Public Art Education in Brunei Darussala
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Teaching Artist Journal
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Public Art Education in Brunei
Darussalam: The Cultural Language of
Community Murals
Kong Ho
a
a
Universit y of Brunei Darussalam
Published online: 23 Dec 2013.
To cite this article: Kong Ho (2014) Public Art Educat ion in Brunei Darussalam: The Cult ural Language
of Communit y Murals, Teaching Art ist Journal, 12: 1, 24-36, DOI: 10. 1080/ 15411796. 2014. 844627
To link to this article: ht t p: / / dx. doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 15411796. 2014. 844627
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ABSTRACT
TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL 12(1), 24–36
Copyright © 2014, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Two mural
projects in Brunei
offer insight into
the specific and
universal aspects
of public art
education and
community art
making.
Public Art Education in
Brunei Darussalam: The Cultural
Language of Community Murals
This article is about how I used my initiative and experience as
a muralist to plan and then implement two community art research
projects in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei Darussalam.
A premise of these projects was that collaborative art learning and
practice-based experience in community murals can bring greater
understanding of the visual arts as a cultural tool for understanding
socially based ideas and concepts. Due to the differences in style,
scope, materials, and execution of these mural projects, they are
presented as separate case studies in this article. In this article I
first focus on the community mural painting project, Transcending
Culture and Space: A Community Art Project, a movable mural
project with several subfeatures that have been broken down into
learning and production categories for the purpose of analysis, and
then I show how this first case study links up with my more selfcontained second case study, Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-toAll Visual Experience of Digital Hybrid Mural.
Kong Ho
Correspondence regarding
this article should go to:
Kong Ho
Faculty of Arts & Social Science
Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong
BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
kongho99@gmail.com
Visual Arts Research at
University of Brunei Darussalam
The community mural, whether a traditional wall-painted
mural or contemporary digitally printed transportable mural, is a
relatively new art form in Brunei Darussalam’s creative industries
and public art education. Only a few mosaic murals created by
established individual local artists in Brunei after its independence
in 1984 existed before the present time. The recently completed
Transcending Culture and Space: A Community Art Project and
Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience of Digital
Hybrid Mural were two public community art projects that exemplify
current innovative and community-based art education practices.
Any artistic research in community art requires a budget equal
to the cost of investigating and conducting work on a large scale.
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Teaching Artist Journal
Similar to other social sciences research,
each artistic research may require a
particular space, equipment, technology,
and materials to carry out the related
research. Also, the outcome of an artistic
research may be in form of an exhibition,
workshop, presentation, documentation,
and/or non-peer-reviewed article rather
than just a peer-reviewed publication.
However, the University Research Committee
(URC) at University of Brunei Darussalam
(UBD) is more conservative and considers
only peer-reviewed journal publication as
the significant outcome of any academic
research. Therefore, most artistic research
is not funded, or only partially sponsored by
the URC.
Similarly, any visual art program requires
a certain budget to sustain or develop the art
studio’s facilities, equipment, and materials.
The Art and Creative Technology (ACT)
program at UBD is very young with less than
four years development. Therefore, most art
studios are either underequipped or without
any basic art studio equipment for teaching
painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture,
design, photography, and digital media.
Also, there is no annual art budget allocated
from UBD or from the Ministry of Education
(MOE) to individual programs of UBD, which
is an enormous obstacle to Art and Creative
Technology curriculum development.
The higher education system in Brunei
Darussalam is different from most
autonomous universities in the United
States. According to the Southeast Asian
Ministers of Education Organization–
Regional Institute for Higher Education &
Development, UBD falls under the MOE
but is quite autonomous from the MOE.
Administratively, UBD is self-governing,
but there are still some links with the MOE,
especially in allocating the university budget
and research grants. At the same time, UBD
is transitioning from being a fundamental
teaching university to a research institute.
So the criteria for faculty renewal and
promotion emphasize individual faculty’s
research and publications.
Artistic research or practice-based
research is a kind of intellectual qualitative
research with a focus on the arts. Eminent
art historian Sir Ernest Gombrick (1909–
25
2001) drew on the statement of philosopher
of science Sir Karl Popper (1902–1994) that
there are parallels between the scientific
laboratory and the artistic studio as
work place where hypotheses are tested.
Gombrick drew equivalence for Popper’s
notions of “conjecture and refutation” with
his own terminology “schema and correction”
or “making and matching” (Richmond 29).
Advancement in any given subject is a
result of criticism and reflection. Both the
artist and the scientist are considered to
be testing the visual and material worlds in
which they find themselves, and the artist’s
methods should be recognized as no less
demanding or rigorous than the scientist’s.
Since UBD is not a school of art and design,
the recognition of artistic research by the
URC and the UBD administrations is of great
importance to new art faculty at UBD.
A Rubric for Collaborative
Community Art
Contemporary teaching artists know
the importance of maintaining a positive
attitude toward their working environment
within a university setting. However, it is
understandable that without proper funds
and facilities, it is very difficult to conduct
any high-quality artistic research or art
teaching. A solution to this problem is to
conduct artistic research in collaborative
community art project. By setting oneself
as an example for one’s students, a creative
solution to engage students in learning and
teaching can be reached. The earnestness
that the teaching artist has toward his or
her art can become instilled in his or her
This artistic research that
culminated in the digital hybrid
mural revealed that if there were
more opportunities for the general
public to participate in community
art projects or to appreciate the
art displayed in public spaces, then
more people would have a better
understanding of art and culture.
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
students over time. Moreover, the teaching
Case Study 1:
artist should act as a pioneer explorer toward
The Pilot Community
new project grants, technologies, concepts,
Mural Painting in
and techniques in addition to mastering
of traditional methods and skills. Students
Brunei Darussalam
require guidance and challenging stimulation
in their studies. Instead of emphasis on
To overcome the lack of financial support
competitiveness and individualism among
available from UBD, the first community
students, the twenty-first-century art
mural painting research sought sponsorship
education should emphasize collaborative
from the U.S. Embassy in Brunei Darussalam
learning (Barkley, Cross, and
Major xi) and allow students
to generate knowledge
and meaning through their
hands-on experience.
Collaborative learning is
based on the epistemological
assumption of social
constructivism. R. S.
