By Goh Yi Lin
After two years of virtual exhibitions organised by final-year students from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (UNIMAS) Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts (FACA), Cetusan Inspirasi Pelajar Tahun Akhir (CIPTA) 2022 has finally returned.
It was a one-month event that ran from October 25 to November 16. This year’s theme is “Di- Pandang Dekat, Di- Chapai Tak Boleh.” It was held at FACA, mainly in the art gallery and experimental stage lobby.
The director of CIPTA, Zaid Aiman Abdul Taip, 26, said that the event was created to showcase and promote the final-year students’ projects, which required them to conduct research and produce original work.
It is a collaboration of all FACA programmes, including music, fine arts, design technology, animation, theatre, photography, and more.
“CIPTA’s theme has a retro feel to it; rather than simply ignoring the past, we want to bring it back to life to show how significant it is in comparison to today’s innovation. FACA creates new works of art while preserving our culture and traditions,” said Zaid Aiman.
CIPTA was a tradition for FACA students prior to the pandemic. After the pandemic, the students started over and brought CIPTA back physically.
This is the new CIPTA. There were numerous challenges in bringing CIPTA 2022 to a successful completion.
According to Zaid Aiman, organising CIPTA 2022 was challenging because not everyone can adapt to the physical class or environment and organise a live event.
“Our main challenge in making CIPTA 2022 a reality is staying connected to people. CIPTA 2022 will require extensive collaboration from all programmes. We are used to online classes and find it difficult to reconnect physically. But, so far, things were going well as the students get to know one another,” he said.
Students worked hard to make CIPTA Open Day lively and crowded in order for other faculties to visit and learn more about CIPTA and FACA programmes.
During CIPTA Open Day, the Music Programme organised a mini concert, and the Fine Arts Programme held an art market.
Students from all faculties had a great time dancing and singing along to the music. The vibe was fantastic!
“The first day of CIPTA Open Day was more crowded. With so many students present, they sang many songs, making me happy and delighted during my visit. I was exhausted from walking over here, so the entertainment lifted my spirits,” said Alliya Asyween Abdullah, 22, a student.”
Karen Chong Ling Jung, 23, a part-time music teacher, said that the Music programme students had to create something new to present to the audience.
They must conduct research, compose a new piece, and then practise it with an orchestra, band, players, or singers before performing it at the CIPTA mini concert.
Karen added that the mini concerts went exceptionally well because of the great teamwork; without it, CIPTA 2022 would not be possible.
“Even if we make any mistakes, we can learn from them and move forward,” she said.
Aside from mini concerts, there were art market booths. There was a Mix Colours booth, a Sand Arts booth, a Clay Arts booth, and an Ink and Skewers booth.
These booths went beyond the traditional mediums of marker, pencil, and watercolour.
Nik Muhammad Aiman Zulfataf, the deputy director of CIPTA, said he wants people to appreciate the artwork created by seniors so that juniors and other faculty students can recognise their talent.
He added that the students had to work together to set up the stalls, purchase supplies, and sell artwork in order to fund this art market project.
The response was excellent, as expected, and booth sales were increasing. It was created to entice students to visit and participate in art education.
“The Fine Art students have benefited from the organisation of art markets. They are becoming entrepreneurs and artists as it involves finance and marketing. This teaches them how to manage their time and grow their business,” said Nik Muhammad.
John Tan Khai Yuan, 22, the student in charge of the Mix Colours booth, set up the booth so that students could experiment with colour mixing.
The students were given a colour card, and if they successfully mixed the correct colours, they could win a prize.
It is free, but if students like it, they can purchase the artwork for as little as RM5!
“The majority of the responses came from FACA because the event and venue were too small to accommodate everyone. I am pleased with the responses because I expected no one to show up, but they exceeded my expectations. I hope there will be more mini pop-up booths because they can help a lot with our finances because art needs money to support itself, so we need this type of pop-up stall,” said John.
CIPTA 2022’s benefits extended beyond FACA juniors, students from other faculties, and the general public.
It will provide current FACA students with inspiration and knowledge for their final-year project.
Final-year students displayed, marketed, and sold artwork at CIPTA 2022. People outside of UNIMAS could see the student’s potential and talents as well.
Nik Muhammad and Zaid Aiman hoped that CIPTA 2022 members would learn from their mistakes and make CIPTA better the following year.
In the hope of continuing the CIPTA tradition, the faculty is confident that it will benefit all students, not just those from FACA but also those from other faculties.
So, UNIMAS FACA students, are you ready to organise the next CIPTA?
• This article was written by a student from the Strategic Communication Programme at the Faculty of Language and Communication, UNIMAS.
