IMAGINARIUM

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“Soaring through Traditions, Landscapes and Dreams”

Enter Imaginarium – six walk-in, life-size worlds built from motifs familiar to every Malaysian interpreted in technologically novel ways. Drawing from Malaysia’s past and future, Imaginarium transforms the lobby of Gardens Mall into an immersive cornucopia of material, sound and sight. These dioramas reinterpret iconic Malaysian scenes, from the urban skyscrapers that have come to define the skyline to our most important everyday food source, paddy. In doing so, Imaginarium invites audiences to reimagine the aesthetic possibilities of Malaysia, insisting that progress is no distant frontier but a remix of smells, stories and textures we already share. Yesterday’s craft is tomorrow’s circuitry; wander slowly: the future is already seeded in the material memories of this place we call home.

Rooted in a study of wau (Malay word for a traditional wau) aerodynamics, an ancestor of aviation, Imaginarium treats kite craft both as visual language and an engine for future-making. Hand-woven anyaman motifs are sampled as glowing pixels, forging a new visual syntax between pandan fibre and LED circuitry. A layered soundscape drifts from traditional instruments to atmospheric electronic hums, wrapping visitors in patriotic yet dreamlike air. Activate the AR filters through the provided devices and watch light fold into a parallel Malaysia where skies, streets and rice fields bloom far beyond the dioramas.

Led by the artist Jun Ong, Imaginarium is made in collaboration with craftsmen such as wau-makers from Kota Bahru, Kelantan, and Bajau weavers from Semporna, Sabah.

Taking over the North & South Palm of The Gardens Mall, these are the six dioramas that form Imaginarium :

Kampung Cosmos

Futuristic wau fly above an abstracted kampung house. The kampung house is remixed with diverse vocabularies, adorned with carved ande-ande eaves from the kampung houses where wau are made, Malaccan-style fretwork grilles and Penang shophouse-style air vents. Kampung Cosmos suggests that everyday vernacular architecture and craft can chart orbital paths, fusing village warmth with cosmic ambition. Akin to spatialised kites, each structure is formed with intricate three-dimensional steel wireframes and brought to life through a bold mix of sheer tie-dye and machine printed fabrics, creating a sense of weightlessness.

Bukit Benang

Vibrantly coloured cloth wraps around a rigid structure to create the proles of three peaks –Gunung Brinchang, Gunung Kinabalu, and Batu Caves.Gunung Kinabalu is enveloped in tie-dyed cloth, made by folding, twisting or crumpling cloth before binding them and dyeing, while Gunung Brinchang and Batu Caves are formed with modern-day printed graphics and colors. Tie-dye is made modern using unconventional colours and abstract forms, allowing two-dimensional fabric to become a three-dimensional landscape, stitching peninsular, Bornean, and imagined horizons into one vibrating installation.

Wauscape

Traditional wau forms, illuminated with LED pixels, morph into high-octane gliders consisting of bamboo frames clad with diverse skins, from PVC strips, stretched lycra, and modern tie-dyed fabric. Their silhouettes are drawn from five wau forms from across the peninsular, namely Wau JalaBudi, Wau Kangkan, Wau Puyuh, Wau Kenyalang and Wau Bulan. “Wauscape” honours centuries of kite crafting and mastery yet asks how we may push material palettes beyond paper and bamboo. In collaboration with En. Haniff, a “wau”-maker from Kota Bahru, Jun and his studio reimagined new silhouettes with tie-dye skins. This year-long process also enabled Jun, whose grandmother is from Kota Bahru to rediscover his roots in the East Coast.

The soundscape the permeates “Wauscape” and the entire span of “Imaginarium” was made in collaboration with rEmPiT g0dDe$$. The soundscape drifts from the heartbeat of traditional Malaysian instruments to the airy hum of electronic tones, inspired by the vibrations of the wau in flight.

Full soundscape playlist can be found here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3uP56SxWuZ9brbNlXrd6yO?si=Q67BKgeySheuuovJrLOjjQ

PADI-CITY

Granules of rice are supersized into towering objects, forming a landscape of illuminated orbs. In this surreal metropolis, agriculture becomes a monument, reminding viewers that Malaysia’s staple food, cultivated for millennia, can also anchor visionary urban futures where nourishment, culture and architecture sprout from the same seed. Adorning the rice granules, are intricate weavings using modern-day materials made in collaboration with Kak Sitti and the Bajau weavers from Wanita.

Pulau Omadal (WAPO) in Semporna, Sabah. These “pixellated” weavings remind one of city lights and the importance of preserving our craft amidst urbanization.

KaleidoscopIA

Hibiscus blossoms sit on electric transmission pylons. Within each petal, made from mesh with 3D-printed embroidery, sits a kaleidoscopic core with digital screens, objects and photographs that create an immersive story of Malaysia and Merdeka. Steel pylons, oral softness and rainbow colourways merge, suggesting that the everyday infrastructure of the power grid could bloom into living, patriotic sculpture urbanization.

Like a time capsule, the screens within the kaleidoscope depict the journey by Jun and his studio throughout the process of making “Imaginarium.” The mirrored surfaces intertwine “you” as the viewer in this journey.

Pixel Galaxy

Cellular kites cluster overhead like floating pixels. On the ground, tessellated panels carry archival photographs of various aspects of Malaysia and Merdeka that inspired Imaginarium, from photographs of nature, stamps, architecture, craft and articles; other panels shimmer with materials developed for this installation. Pixel Galaxy turns sky and history into a living screen where the future keeps redrawing the past. Unity emerges not by erasing difference, but allowing the story behind each image and material to stay distinct.

Acknowledgements:

“Imaginarium” by Jun Ong is an art installation and exhibition commissioned by The Gardens Mall to celebrate patriotism.

Exhibition Dates : 27 August 2025 - 21 September 2025

The artist would like to thank his team, following partners and contributors who have worked tirelessly on the development and production of the project :

Artist Team

Ng Xiaolan

Farah Natashah Binti Yazid

Yoges Ramanathan

Yvonne Lee Xie Phei

Liau Hao Hei

Lim Kai Jie

Kevin Koh

Loke Qian Dong

Amey Azizan

Haziq Jasreen

Thong Hui Jie