Matthews captured the
essence of collaborative
learning: “Collaborative
learning occurs when
students and faculty
work together to create
knowledge. … It is a
pedagogy that has at its
center the assumption
that people make meaning
together and that the
process enriches and
enlarges them” (101).
According to Ho, “The
inherent features of
collaborative learning include
instructional pedagogy, colaboring, and generation of
knowledge and meaning.
Within the process of
community mural painting,
learners or participants
work in groups to achieve
shared learning goals” (69).
When community murals are
produced with an emphasis
on idea development,
collaborative execution,
and constructivist learning,
and augmented with the
Image 1: Poster of Transcending Culture and Space: A Community
help of twenty-first-century
Art Project, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam and
digital technology, a very
designed by the author, showing the dates and places of community
collaborative art learning
mural painting workshops and two-part traveling multimedia art
installation.
atmosphere results.
Kong Ho
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Kong Ho
Image 2: Digital mural design of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, designed by the
author, showing the dynamic colorful composition with butterflies, stars, and halftone circle patterns.
in early 2012. After three months, the
proposal for “Transcending Culture and
Space: A Community Art Project” was
granted by the U.S. Embassy Brunei
Darussalam through the Overseas Federal
Assistance Award and was co-sponsored
by means of support for workshop venues
but not funding by UBD, Pusat Belia Bandar
Seri Begawan (Youth Centre), and Jerudong
International School (JIS). The poster of this
community art project, shown in Image 1,
reveals the use of butterfly motifs and their
relevant meaning to diversity and inclusion
as a symbol for this community art project.
This community art project’s overall
design showcased the diverse and inclusive
universal symbolism that is shared between
the cultures of the United States and Brunei
Darussalam. Based on a shared outlook of
the mural’s diplomatic purpose of bringing
greater cultural understanding and exchange
between the United States and Brunei,
as leading teaching artist in this project
I designed the mural layout for this pilot
community mural in Brunei and worked
with Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho in conducting the
mural painting workshops and traveling
art exhibition. The mural layout, showed in
Image 2, reveals universal symbols such as
butterflies, stars, and halftone circle patterns
that are common themes in art in Brunei
and the United States. These nonpolitical
symbols were meant to promote the concept
of collaboration, diversity, and inclusion
that I believe the modern world is striving
for. Also, this community mural aimed to
bring artists, youths, students, volunteers,
and community members with diverse
backgrounds and abilities together to work
as a team. The notion of working together
represented the concept of teamwork that
leads everyone toward building a bright and
inclusive future.
Ideally, community murals should be
designed together with involved community
members and led by an experienced
muralist. However, it was impractical in this
case to form a core group of community
members for this project in advance to
jointly design the mural layout because of
the low recruitment of targeted community
members from the local youth center.
This might have been caused by several
factors, including the limited time frame for
promoting the community mural project,
the fact that the concept of a collaborative
community mural was unfamiliar to the
Bruneian society, or that the staff at youth
center did not get the word out. However,
the design for this community mural allowed
a certain flexibility for participants to add
their personal expression in certain areas
of the mural. The decorative spaces of the
mural were left blank so that participants
could add their colors and patterns in the
spaces. The random colors and marks would
then add to the overall excitement of the
complex composition. From a technical
perspective, this mural design offered some
simple flat surfaces, such as the circles
and stars, on which participants with less
painting skills could work. Also, participants
with better imaginations could feel free to
add their own elements. Besides regular
acrylic paints, the community mural project
also provided acrylic markers and Postit stickers for less experienced or young
participants to draw with or stick onto the
mural. Hence, the mural design and the
provided materials definitely helped to build
a harmonious working environment and
a bridge between experienced artists and
novice community members.
The whole community art project included
fifteen mural painting workshops and a
two-part traveling multimedia art exhibition
in two different locations. The final thirtyfoot long by six-foot high transportable
mural showcases the community art
endeavor of 238 participants, including two
American teaching artists (Ho and GeigerHo), Bruneian youths, JIS students, UBD
students, U.S. Embassy staff, and the
general public in a well-visited Times Square
mall in Brunei, shown in Image 3. Each time
the mural was set up in a location, public
workshops were given at that site to help
participants learn about community mural
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
painting and public art. Mural participants
gained valuable experience in hands-on
workshops by working side by side with
artists and other participants. The feeling
of being included or recognized as an
asset became the driving force for some
community members who voluntarily
engaged in several workshops that took
place over several months.
Besides the community mural, a twopart traveling art exhibition by the two
aforementioned American artists, the author
and Geiger-Ho, showcased works created in
Brunei with the intention of engaging with
Bruneian visual culture. Included in the
exhibition were paintings, digital art, digital
photography, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry,
and four installations at JIS Art Gallery in
September 2012, shown in Image 4 and at
the Inspiring Hall of UBD Student Centre in
Image 3: Mural painting workshop of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, at the Times
Square Mall, Brunei Darussalam, July 6, 2012, showing volunteers and University of Brunei Darussalam
(UBD) art students painting on the mural. The recognized UBD students in the picture (left to right)
are Dyg Nabilah binti Haji Nasib, Awg Amirul Jazli bin Jali, Nurul Jannah Mohd Yussof, and Muhammad
NurAdzim bin Othman.
Kong Ho
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Image 4: Community Mural Painting & Multimedia Art Installation by Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho & Prof. Kong
Ho, at the JIS Arts Centre, Jerudong International School, Brunei Darussalam, from September 10 to 21,
2012.
Image 5: Mural painting workshop of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, in conjunction
with the traveling art exhibition at the JIS Arts Centre, Jerudong International School, Brunei Darussalam,
September 14, 2012, showing JIS and University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD) students painting on the
mural. The recognized UBD and JIS students in the picture (left to right) are Dyg Nur Amnani binti Hj Awg
Md Taib, Dyg Nurul Jannah binti Haji Ahmad, Dyg Nurul Amal Iwanina Athirah Muntassir, Amanda Yeo,
Afifah Sallehuddin, Dyce Lau Jun Yin, Tasneem Cader, and Serafina Besecker.
