Re-interpreting heritage: viewing the Malay Peninsula’s colonial-era missionary monuments as public art

ABSTRACT

The role of public art in the heritage re-interpretation of colonial-era buildings in Asia is an under-researched area in tourism studies. Whereas the gentrification of public space and the opening up of stately architecture for public use is an established practice in Europe, the baggage of colonial history throughout much of developing Asia requires different strategies to engage the public with old buildings that have long-outlived their original purposes. By examining both the existing and potential future role of public art as a catalyst to elevate colonial heritage sites in the Malay Peninsula for tourism, this paper highlights the role of public art as a hybrid form of heritage with the power to act as an interlocutor linking tourism to memory, identity and heritage. In doing so, it strategizes how monuments to otherwise conflicted histories can, with careful curation of their identities, evolve towards being containers of a living heritage for tourists as well as locals.

KEYWORDS:

• Colonial
• public art
• hybrid heritage
• missionary monuments
• cultural marketing

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Taylor’s University for sponsoring this research project via the Taylor’s University Flagship Research Programme, project code TUFR/2017/001/04.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Keith Kay Hin Tan is a UK-registered architect and the author of two previous books about the heritage of Malaysia’s colonial-era Catholic mission schools. He obtained a doctorate in Tourism studies from Taylor’s University in Malaysia in 2017, where he is also a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Building and Design. He has previously published research articles in the journal Tourism Analysis as well as the Asia-Pacific Journal of Innovation in Hospitality and Tourism. He is also active as an article reviewer for an international journal dealing with Tourism Management and related issues.

Chun Wei Choy, in addition to being a lecturer, is also an established artist in the Malaysian art scene. In 2003 he received an Honorable Mention at the Malaysian Phillip Morris Art Awards, and in 2004 he received the Juror’s Prize at the Malaysian Young Contemporary Art Exhibition. In 2008, he was awarded the 2007/2008 Asian Artist Fellowship by the Freeman Foundation for residency at the Vermont Studio Center in the United States. At the end of 2008, two of his unconventional and challenging mixed media and collage paintings were collected by Malaysia’s National Art Gallery for its permanent collection.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Taylor’s University Flagship Research Programme, project code TUFR/2017/001/04.