KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — Some may be familiar with The Zhongshan Building in Kampung Attap, which has been transformed into a creative hub.
But have you ever wondered how it came to be?
And do you know of the annual free community festival held around its vicinity to celebrate Malaysia’s independence and diversity, which is growing every year?
Malay Mail explores the creative hub located in the heart of the old central business district for administration, trade and commerce in Kuala Lumpur.
The Brief History of The Zhongshan Building
Located at the end lot of Jalan Rotan, the Zhongshan Building which was constructed in the late 1950’s comprises of three shophouses which previously housed the Selangor Zhongshan Association, a frozen foods distributor and various merchants.
According to one of the co-founder of the now-restored building, Liza Ho, the building was abandoned when they first took it on in 2016 and reinvented into an art hub which officially opened its doors in 2017.
“The Zhongshan Building is a family building. It was inherited.
“After the Zhongshan Association moved away, that’s when I believe my mother-in-law bought the last lot.
“She started buying bit by bit when she could and she managed to own all three shophouses eventually,” Ho said.
They proceeded with renovations, doing their best to maintain the original structure of the colonial era building as much as they could — even making the effort to find materials and architectural heritage experts from Penang to seek insights and supplies that were no longer in production.
Personal touches were added to the building, such as the middle open courtyard (where Tommy Lee Baker is located) which was previously an enclosed space.
Getting creative(s)
Ho and her ex-partner who used to run pop up art exhibitions, first opened the OUR ArtProjects gallery on the ground floor of the first building before leasing up the extra spaces to their friends from the creative scene.
They began to realise that they were on to something when they began getting more inquiries, and eventually decided to open up the building and bring in more in the creative field together under one roof.
Now, the Zhongshan Building is home to a wide array of creative businesses from archives and libraries such as the Rumah Attap Library & Collective and the Malaysia Design Archive, to bespoke services such as menswear designer shop Atelier Fitton and the BelongInk Tattoo Studio.
There's also boutique law firm Muhendaran Sri and not forgetting a space for music lovers, the Tandang Record Store and Poppy Records along with a DIY collaborative multipurpose music listening space at Fono, which has become a famous spot for local DJs.
Ho who manages The Back Room art gallery there said that they wanted Zhongshan to be a place for local creative businesses to grow before moving to bigger spaces — such as local bookshop Tintabudi which has since moved to TTDI and silkscreen studio Bogus Merchandise which now operates its studio and workshop in Cheras.
“I think Zhongshan came out of necessity over what was happening at that point in time for the local creative scene.
“After The Annexe Gallery in Central Market closed down, there was nowhere (for creatives) to hang out. I used to work at Valentine Willie where we would often meet up with a lot of filmmakers, writers and artists and have a nice chat or discussion with them.
“We were missing that ground where people can just hang out and we wanted that space for people to just mingle and a safe space to discuss ideas. It's about (being) the place to connect and I think Zhongshan caters to that,” she said.
Time to Peszta!
One of the most interesting activities there is Peszta — a free community arts festival utilising multiple venues around Kg.Attap including Zhongshan Building, the boutique landscape and architecture firm Pentago House (at the now refurbished late Loke Yew’s family home in Jalan Rotan) and the SAM Mansion Flat in Jalan Akar.
The all-day festival concludes with a free outdoor concert called the Mantap Kampung Attap held at the carpark space beside Zhongshan Building during the evening.
In its third edition this year, Peszta will take place during the Malaysia Day weekend on September 14 and will include more neighbouring venues, including Heart Residence, triptyk, RegalPark Hotel, and Hummingbird Travels.
Before Peszta first came to be in 2022, Ho had applied for the Merdeka 118 Community Grant Programme under the PNB Merdeka Ventures for an open studio session and opening Zhongshan Building to the public for a few activities there.
She later learned that neighbouring building the Pentago House, had also applied for the same grant to conduct a few talks and workshops on literature and PNB suggested to all parties to collaborate and come up with something with the backing of PNB.
Together with Pentago, they approached Sam Mansion Flat which also houses the Yayasan Lim Yee Hoh office — who were excited join in the effort to support local musicians and performing artists under the foundation.
The festival’s name is a play on the word “pesta ” which means festival in Malay, and spelt with a Z as a portmanteau of the three anchor venues; (Pe)ntago, (S)AM, and (Z)hongshan.
“I think we’ve been really lucky because when we started renovations at Zhongshan Building, we met with Pentago who just bought over the building across the street because they kind of liked the neighbourhood and the graffiti around here and were open to have discussions with us.
“When we found out that Sam Mansion also has a foundation that supports local arts we were like ‘okay’, things were starting to come together.
“I suppose if you ask among us, we find common ground among each other. You can only find common ground if you actually meet your neighbours,” Ho said, adding that the neighbouring mooncake factory nearby would also join their annual festival for karaoke.
Yayasan Lim Yee Hoh Community engagement associate Nur’Adanee Azmi who helped organise Peszta last year said they managed to attract over 5,000 people to the festival last year.
Adanee who is also working closely with tenants at SAM Mansion Flat apart from the HEART Residence (a co-living space dedicated to artists) shared that all of the tenants were informed about the festival and were very cooperative with it.
"They all really liked Peszta and they dont mind having it there.
“We would usually ask them to clear the main parking lot a day before the festival and they were all very cooperative about that and they love seeing the performances there.
“Some of them would even participate as vendors at the festival,” she said.
What to Expect at This Year’s Peszta
Here are some of the activities and performances that you could expect at this year’s Peszta.
SAM Mansion:
• Ukulele troupe from Sekolah Hang Tuah 2
• Temuan Sewang performances from Orang Asli Bukit Tadom
• Special LED Lion Dance performance
• Design studio Mentah Matter's “Turun ke Jalan Bukan Budaya Kita: A History of Protest in 10 Objects” curated by Glam Kabut, Pusat Sejarah Rakyat and the DEMO Project.
Zhongshan Building:
• Live graffiti session by veteran street artist Kenji Chai sponsored by Australian surf-clothing brand Ripcurl. (Outdoor)
• A Surf-skate ramp by WavvyHub for those looking to try out ‘surf-skating’. (Outdoor)
• Interactive mural ‘Happy Together’ by young artists duo Grimmy Granny.
• Air Puah Saje at The Back Room Gallery (participants can be artists for the day by experimenting with different paints and tools on the gallery’s walls)
• Clayground Building with ceramicist Katia Rios.
• Build your own moss pet with Ohsum Mossum.
• Vintage box-photography portraits by Jeffrey Lim of Kanta Studio and his hand-built box camera-cum-darkroom.
• ‘Liquid Mirrors’ exhibition by Japanese-Brazilian sound artist Kaito Sakuma (Rooftop of the Zhongshan Building Annexe).
Lineup for the Mantap Kampung Attap Concert (from 6pm onwards)
• Award-winning singer Ning Baizura
• Johor’s ska-punk band Plague of Happiness
• Sarawak’s dream pop band NiceStupidPlayground
• KL’s reggae group Salammusik
• Neo-soul singer songwriter Leaism
• Multilingual hip hop collective Blanco Music
• Jazz singer Jo Lixian
There will also be four markets all across Peszta with one in SAM Mansion’s car park, two at Jalan Rotan, the street in front of The Zhongshan Building and Pentago House curated by each venue, and another on the rooftop of HEART Residence.
Pentago House will be having talks by architects and designers including the launch of ‘Making Malaysia’ book by R+, a research arm of the GDP Architects.
For more information on Peszta, please click here.
