COMMUNITY SERVICE INITIATIVE
PROJECT 1- R*EXPERIENTIAL MARKET
For this assignment, we were required to organise an experiential market in REX Cinema in Kuala Lumpur. This event is to revitalise the lost essence and spread the culture history of Chinatown. This experiential market team is contributed by 30 people and divided into 6 groups. In a teams of 6, we had to look for 2 vendors/ experiences to be featured as booths during the market.
Our search began by talking to a few elders around some of the longest-standing nodes of Petaling Street around Chinatown. Among which are the hustling vendors at Pasar Karat, the prestigious and long-standing Kwong Fook Wing Tailor, the integral associations and their members as well as a butcher in the semi-vacant wet market. These interviews can be found in video below.
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In the end, we did't manage to find any vendors that are capable to for us to feature due to some issue, like owner of the vendor won't agree to be featured, location of booth was inconvenient to the vendor and feature of vendor is unable to present at the booth.
So at last, we decided on making a cultural map to subtly remind the public of a wake-up call to preserve these traditions of the old before they are lost. We collaged certain landmarks around the area, as well as put old and new photos as comparison and added QR codes to watch the interviews of the fellow locals. We set all of this up in a kopitiam setting as an informal way to get to know the aunties and uncles who stopped by our booth and to share their very own stories with us on the day itself.
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The Day of R*EXPERIENTIAL MARKET
As a conclusion, I gained so much experience about the dying trades of Chinatown after really having the courage to talk to these aunties and uncles. Also learning the truth and hardship of those long-standing vendor remind me of how the elders condition was in the past. This event was also a lesson to me to know how the real world works.
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