Kong Ho
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Kong Ho
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2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
Image 6: Mural painting workshop of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, in conjunction
with the traveling art exhibition at the Student Centre, University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei
Darussalam, October 19, 2012, showing UBD students and the teaching artist painting on the mural. The
recognized UBD students and artist in the picture (right to left) are Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho, Holly Ryan, Awg
Muhd Saifullah Al-Waie bin Mat Jinin, Awg Mohd Niq’Matul Ghizalif bin Md Jinin, Dyg Nurul Farain binti
Ahamd Sah, Awg Muhammad Nazreen bin Hj Amin, Dyg Noor Sa’Ariyah Haziqah binti Mohd Ramli, Dyg Siti
Zubaidah binti Hj Ahmadin, Dyg Nurul Amal Iwanina Athirah Muntassir, Dyg Nur Amnani binti Hj Awg Md
Taib, and Awg Hj Shahrul bin Hj Serbini.
It was unbelievable that some
mall visitors even offered to pay
a fee in order to participate in
free community mural painting
workshops. For some mall visitors
it may have been the first time
they’d experienced a free-to-thecommunity art project or public art
education in a shopping space.
Image 7: Transcending Culture and Space
Community Mural, collected by University
of Brunei Darussalam and displayed at the
New Library Extension Building, UBD, Brunei
Darussalam, in March 2013.
Kong Ho
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Kong Ho
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Kong Ho
October 2012. More than sixtytwo exhibits were displayed in
this traveling art exhibition,
which was well received by the
communities of JIS and UBD.
The concept for this
traveling art exhibition
worked in tandem with the
community mural workshops
in order to showcase artworks
that would address the
exhibiting artists’ enthusiasm
for experiencing the culture
and terrain of Brunei. Most
of the images, materials,
and inspiration of the two
involved American artists were
drawn from their physical
Image 8: Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience
environments, both in Brunei
of Digital Hybrid Mural, 4 meters high by 6 meters wide, displayed at
and Pennsylvania, United
the atrium of The Mall, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam, from July 11 to
14, 2012.
States. These regions were
explored in their respective
Case Study 2:
artworks. To enhance the inclusive concept
The First Digital Hybrid
in this traveling art exhibition, the artists
displayed the ongoing community mural
Mural in Brunei Darussalam
alongside their works. They also conducted
In July 2012 the 2012 Creative Industries
four individual mural painting workshops for
Festival took place, organized by the Creative
the students JIS and UBD, shown in Images
Industry Research Cluster of UBD in The Mall
5 and 6.
in Gadong, which is located in Brunei’s capital
The final complete mural became a
city of Bandar Seri Begawan. The pilot digital
permanent installation on UBD’s campus,
community mural appeared to great public
where it is displayed at the new UBD Library
excitement as part of this festival. Visions of
Extension Building in March 2013, shown in
Brunei Digital Hybrid Mural, shown in Image 8,
Image 7.
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
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Image 9: Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience of Digital Hybrid Mural, 4 meters high
by 6 meters wide, printed on PVC canvas and designed by 24 talented artists and University of Brunei
Darussalam students in the spring of 2012. Individual mural module listed as the order of mural from
top left to right and top row to bottom are designed by (first row) Amhra Zulfadhu Hj Md Hamdilah, Mimi
Farahyahida binti Hj Omarali, Dk Nur Afiquah bte Pg Hj And Rahman, Ak Khairul Amilin bin Pg Muhamad,
Suzy Edwina Haji Md Salleh, Hudan Naurah Haji Ibrahim, (second row) Dr. Debra Jean Enzenbacher, Muhd
Alinormin Hj Omarali, Prof. Kong Ho, Dr. Zahari Hamidon, Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho, Annant Whalen (third row)
Norhafilah binti Saradin, Jasmyne Koh Hui Zhen, Awg Rasidi bin Saidin, Afiqah Hanum binti Haji Murni,
Dk Noor Affizah bet Pg Hj And Rahman, (fourth row) Dr. Jennifer Tan, Muhammad Nazreen bin Amin,
Muhammad Nuriskandar bin Md Hasnan, Awg Mohamad Azmi bin Hj Abdillah, Nabilah binti Haji Nasib, and
Bazilah binti Haji Asli.
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was the first digital hybrid community
mural in Brunei. This was the culmination of
artistic research—a digital hybrid mural that
could be easily transported and set up in a
public shopping mall for viewers to enjoy.
By combining the formats of digital design,
commercial billboard presentation, and
community art-oriented mural production,
33
this new type of digital hybrid mural offered
a solution to the problem of how to install a
mobile mural that could be created off site
in a classroom setting. Traditional painted
murals require a permanent mural site to
display them. Usually, the mural site becomes
the mural production site and may cause
temporary inconvenience to some people
living and working at that particular area.
The aim of this community digital hybrid
mural project was to provide a promising
vehicle for introducing the artistic talents of
Brunei’s visual artists and UBD art students
to the Brunei community at large because
it paid homage to such creative industry
fields as large graphic design billboards and
poster concepts along with the industrial
printing production methods associated
with the new digital media. This mural was
produced using individual, square meter,
discrete two-dimensional modules that were
printed out digitally. When the twenty-four
discrete modules of separate self-contained
images, designed by twenty-four artists and
UBD students, were brought together, shown
in Image 9, they comprised a large mural
measuring four meters high by six meters
wide. This hybrid mural was an important
step toward familiarizing the general
public with the new vision, energy, and
perspectives of emerging Bruneian visual
artists.
This practice-based research project
brought artists and UBD students together
to brainstorm and learn as a group through
three workshops—one for digital imaging,
the second one for guided tour of existing
murals in Brunei, and the last one for
outdoor hands-on photography workshop.
At the same time, each participating artist
was still responsible for producing a discrete
module (single personal digital image)
that became part of the hybrid mural. All
of the digital art images incorporated into
the hybrid mural were works of art that
had been created using computer graphic
technology and digital media. These art
images could be either digital photographs of
Bruneian culture, people, architecture, and
landscape or completely computer-generated
images that had been manipulated to
achieve their final compositions, which
depicted the theme of visions of Brunei.
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
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Image 10: Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience of Digital Hybrid Mural, collected
at the Art Gallery, right foyer of Chancellor Hall, University of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam, in
February 2013.
It was projected that this community
digital mural project would not only provide
a showcase for potential creative talents in
Brunei but also give artists and UBD students
an opportunity to collaborate on a single
community art project as well as to share
their visions of Bruneian cultural identity.
It was an important goal for the culturally
diverse participants and the general public
to become more engaged with, and aware of
the importance of artistic expression and its
own culture and natural wonders.
