At this pivotal moment when the prosperity of arts has been constrained by the COVID-19 crisis, this virtual MOCAfest Masterclass edition is designed to empower artists to embrace the digital revolution. Hopefully, to successfully bring out new dimensions in contemporary art practices, marketing and selling.

WATCH SESSION

Impact of Digital Technology on the Arts

Krista Kim (Speaker)
Contemporary Artist and Founder, Techism Movement
Canada

Krista Kim is a contemporary artist and founder of the Techism movement (2014), whose work explores the concept of digital consciousness. Her interest in digital technology and its revolutionary effects on human perception, media, social structure and communication had led her to work in both digital and physical realms.

During COVID-19 lockdown, Krista continued to explore the creative potential to utilise screens as digital instruments of well-being by creating ‘Mars House’, a completely virtual environment using her digital zen philosophy as the first ‘Metaverse home’ for sale as a Non-fungible token (NFT) in history in 2021. The piece received global acclaim and was the highest grossing sale on an NFT on SuperRare.

Krista was chosen by Louis Vuitton as a #Louis200 visionary, Top 30 Most Influential People of the Metaverse by Read and Write magazine, Global Ambassador of Superworld, among others and a founding member of 888tnw.com. Kim made an iconic collaboration with Lanvin in 2018. She collaborated with Mercedes Benz EQS for She’s Magazine curated by Alicia Keys. She was part of the Proof of Art exhibition at Francisco Carolinum Museum in Austria and was in a curated auction by Steve Aoki at Sotheby’s. She was creative director for Utah Jazz NBA Team, JazzXR campaign and the first Sports Team Metaverse NFT in history.

Asif Sinan (MOCAfest Pop-Up)
Musician, Composer and Singer
Pakistan

Asif Sinan is a quintessential world musician from Pakistan who blends genres of Indian classical with jazz music. A summa cum laude music graduate, he has gained recognition for playing raagas on the guitar and changing its tonal quality to make it sound like a sitar. He has also collaborated with numerous jazz, brass, folk as well as Grammy Award winning musicians from countries such as Germany, Cuba and Australia.

Asif is an International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) alumni and a WIEF MOCA Fellow. He is a TEDx fellow recognised as a potential breakthrough artist of South Asia and has toured United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, India and Germany extensively.

Asif has worked closely with Oxford University Press and a visiting faculty at Aga Khan Medical University teaching music to doctors. He is a member of Samvaad Foundation that promotes music in Pakistan especially in the underprivileged areas.

Altimet (Moderator)
Songwriter And Entrepreneur
Malaysia

Altimet is an award-winning rapper, songwriter and entrepreneur with a career spanning over two decades. Altimet cemented his name as hip-hop royalty in Malaysia and around Southeast Asia. The legendary rapper kicked off his career in the music industry in early 2000 and has since shared the stage with multiple world-renowned musicians, artists, producers and songwriters at musical events such as Rainforest World Music Festival, Good Vibes Festival and South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival.

Altimet took a step back from the music industry in 2018 to redirect his focus on business. He currently owns two Joe’s Barbershop outlets, eight Pizza On Fire stations and produced the Recite app with over 70,000 downloads to date. He recently set up his own management company, SVLTAN Management, to further elevate the entertainment industry. SVLTAN Management essentially provides artist management, bookings, branding, creative industry consultancy services and entertainment marketing consultation.

“It’s like chasing a moment, trying to capture a beautiful bird in flight.” – Peter Sanders.

MOCAfest Masterclass Series is a mini programme as an extension to the annual festival, Marketplace of Creative Arts (MOCAfest), to encourage creative and international exchanges with the growing Malaysian arts community.  Align with WIEF’s objective to strengthen networking and exchanges of ideas, information and knowledge, the Masterclass series aims to promote dialogues between MOCAfest growing international creative artists with our local community.

This year, we are delighted to collaborate and host the Art of Seeing Sarawak with Peter Sanders, who was a MOCAfest artist in 2014.  Photography is a growing interest in the local arts scene in Malaysia which could benefit from Peter’s years of experience in photography and capturing cultures and traditions from 40 countries.  The programme will be held in Kuching, Sarawak which brings an array of cultures and richness in nature.

The programme is designed to teach and instil the ability to tell a story through pictures. The best way to learn is from people who have mastered their craft. We want to create such an environment in different places in the world where everyone, from the beginner to the expert, may benefit from Peter’s vast knowledge and experience of photography and storytelling. The programs consist of four master classes, which form the core of the programme, covering various topics. Peter shares his experiences and stories and then demonstrates. This is followed by opportunities for each participant to shoot pictures at various locations in the area.

As part of the programme, each participant, under the mentorship of Peter Sanders, will be able to produce one photograph which will be showcased at the 8^th MOCAfest, 3-5 November, held in Kuala Lumpur.

Day 1 | Tuesday, 1 September 2015 | UNDERSTANDING CONTEXT

Day 2 | Wednesday, 2 September 2015 | NATURE

Day 3 | Thursday, 3 September 2015 | PEOPLE & LIFESTYLE

Day 4 | Friday, 4 September 2015 | THE LONGHOUSE

Peter Sanders is an internationally award winning photographer who began his career in the 1960s as one of London’s leading photographers of rock musicians, photographing Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Who and many more.

In 1971 Peter travelled on a spiritual quest to India, afterwards to Morocco, then to the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah.  From his ongoing travels, he has built up a huge photographic archive of over a quarter of a million photographs of the Islamic World, its people, architecture and cultures. His work is shown internationally in exhibitions, presentations and books. Recently, Peter created the ‘art of seeing’ photographic workshops to encourage young people into the creative arts.

His empathy with both spiritual masters and ordinary people has opened many doors and allowed him to photograph many of whom have never been photographed before.

Peter continues to travel worldwide on a number of commissions for a variety of international clients.