One of the projects on display at the ‘Spectrum 2024: Unveil’ art exhibition is Syazwi Shamri’s oil on canvas painting ‘Seri Begawan, Senja’. The painting portrays the Dermaga Diraja during sunset.
According to Syazwi Shamri, a final year student, he chose this “because these areas are fond to me. When I was younger, I used to stay at my grandparents’ house in Kota Batu and would always pass by these areas when heading to Bandar. It feels nostalgic.”
He highlighted, “I hope to bring out hidden stories and emotions from urban spaces. It was also inspired by my admiration and interactions within the urban landscape.”
Syazwi Shamri said he chose to study art as he likes to build on and nurture his talents, hoping to pursue his passion either full or part time in the future.
Another project titled ‘Unfolding the Unknown’ by Afiq Rafiqin, a final year art student in the field of photography, utilised a mixed media approach and leveraged on emerging artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities’ to help unveil the forgotten stories embedded in Brunei’s landscape. The AI uses original landscape photos as a canvas to generate surreal, alternative reality visualisations of the past.
The project integrates photography, AI artistry, historical research and manual techniques, representing Afiq Rafiqin’s philosophical approach whereby technology should only enhance and not replace human creativity.
He said; “I see this approach as one way to make use AI. I took many pictures for the AI to understand and detect the imagery. In the future, I hope to further utilise AI in my job.”
He added, “As the first of its kind, it is a very challenging project. But understanding AI is one of my hobbies and learning how to use it is fun and complex.” ‘Spectrum’ is an annual graduation exhibition enabling students from the programme to showcase their artwork, while providing creative platforms to encapsulate the learning outcomes of the four-year programme they have been a part of, ranging from creative entrepreneurship, design, media and innovation technology to business management.
The public can visit the newly launched art exhibition at the right wing of Chancellor Hall at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, showcasing projects from final year Design and Creative Industries programme students. – James Kon
