Tumpang Lalu: Speculative Stories of KL

Little statues, historical figures, the smell of curry, a demolished theatre, a contemporary art museum, ayam ros and briyani, colourful textiles, a flower shop, a Myanmar store, a group of passersby in yellow shirts…

Tumpang Lalu gathers these fleeting details into three interwoven speculative stories. You will journey from a humid afternoon in the 1890s, where a young Temuan man and a British architect grapple with change and belonging, to the bustling crossroads of today, where a curious journalist encounters mischievous spirits quietly witnessing history’s turning points, and finally to a tender modern tale of love, where two young people discover connection amidst temples, theatres and hawker stalls. Along the way, you will wander through markets, memories and migrations, noticing how past, present and future overlap. By turns reflective, playful and intimate, the experience invites you to pause, listen and consider what it means to tumpang, to pass through, to belong, even if only for a moment.

Created for KL Festival 2026, Tumpang Lalu responds to the theme Memory and Tomorrow by transforming Kuala Lumpur into a living narrative landscape. Set along a walking route spanning Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, Medan Pasar, Kota Raya, Petaling Street, and Central Market, it transforms the city into a living soundscape where memory, history, fiction and imagination converge. By combining the act of walking with the intimacy of audio, it evokes the feeling of coming and going, of movement, transience and passing through, inviting you to momentarily inhabit stories that are not entirely yours, yet strangely familiar.