Art is not just for the elite.

At The Back Room, we stand by the belief that art shouldn’t just be giant tapestries hanging in huge mansions nor about champagne parties and fancy events. Art has a place in your one bedroom apartment, it has a place on your work desk, it has a place in your life.

Art is about engaging the world.

Whether it’s the personal explorations of an individual artist, or a collective tackling large social themes, art is alive.

Art is also about community.

The Back Room is part of the Zhongshan Building’s community of artists, artisans and creatives. We are a neighbourhood where we eat, drink, play and work together, our work embodies this spirit of growing together.

Liza Ho, Founder

Was born and raised in Guatemala; her parents migrated from Hong Kong and started a humble Chinese restaurant in Guatemala City. After obtaining her BA in Applied Finance from Macquarie University in Sydney, she moved to Malaysia in 2005, and while soul searching, stumbled into the black hole of the art world and has never escaped since. She has over 10 years of experience in exhibition-making, curatorial processes, artist management, sales, and gallery operations in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. From 2008 - 2012, she was part of the core team of the pioneer gallery, Valentine Willie Fine Art. She has also worked extensively with museums, institutions, and government agencies.

In 2013, she decided to strike out on her own and co-founded OUR ArtProjects (OAP), a platform to promote regional art. OAP has since expanded to providing arts management, consultancy and other professional advisory services in the arts.

In 2017, Liza co-founded and currently manages The Zhongshan Building. What used to be a frozen food distributor is now a heritage regeneration project home to an eclectic and vibrant bunch: an artisanal tea shop which serves the best cheesecakes in town, a barista named Unagi, a Malay punk record store, a Chinese community library, a bespoke stationery store and more. From graphic designers to art historians, from musicians to activists, The Zhongshan Building is an exciting and progressive arts and research hub in Kuala Lumpur.

Go up a narrow stairway, walk thru a cafe’s backdoor on the first floor, and snake around the corner and you will find The Back Room, Liza’s latest endeavour. Like its namesake, it’s cozy, intimate space committed to giving a platform to bold, alternative art: the transgressive, the experimental, the emergent. It’s also a bridge between artists, viewers, and curators; a place for friendly conversations and exchanges.

Most of the time, Liza can be found loitering around The Back Room, sipping coffee, standing around in a random stairwell in the building, or helping people who found themselves lost in the building!