After it was displayed four days at The
Mall in downtown and two weeks at UBD
Student Centre in July 2012, the digital
hybrid mural was collected by UBD and
permanently displayed at the Art Gallery,
right foyer of the Chancellor Hall in February
2013, shown in Image 10. This digital
hybrid community mural continues to impact
educational, cultural, economic, social,
and geographic issues that are part of the
dynamics for the development of the creative
industries in Brunei.
Cultural Impact of the
First Digital Hybrid Mural
Visions of Brunei Digital Hybrid Mural was
not only the first community mural in Brunei
but also the outcome of a practice-based
research in collaborative murals led by the
author. The mural originated as individual
artistic research under the Creative Industry
Research Cluster of UBD. This artistic
research was only partially granted by the
URC through the seed grant for the Creative
Industry Research Cluster in sponsoring the
production cost of digital printing of this very
large mural. The major reasons why it was
not fully supported by the URC were that the
mural project was not traditional quantitative
research and the value of community art
or public art was not recognized. However,
this first digital hybrid mural became the
center of interest of four-day 2012 Creative
Industries Festival in Brunei not only on
account of its large scale but also because of
its unique impact on the community.
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This artistic research that culminated in
the digital hybrid mural revealed that if there
were more opportunities for the general
public to participate in community art
projects or to appreciate the art displayed
in public spaces, then more people would
have a better understanding of art and
culture. This artistic research emphasized
the importance of wide-audience-based
research by displaying this portable digital
hybrid mural in a well-visited mall in Brunei.
Also, through the contemporary digital
photography and billboard display design
the audience was faced with a large field
of familiar images. A sense of cultural
recognition displayed on this digital hybrid
mural was one of the objectives of this
collaborative research. Most of the digital
images on this mural, created by 24 talented
artists and students in Brunei, were taken in
Brunei and represented the unique quality of
Bruneian local culture, people, architecture,
plants, and landscapes. As the theme of this
digital hybrid mural was about the visions of
Brunei, so much of the audience evidenced
some kind of emotional connection with the
images printed on this mural.
Public Art Education in
Multicultural Societies
The impact of the first digital hybrid
mural might not cause instant change in
the Bruneian public art scene. However,
it was definitely the first contact for the
Bruneian general public with noncommercial
art in a public mall, a typically consumerist
environment. If art education is about partly
changing the people’s perceptions, then this
digital hybrid mural served its purpose in
awaking the general public’s admiration of
their own culture and natural heritage in the
context of a well-visited public place.
The first digital hybrid mural appealed
to audience sensibilities with a vivid visual
experience; the first collaborative community
mural painting project, Transcending Culture
and Space Community Mural, offered handson experience to 238 participants. Moreover
its visually striking display gave numerous
spectators in several diverse locations,
including a youth center, university studio,
35
… these two artistic undertakings
in Brunei suggest that art education
should be inclusive for the general
public in our communities and
more than just regular academic
curriculum in our education system.
Community produced public murals
can bring a community together to
produce a cultural artifact that is a
source of pride for its members.
embassy, hotel conference room, public mall,
art gallery, and university student center
a chance to enjoy the visual display taking
shape. The collaborative community mural
and traveling art exhibition showed how an
orchestrated true collaborative community
art setting could let participants with diverse
backgrounds, ages, skills, abilities, and social
statuses work toward a common goal of
creating a colorful community mural with the
theme of diversity and inclusion.
When the mural traveled to a public mall,
a youth center, an international school arts
center, and a university student center in
Brunei Darussalam, people were excited
to paint on the incomplete mural, but they
were also disappointed that they could not
keep working on it after the workshop time
ended. It was unbelievable that some mall
visitors even offered to pay a fee in order to
participate in free community mural painting
workshops. For some mall visitors it may
have been the first time they’d experienced
a free-to-the-community art project or public
art education in a shopping space. Instead
of doing their regular shopping in the mall,
some mall visitors preferred to be volunteers
for the community mural project by spending
half a day painting the mural with other
helpers or volunteers whom they had just
met in that particular location.
Conclusion: What Is Next
After These Two Pilot
Community Murals?
Undoubtedly, the two aforementioned
community murals have set the tone for
more public and/or community art education
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36
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
in Brunei Darussalam, which will require
support through a nurturing environment.
It is expected that this environment will
be provided by higher art education, local
government, sponsors, and community
members. These two Bandar Seri Begawan
community art projects aimed to encompass
many aspects of community participation
in the mural process rather than just
presenting people with visually striking
huge murals. The criteria for evaluating
the success of any community art project
should emphasize the impact of process
on individual participants’ and viewers’
experiences.
The impact of these two community
murals on the Bruneian community
of Bandar Seri Begawan in terms of
educational, cultural, social, economic,
historical, and technological contexts was
substantial. Sustainable investment and
development toward public art education and
cultural awareness is a promising answer for
promoting Bruneian art and culture. With the
advance of twenty-first-century technology
in education and a broader commitment
to developing domestic creative and
cultural industries, collaborative community
art projects are among the achievable
solutions for offering job opportunities to
artists. Public art can be a key for cultural
arts and tourism. At the same time, all of
these community art or public art projects
benefit the general public by educating in
the appreciation of their own culture while
adding something new to their communities.
In conclusion, these two artistic undertakings
in Brunei suggest that art education should
be inclusive for the general public in our
communities and more than just regular
academic curriculum in our education
system. Community produced public murals
can bring a community together to produce
a cultural artifact that is a source of pride for
its members.
Works Cited
• Barkley, E. F., K. P. Cross, and C. H. Major. Collaborative learning techniques (p. xi). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005. Print.
• Ho, K. “Mural Painting as Inclusive Art Learning Experience.” Teaching Artist Journal. 8.2
(2010): 67–76. Print.
• Matthew, R. S. (1996). “Collaborative Learning: Creating Knowledge With Students.” Teaching
on Solid Ground: Using Scholarship to Improve Practice. Eds. R. J. Menges and M. Weimer. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 101–124. Print.
• Richmond, S. S. Aesthetic Criteria: Gombrich and the Philosophies of Science of Popper and
Polanyi, 6. Atlanta: Editions Rodopi, 1994. Print.
• Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization–Regional Institute for Higher Education &
Development. Brunei Darussalam Higher Education System.
