Shadow Garden: Pavilion Now 2016

  • Bea Hannay-Young
Each summer the pavilion of the contemporary gallery Shalini Ganendra Fine Art (SGFA) is transformed from a quiet green oasis in the heart of Kuala Lumpur into a dynamic, architechtural art space. In 2016, award-winning Malaysian architecht Eleena Jamil was chosen to create an installation to remain on-site for six to eight months - her only brief was to use sustainable Malaysian materials, and ensure that the pavilion could be built from scratch within only a few weeks, installed with help from local architecture students.
The finished design was a modern homage to many traditional Malaysian techniques and technologies - from the use of Sarawakian sustainably sourced timber, to the employment of Tangam, a traditional Malaysian form of joinery which eschews the use of screws or hinges.

The name, Shadow Garden, hints somewhat at interactions with the installation - the wooden structure supported shutters which acted as lever-pulleys, altering the light able to enter. These were counter-balanced by plater boxes brimming with Malaysian Ulam, herbs used in the cooking of South East Asia.