung, Simryn Gill, Ho Tzu Nyen, Fyerool Darma, Marcos Kueh, Zai Kuning, Zarina Muhammad, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Thảo Nguyên Phan, Moe Satt, Citra Sasmita, Wong Hoy Cheong and Yee I-Lann, among others.
For Muara Arts, the exhibition sets the tone for its opening while introducing the kind of regional perspective the institution hopes to develop over time. Muara Arts begins with two ambitions: to give the region’s artists a dedicated platform in Malaysia and to make Medan Pasar a place where art becomes part of everyday city life.
A–Z of Southeast Asian Art: A Critical Dictionary opens on 1 November 2026 at Muara Arts, Medan Pasar, Kuala Lumpur.