On: 29 Decem ber 2013, At : 18: 00
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Teaching Artist Journal
Publicat ion det ails, including inst ruct ions f or aut hors and
subscript ion inf ormat ion:
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Public Art Education in Brunei
Darussalam: The Cultural Language of
Community Murals
Kong Ho
a
a
Universit y of Brunei Darussalam
Published online: 23 Dec 2013.
To cite this article: Kong Ho (2014) Public Art Educat ion in Brunei Darussalam: The Cult ural Language
of Communit y Murals, Teaching Art ist Journal, 12: 1, 24-36, DOI: 10. 1080/ 15411796. 2014. 844627
To link to this article: ht t p: / / dx. doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 15411796. 2014. 844627
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ABSTRACT
TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL 12(1), 24–36
Copyright © 2014, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
24
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Two mural
projects in Brunei
offer insight into
the specific and
universal aspects
of public art
education and
community art
making.
Public Art Education in
Brunei Darussalam: The Cultural
Language of Community Murals
This article is about how I used my initiative and experience as
a muralist to plan and then implement two community art research
projects in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei Darussalam.
A premise of these projects was that collaborative art learning and
practice-based experience in community murals can bring greater
understanding of the visual arts as a cultural tool for understanding
socially based ideas and concepts. Due to the differences in style,
scope, materials, and execution of these mural projects, they are
presented as separate case studies in this article. In this article I
first focus on the community mural painting project, Transcending
Culture and Space: A Community Art Project, a movable mural
project with several subfeatures that have been broken down into
learning and production categories for the purpose of analysis, and
then I show how this first case study links up with my more selfcontained second case study, Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-toAll Visual Experience of Digital Hybrid Mural.
Kong Ho
Correspondence regarding
this article should go to:
Kong Ho
Faculty of Arts & Social Science
Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong
BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
kongho99@gmail.com
Visual Arts Research at
University of Brunei Darussalam
The community mural, whether a traditional wall-painted
mural or contemporary digitally printed transportable mural, is a
relatively new art form in Brunei Darussalam’s creative industries
and public art education. Only a few mosaic murals created by
established individual local artists in Brunei after its independence
in 1984 existed before the present time. The recently completed
Transcending Culture and Space: A Community Art Project and
Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience of Digital
Hybrid Mural were two public community art projects that exemplify
current innovative and community-based art education practices.
Any artistic research in community art requires a budget equal
to the cost of investigating and conducting work on a large scale.
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Teaching Artist Journal
Similar to other social sciences research,
each artistic research may require a
particular space, equipment, technology,
and materials to carry out the related
research. Also, the outcome of an artistic
research may be in form of an exhibition,
workshop, presentation, documentation,
and/or non-peer-reviewed article rather
than just a peer-reviewed publication.
However, the University Research Committee
(URC) at University of Brunei Darussalam
(UBD) is more conservative and considers
only peer-reviewed journal publication as
the significant outcome of any academic
research. Therefore, most artistic research
is not funded, or only partially sponsored by
the URC.
Similarly, any visual art program requires
a certain budget to sustain or develop the art
studio’s facilities, equipment, and materials.
The Art and Creative Technology (ACT)
program at UBD is very young with less than
four years development. Therefore, most art
studios are either underequipped or without
any basic art studio equipment for teaching
painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture,
design, photography, and digital media.
Also, there is no annual art budget allocated
from UBD or from the Ministry of Education
(MOE) to individual programs of UBD, which
is an enormous obstacle to Art and Creative
Technology curriculum development.
The higher education system in Brunei
Darussalam is different from most
autonomous universities in the United
States. According to the Southeast Asian
Ministers of Education Organization–
Regional Institute for Higher Education &
Development, UBD falls under the MOE
but is quite autonomous from the MOE.
Administratively, UBD is self-governing,
but there are still some links with the MOE,
especially in allocating the university budget
and research grants. At the same time, UBD
is transitioning from being a fundamental
teaching university to a research institute.
So the criteria for faculty renewal and
promotion emphasize individual faculty’s
research and publications.
Artistic research or practice-based
research is a kind of intellectual qualitative
research with a focus on the arts. Eminent
art historian Sir Ernest Gombrick (1909–
25
2001) drew on the statement of philosopher
of science Sir Karl Popper (1902–1994) that
there are parallels between the scientific
laboratory and the artistic studio as
work place where hypotheses are tested.
Gombrick drew equivalence for Popper’s
notions of “conjecture and refutation” with
his own terminology “schema and correction”
or “making and matching” (Richmond 29).
Advancement in any given subject is a
result of criticism and reflection. Both the
artist and the scientist are considered to
be testing the visual and material worlds in
which they find themselves, and the artist’s
methods should be recognized as no less
demanding or rigorous than the scientist’s.
Since UBD is not a school of art and design,
the recognition of artistic research by the
URC and the UBD administrations is of great
importance to new art faculty at UBD.
A Rubric for Collaborative
Community Art
Contemporary teaching artists know
the importance of maintaining a positive
attitude toward their working environment
within a university setting. However, it is
understandable that without proper funds
and facilities, it is very difficult to conduct
any high-quality artistic research or art
teaching. A solution to this problem is to
conduct artistic research in collaborative
community art project. By setting oneself
as an example for one’s students, a creative
solution to engage students in learning and
teaching can be reached. The earnestness
that the teaching artist has toward his or
her art can become instilled in his or her
This artistic research that
culminated in the digital hybrid
mural revealed that if there were
more opportunities for the general
public to participate in community
art projects or to appreciate the
art displayed in public spaces, then
more people would have a better
understanding of art and culture.
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
students over time. Moreover, the teaching
Case Study 1:
artist should act as a pioneer explorer toward
The Pilot Community
new project grants, technologies, concepts,
Mural Painting in
and techniques in addition to mastering
of traditional methods and skills. Students
Brunei Darussalam
require guidance and challenging stimulation
in their studies. Instead of emphasis on
To overcome the lack of financial support
competitiveness and individualism among
available from UBD, the first community
students, the twenty-first-century art
mural painting research sought sponsorship
education should emphasize collaborative
from the U.S. Embassy in Brunei Darussalam
learning (Barkley, Cross, and
Major xi) and allow students
to generate knowledge
and meaning through their
hands-on experience.
Collaborative learning is
based on the epistemological
assumption of social
constructivism. R. S.
Matthews captured the
essence of collaborative
learning: “Collaborative
learning occurs when
students and faculty
work together to create
knowledge. … It is a
pedagogy that has at its
center the assumption
that people make meaning
together and that the
process enriches and
enlarges them” (101).
