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Downtown Kuala Lumpur lights up
AFTER dark, the laneways of Downtown Kuala Lumpur will take on a different rhythm as Warung Terang brings projection mapping out of large-scale building facades into a
mobile, artist-led experience.
Unfolding from May 8 to 17, six artworks will move across locations, including Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, Jalan Sang Guna, Telekom Museum and River of Life, inviting the public to explore light, sound and cultural stories up close as the experience appears, shifts and re-emerges across the city.
Warung Terang is developed by Filamen as an ongoing exploration of how contemporary digital art can exist freely within the city, moving beyond fixed installations into formats that invite closer interaction between the public, the artworks
and artists.
With support from Think City, Warung Terang is one of the programmes under the KL Fest. The initiative also seeks to draw audiences back into overlooked urban spaces, reactivating areas that often fade after dark.
Warung Terang.
Guided by the theme of pasar, Warung Terang takes cues from Southeast Asia’s marketplaces – places defined not just by goods but by the constant exchange of ideas, conversations and cultural encounters.
When behind-the-scenes meet the streets
Taking place over two weekends, Warung Terang brings together daytime workshops and evening street activations, where projection mapping comes alive alongside Reavang – an open platform for artists and creatives to experiment with visuals and sound in a live urban setting.
As night sets in, Downtown KL shifts into pockets of colour, sound and activities, encouraging people to slow down, walk through the city and rediscover spaces they would normally pass by.
Artists remain on-site, allowing visitors to get a behind-the-scenes look, have conversations and engage directly with the work as it happens – breaking the usual distance between projection mapping and audience.
One in music
The inaugural edition of Warung Terang brings together Southeast Asian artists, including Fairuz Sulaiman of Sekolah Main Wayang (Malaysia), known for blending
traditional storytelling with contemporary media, visual collective Fonetikar (Malaysia),
multimedia artist Tan Ji Kean (Malaysia) and Indonesian collectives and artists featuring The Fox, The Folks, Story of Karana and Hue, drawing from the lived experiences and everyday exchanges found in the marketplace, where stories will be reimagined through light, visuals, audio and live interaction.
KL Fest runs from May 6 to 31 across Downtown Kuala Lumpur, activating heritage buildings, streets and public spaces through more than 80 events and over 700 hours of programming – the majority of which are free to the public.
Organised by Think City in collaboration with Kuala Lumpur City Hall, supported by the Finance Ministry and the Federal Territories Department, the festival forms part of a broader effort to reimagine the city through culture, with activations such as Warung Terang bringing audiences closer to the streets through more intimate, ground-level encounters.
The festival is held in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2026, Warisan KL and Kuala Lumpur’s designation as a Unesco Creative City of Design.
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