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Star2, TueSday 14 January 2014

Performance artist
Brian Lobel makes
us rethink our
virtual friendships.
By DENIELLE LEONG
brats@thestar.com.my

N July 2011, performance


artist Brian Lobel allowed a
panel of friends and random strangers to decide if he
should keep or delete any of
his 1,355 Facebook friends after
listening to a 60-second presentation on each friendship.
Described as the worlds most
brutal game of friendship maintenance, the project, entitled
Purge, sees the American (now
based in London) examining the
distinction between online and
real friendship.

BRATs

Getting

unfriendly

Within the five days that Purge


was performed, Lobel lost a
few hundred friends on the social
media platform including 64
that chose to delete him preemptively.
Since then, Lobel has presented
his insight from that daring social
experiment through his part
game, part story and part lecture
performances around the world,
most recently in Malaysia.
Just last week, he took centre
stage at the Kakiseni Freespace
in SSTwo Mall, Petaling Jaya. It
was the first show in Kakisenis
latest series, SENIfix, an initiative
to expose more people to the
performing arts by including elements from other fields.
What Kakiseni is trying
to do is to get input and
expertise from other
fields say medicine,
bio tech, architecture
interested in increasing and promoting an
awareness of arts in
that particular field,
shared Kakiseni president Low Ngai Yuen.

For Lobels arts-meets-digital


media show, he collaborated with
digital media consultant Niki
Cheong to discuss the emotional
impact of digital technology on
its users. Ironically, Cheongs role
took place on social media where
he led a Twitterpretation during Lobels presentation.
Were killing two birds with
one stone. While were letting
others in on whats happening
during the performance, my role
on Twitter also sparked discussions on topics related to Lobels
project, explained Cheong.
Id never seen so much technology in a room like that. It was
a weird experience for me, said
Lobel, adding that it was a cool
addition.
Overall, it was truly a unique
experience and a true testament
of the progress that our local
performing arts community is
making.
To learn more about future
SENIfix shows, check out www.
kakiseni.com and search the
#SENIfix hashtag for tweets
related to the series.

Digital media consultant


Niki Cheong (left) and
American performance
artist Brian Lobel
speaking during Purge, a
project which examines
our friendships on social
media and beyond.

The audience at Purge helping Lobel


decide whether to keep or delete
certain Facebook friends.

as part of the performance, Lobel goes through his


Facebook friends list with the audience.

By LAM KA-JHUN, MISTIKA IDRIS


and TAN JEN LI
brats@thestar.com.my
ITS a sacred part of football history that not many people get to see
in person, at least not until now.
And for those who have been in its
presence, chances are, it was a
once in a lifetime opportunity.
Were talking about the FIFA
World Cup trophy, the most
coveted and revered piece of silverware (or should we say goldenware?) in the history of the
beautiful game and we BRATs
were right there to behold it in all
its shiny glory.
The trophy was in Kuala
Lumpur as part of the World Cup
Trophy Tour, which brought the
trophy to 88 countries around
the world over 267 days before it
finally returns to Brazil in time for
the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Sure, some younger football
fans will probably find the UEFA
Champions League the more
glamourous prize, especially with
the popularity of European club
football these days.
But no one can argue with
the sheer amount of history that
little golden statue has been a
part of, having been lifted by the
likes of Diego Maradona, Franz
Beckenbaur and, most recently,
the Spanish team that has been
hailed as possibly the best national side of all time.
And of course theres the fact
that over 9,000 people turned up
at the Putra World Trade Centre,
KL to have a look at it and pre-

Golden opportunity
The BraTs see the iconic
FIFa World Cup trophy
up close.

Franz Beckenbauer, the first man to


lift the FIFa World Cup Trophy.
sumably get a few selfies with it.
The venue, a Chinese restaurant,
was completely transformed into
a true football fan experience.
There was foosball, bubble football, freestyle footballers and even
some samba dancers flown all the
way from Brazil.
The official mascot of the 2014
FIFA World Cup was also there
Fulesco the armadillo.
Visitors were also treated with
the opportunity to view a special
hologram show of some of the

most memorable moments in


World Cup history.
Andrew Wigham, the manager
of the event, said: It is always
fantastic to bring something
like the World Cup to Malaysia.
Not many people get the privilege to see the trophy and it is
here, and you get to stand right
next to it.
During a press conference in
the morning, FIFA Ambassador
and former Manchester United
forward Dwight Yorke was
asked by a football fan if he
thought Malaysia could one
day reach the World Cup.
His response was that if
the government invests
well at the grassroots level,
there is no reason it cant
happen. He added that
the passion, skill and
history are obviously
there, but to achieve
top-level success,
you ultimately need
commitment and
dedication.

Former Manchester United


forward Dwight Yorke, FAM
senior vice president Datuk seri
subahan Kamal, Coca-Cola Far
East Limited (Malaysia)
franchise director Agustinus
Gunadharma and Coca-Cola
Company global football
manager Annamaria Gazda with
the FIFA World Cup trophy.

fun facts 36
Trophy
FIFA World Cup Trophy is
>> The

carat
cm high, made of solid 18grams.
gold and weighs 6.1 kilo
the first
>> Franz Beckenbauer wasrld
Cup,
Wo
4
to lift it at the 197
many
Ger
st
We
ing
tain
cap
er
aft
to victory in the final.
FIFA
>> Only heads of state andyer
s can
pla
g
nin
win
Cup
World
phy.
tro
the
lift
or
actually touch
names are
s
ion
nat
g
nin
win
The
>>
the
engraved on the base of
out of
Diego
trophy, which might run
Maradona lifting
8.
203
und
aro
ce
spa
sented
the trophy after
>> The original trophy pre
Jules
the 1986 World
to World Cup winners, the
ed
ard
aw
s
Cup final in
wa
,
phy
Rimet tro
er
Mexico City.
permanently to Brazil aft
time in
d
thir
the
for
it
n
wo
y
the
3 and
1970. It was stolen in 198
never recovered.

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