According to Ho, “The
inherent features of
collaborative learning include
instructional pedagogy, colaboring, and generation of
knowledge and meaning.
Within the process of
community mural painting,
learners or participants
work in groups to achieve
shared learning goals” (69).
When community murals are
produced with an emphasis
on idea development,
collaborative execution,
and constructivist learning,
and augmented with the
Image 1: Poster of Transcending Culture and Space: A Community
help of twenty-first-century
Art Project, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam and
digital technology, a very
designed by the author, showing the dates and places of community
collaborative art learning
mural painting workshops and two-part traveling multimedia art
installation.
atmosphere results.
Kong Ho
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Kong Ho
Image 2: Digital mural design of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, designed by the
author, showing the dynamic colorful composition with butterflies, stars, and halftone circle patterns.
in early 2012. After three months, the
proposal for “Transcending Culture and
Space: A Community Art Project” was
granted by the U.S. Embassy Brunei
Darussalam through the Overseas Federal
Assistance Award and was co-sponsored
by means of support for workshop venues
but not funding by UBD, Pusat Belia Bandar
Seri Begawan (Youth Centre), and Jerudong
International School (JIS). The poster of this
community art project, shown in Image 1,
reveals the use of butterfly motifs and their
relevant meaning to diversity and inclusion
as a symbol for this community art project.
This community art project’s overall
design showcased the diverse and inclusive
universal symbolism that is shared between
the cultures of the United States and Brunei
Darussalam. Based on a shared outlook of
the mural’s diplomatic purpose of bringing
greater cultural understanding and exchange
between the United States and Brunei,
as leading teaching artist in this project
I designed the mural layout for this pilot
community mural in Brunei and worked
with Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho in conducting the
mural painting workshops and traveling
art exhibition. The mural layout, showed in
Image 2, reveals universal symbols such as
butterflies, stars, and halftone circle patterns
that are common themes in art in Brunei
and the United States. These nonpolitical
symbols were meant to promote the concept
of collaboration, diversity, and inclusion
that I believe the modern world is striving
for. Also, this community mural aimed to
bring artists, youths, students, volunteers,
and community members with diverse
backgrounds and abilities together to work
as a team. The notion of working together
represented the concept of teamwork that
leads everyone toward building a bright and
inclusive future.
Ideally, community murals should be
designed together with involved community
members and led by an experienced
muralist. However, it was impractical in this
case to form a core group of community
members for this project in advance to
jointly design the mural layout because of
the low recruitment of targeted community
members from the local youth center.
This might have been caused by several
factors, including the limited time frame for
promoting the community mural project,
the fact that the concept of a collaborative
community mural was unfamiliar to the
Bruneian society, or that the staff at youth
center did not get the word out. However,
the design for this community mural allowed
a certain flexibility for participants to add
their personal expression in certain areas
of the mural. The decorative spaces of the
mural were left blank so that participants
could add their colors and patterns in the
spaces. The random colors and marks would
then add to the overall excitement of the
complex composition. From a technical
perspective, this mural design offered some
simple flat surfaces, such as the circles
and stars, on which participants with less
painting skills could work. Also, participants
with better imaginations could feel free to
add their own elements. Besides regular
acrylic paints, the community mural project
also provided acrylic markers and Postit stickers for less experienced or young
participants to draw with or stick onto the
mural. Hence, the mural design and the
provided materials definitely helped to build
a harmonious working environment and
a bridge between experienced artists and
novice community members.
The whole community art project included
fifteen mural painting workshops and a
two-part traveling multimedia art exhibition
in two different locations. The final thirtyfoot long by six-foot high transportable
mural showcases the community art
endeavor of 238 participants, including two
American teaching artists (Ho and GeigerHo), Bruneian youths, JIS students, UBD
students, U.S. Embassy staff, and the
general public in a well-visited Times Square
mall in Brunei, shown in Image 3. Each time
the mural was set up in a location, public
workshops were given at that site to help
participants learn about community mural
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
painting and public art. Mural participants
gained valuable experience in hands-on
workshops by working side by side with
artists and other participants. The feeling
of being included or recognized as an
asset became the driving force for some
community members who voluntarily
engaged in several workshops that took
place over several months.
Besides the community mural, a twopart traveling art exhibition by the two
aforementioned American artists, the author
and Geiger-Ho, showcased works created in
Brunei with the intention of engaging with
Bruneian visual culture. Included in the
exhibition were paintings, digital art, digital
photography, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry,
and four installations at JIS Art Gallery in
September 2012, shown in Image 4 and at
the Inspiring Hall of UBD Student Centre in
Image 3: Mural painting workshop of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, at the Times
Square Mall, Brunei Darussalam, July 6, 2012, showing volunteers and University of Brunei Darussalam
(UBD) art students painting on the mural. The recognized UBD students in the picture (left to right)
are Dyg Nabilah binti Haji Nasib, Awg Amirul Jazli bin Jali, Nurul Jannah Mohd Yussof, and Muhammad
NurAdzim bin Othman.
Kong Ho
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29
Image 4: Community Mural Painting & Multimedia Art Installation by Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho & Prof. Kong
Ho, at the JIS Arts Centre, Jerudong International School, Brunei Darussalam, from September 10 to 21,
2012.
Image 5: Mural painting workshop of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, in conjunction
with the traveling art exhibition at the JIS Arts Centre, Jerudong International School, Brunei Darussalam,
September 14, 2012, showing JIS and University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD) students painting on the
mural. The recognized UBD and JIS students in the picture (left to right) are Dyg Nur Amnani binti Hj Awg
Md Taib, Dyg Nurul Jannah binti Haji Ahmad, Dyg Nurul Amal Iwanina Athirah Muntassir, Amanda Yeo,
Afifah Sallehuddin, Dyce Lau Jun Yin, Tasneem Cader, and Serafina Besecker.
Kong Ho
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Kong Ho
Teaching Artist Journal
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
Image 6: Mural painting workshop of Transcending Culture and Space Community Mural, in conjunction
with the traveling art exhibition at the Student Centre, University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei
Darussalam, October 19, 2012, showing UBD students and the teaching artist painting on the mural. The
recognized UBD students and artist in the picture (right to left) are Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho, Holly Ryan, Awg
Muhd Saifullah Al-Waie bin Mat Jinin, Awg Mohd Niq’Matul Ghizalif bin Md Jinin, Dyg Nurul Farain binti
Ahamd Sah, Awg Muhammad Nazreen bin Hj Amin, Dyg Noor Sa’Ariyah Haziqah binti Mohd Ramli, Dyg Siti
Zubaidah binti Hj Ahmadin, Dyg Nurul Amal Iwanina Athirah Muntassir, Dyg Nur Amnani binti Hj Awg Md
Taib, and Awg Hj Shahrul bin Hj Serbini.
It was unbelievable that some
mall visitors even offered to pay
a fee in order to participate in
free community mural painting
workshops. For some mall visitors
it may have been the first time
they’d experienced a free-to-thecommunity art project or public art
education in a shopping space.
Image 7: Transcending Culture and Space
Community Mural, collected by University
of Brunei Darussalam and displayed at the
New Library Extension Building, UBD, Brunei
Darussalam, in March 2013.
Kong Ho
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Kong Ho
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Teaching Artist Journal
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Kong Ho
October 2012. More than sixtytwo exhibits were displayed in
this traveling art exhibition,
which was well received by the
communities of JIS and UBD.
The concept for this
traveling art exhibition
worked in tandem with the
community mural workshops
in order to showcase artworks
that would address the
exhibiting artists’ enthusiasm
for experiencing the culture
and terrain of Brunei. Most
of the images, materials,
and inspiration of the two
involved American artists were
drawn from their physical
Image 8: Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience
environments, both in Brunei
of Digital Hybrid Mural, 4 meters high by 6 meters wide, displayed at
and Pennsylvania, United
the atrium of The Mall, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam, from July 11 to
14, 2012.
States. These regions were
explored in their respective
Case Study 2:
artworks. To enhance the inclusive concept
The First Digital Hybrid
in this traveling art exhibition, the artists
displayed the ongoing community mural
Mural in Brunei Darussalam
alongside their works. They also conducted
In July 2012 the 2012 Creative Industries
four individual mural painting workshops for
Festival took place, organized by the Creative
the students JIS and UBD, shown in Images
Industry Research Cluster of UBD in The Mall
5 and 6.
in Gadong, which is located in Brunei’s capital
The final complete mural became a
city of Bandar Seri Begawan. The pilot digital
permanent installation on UBD’s campus,
community mural appeared to great public
where it is displayed at the new UBD Library
excitement as part of this festival. Visions of
Extension Building in March 2013, shown in
Brunei Digital Hybrid Mural, shown in Image 8,
Image 7.
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
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32
Image 9: Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience of Digital Hybrid Mural, 4 meters high
by 6 meters wide, printed on PVC canvas and designed by 24 talented artists and University of Brunei
Darussalam students in the spring of 2012. Individual mural module listed as the order of mural from
top left to right and top row to bottom are designed by (first row) Amhra Zulfadhu Hj Md Hamdilah, Mimi
Farahyahida binti Hj Omarali, Dk Nur Afiquah bte Pg Hj And Rahman, Ak Khairul Amilin bin Pg Muhamad,
Suzy Edwina Haji Md Salleh, Hudan Naurah Haji Ibrahim, (second row) Dr. Debra Jean Enzenbacher, Muhd
Alinormin Hj Omarali, Prof. Kong Ho, Dr. Zahari Hamidon, Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho, Annant Whalen (third row)
Norhafilah binti Saradin, Jasmyne Koh Hui Zhen, Awg Rasidi bin Saidin, Afiqah Hanum binti Haji Murni,
Dk Noor Affizah bet Pg Hj And Rahman, (fourth row) Dr. Jennifer Tan, Muhammad Nazreen bin Amin,
Muhammad Nuriskandar bin Md Hasnan, Awg Mohamad Azmi bin Hj Abdillah, Nabilah binti Haji Nasib, and
Bazilah binti Haji Asli.
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Teaching Artist Journal
was the first digital hybrid community
mural in Brunei. This was the culmination of
artistic research—a digital hybrid mural that
could be easily transported and set up in a
public shopping mall for viewers to enjoy.
By combining the formats of digital design,
commercial billboard presentation, and
community art-oriented mural production,
33
this new type of digital hybrid mural offered
a solution to the problem of how to install a
mobile mural that could be created off site
in a classroom setting. Traditional painted
murals require a permanent mural site to
display them. Usually, the mural site becomes
the mural production site and may cause
temporary inconvenience to some people
living and working at that particular area.
The aim of this community digital hybrid
mural project was to provide a promising
vehicle for introducing the artistic talents of
Brunei’s visual artists and UBD art students
to the Brunei community at large because
it paid homage to such creative industry
fields as large graphic design billboards and
poster concepts along with the industrial
printing production methods associated
with the new digital media. This mural was
produced using individual, square meter,
discrete two-dimensional modules that were
printed out digitally. When the twenty-four
discrete modules of separate self-contained
images, designed by twenty-four artists and
UBD students, were brought together, shown
in Image 9, they comprised a large mural
measuring four meters high by six meters
wide. This hybrid mural was an important
step toward familiarizing the general
public with the new vision, energy, and
perspectives of emerging Bruneian visual
artists.
This practice-based research project
brought artists and UBD students together
to brainstorm and learn as a group through
three workshops—one for digital imaging,
the second one for guided tour of existing
murals in Brunei, and the last one for
outdoor hands-on photography workshop.
At the same time, each participating artist
was still responsible for producing a discrete
module (single personal digital image)
that became part of the hybrid mural. All
of the digital art images incorporated into
the hybrid mural were works of art that
had been created using computer graphic
technology and digital media. These art
images could be either digital photographs of
Bruneian culture, people, architecture, and
landscape or completely computer-generated
images that had been manipulated to
achieve their final compositions, which
depicted the theme of visions of Brunei.
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
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Image 10: Visions of Brunei: A Cultural Free-to-All Visual Experience of Digital Hybrid Mural, collected
at the Art Gallery, right foyer of Chancellor Hall, University of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam, in
February 2013.
It was projected that this community
digital mural project would not only provide
a showcase for potential creative talents in
Brunei but also give artists and UBD students
an opportunity to collaborate on a single
community art project as well as to share
their visions of Bruneian cultural identity.
It was an important goal for the culturally
diverse participants and the general public
to become more engaged with, and aware of
the importance of artistic expression and its
own culture and natural wonders.
After it was displayed four days at The
Mall in downtown and two weeks at UBD
Student Centre in July 2012, the digital
hybrid mural was collected by UBD and
permanently displayed at the Art Gallery,
right foyer of the Chancellor Hall in February
2013, shown in Image 10. This digital
hybrid community mural continues to impact
educational, cultural, economic, social,
and geographic issues that are part of the
dynamics for the development of the creative
industries in Brunei.
Cultural Impact of the
First Digital Hybrid Mural
Visions of Brunei Digital Hybrid Mural was
not only the first community mural in Brunei
but also the outcome of a practice-based
research in collaborative murals led by the
author. The mural originated as individual
artistic research under the Creative Industry
Research Cluster of UBD. This artistic
research was only partially granted by the
URC through the seed grant for the Creative
Industry Research Cluster in sponsoring the
production cost of digital printing of this very
large mural. The major reasons why it was
not fully supported by the URC were that the
mural project was not traditional quantitative
research and the value of community art
or public art was not recognized. However,
this first digital hybrid mural became the
center of interest of four-day 2012 Creative
Industries Festival in Brunei not only on
account of its large scale but also because of
its unique impact on the community.
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Teaching Artist Journal
This artistic research that culminated in
the digital hybrid mural revealed that if there
were more opportunities for the general
public to participate in community art
projects or to appreciate the art displayed
in public spaces, then more people would
have a better understanding of art and
culture. This artistic research emphasized
the importance of wide-audience-based
research by displaying this portable digital
hybrid mural in a well-visited mall in Brunei.
Also, through the contemporary digital
photography and billboard display design
the audience was faced with a large field
of familiar images. A sense of cultural
recognition displayed on this digital hybrid
mural was one of the objectives of this
collaborative research. Most of the digital
images on this mural, created by 24 talented
artists and students in Brunei, were taken in
Brunei and represented the unique quality of
Bruneian local culture, people, architecture,
plants, and landscapes. As the theme of this
digital hybrid mural was about the visions of
Brunei, so much of the audience evidenced
some kind of emotional connection with the
images printed on this mural.
Public Art Education in
Multicultural Societies
The impact of the first digital hybrid
mural might not cause instant change in
the Bruneian public art scene. However,
it was definitely the first contact for the
Bruneian general public with noncommercial
art in a public mall, a typically consumerist
environment. If art education is about partly
changing the people’s perceptions, then this
digital hybrid mural served its purpose in
awaking the general public’s admiration of
their own culture and natural heritage in the
context of a well-visited public place.
The first digital hybrid mural appealed
to audience sensibilities with a vivid visual
experience; the first collaborative community
mural painting project, Transcending Culture
and Space Community Mural, offered handson experience to 238 participants. Moreover
its visually striking display gave numerous
spectators in several diverse locations,
including a youth center, university studio,
35
… these two artistic undertakings
in Brunei suggest that art education
should be inclusive for the general
public in our communities and
more than just regular academic
curriculum in our education system.
Community produced public murals
can bring a community together to
produce a cultural artifact that is a
source of pride for its members.
embassy, hotel conference room, public mall,
art gallery, and university student center
a chance to enjoy the visual display taking
shape. The collaborative community mural
and traveling art exhibition showed how an
orchestrated true collaborative community
art setting could let participants with diverse
backgrounds, ages, skills, abilities, and social
statuses work toward a common goal of
creating a colorful community mural with the
theme of diversity and inclusion.
When the mural traveled to a public mall,
a youth center, an international school arts
center, and a university student center in
Brunei Darussalam, people were excited
to paint on the incomplete mural, but they
were also disappointed that they could not
keep working on it after the workshop time
ended. It was unbelievable that some mall
visitors even offered to pay a fee in order to
participate in free community mural painting
workshops. For some mall visitors it may
have been the first time they’d experienced
a free-to-the-community art project or public
art education in a shopping space. Instead
of doing their regular shopping in the mall,
some mall visitors preferred to be volunteers
for the community mural project by spending
half a day painting the mural with other
helpers or volunteers whom they had just
met in that particular location.
Conclusion: What Is Next
After These Two Pilot
Community Murals?
Undoubtedly, the two aforementioned
community murals have set the tone for
more public and/or community art education
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36
2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1
in Brunei Darussalam, which will require
support through a nurturing environment.
It is expected that this environment will
be provided by higher art education, local
government, sponsors, and community
members. These two Bandar Seri Begawan
community art projects aimed to encompass
many aspects of community participation
in the mural process rather than just
presenting people with visually striking
huge murals. The criteria for evaluating
the success of any community art project
should emphasize the impact of process
on individual participants’ and viewers’
experiences.
The impact of these two community
murals on the Bruneian community
of Bandar Seri Begawan in terms of
educational, cultural, social, economic,
historical, and technological contexts was
substantial. Sustainable investment and
development toward public art education and
cultural awareness is a promising answer for
promoting Bruneian art and culture. With the
advance of twenty-first-century technology
in education and a broader commitment
to developing domestic creative and
cultural industries, collaborative community
art projects are among the achievable
solutions for offering job opportunities to
artists. Public art can be a key for cultural
arts and tourism. At the same time, all of
these community art or public art projects
benefit the general public by educating in
the appreciation of their own culture while
adding something new to their communities.
In conclusion, these two artistic undertakings
in Brunei suggest that art education should
be inclusive for the general public in our
communities and more than just regular
academic curriculum in our education
system. Community produced public murals
can bring a community together to produce
a cultural artifact that is a source of pride for
its members.
Works Cited
• Barkley, E. F., K. P. Cross, and C. H. Major. Collaborative learning techniques (p. xi). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005. Print.
• Ho, K. “Mural Painting as Inclusive Art Learning Experience.” Teaching Artist Journal. 8.2
(2010): 67–76. Print.
• Matthew, R. S. (1996). “Collaborative Learning: Creating Knowledge With Students.” Teaching
on Solid Ground: Using Scholarship to Improve Practice. Eds. R. J. Menges and M. Weimer. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 101–124. Print.
• Richmond, S. S. Aesthetic Criteria: Gombrich and the Philosophies of Science of Popper and
Polanyi, 6. Atlanta: Editions Rodopi, 1994. Print.
• Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization–Regional Institute for Higher Education &
Development. Brunei Darussalam Higher Education System.