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JAKARTA

STANI MICHIELS

“Jakarta is built out of fascinating contrasts. A mosque stands not far from a Chinese temple, lowrise criminal areas next to protected high-rise luxury towers, traditional dwellings next to western neoclassic junk architecture… “My conversations with local artists and habitants made me discover a whole variety of places. Rather than making an inventory of these different elements, I was much more interested to capture what happens in between and as such how extreme transitions in this city are made in a relatively short distance. “Therefore I developed a special way to convert video (shot from car, train, ...) to endless photos. This creates a total new perception of the city: whole streets, neighborhoods and even cross section of the city fit on a continuous photo. Different from the classical 360 degrees panoramic photography, the fixed, dominant camera position, which controls the view, doesn't exist. The camera, freed from the tripod, can now move in a labyrinthic way. As such the viewer of the photo is continuously disorientated. The chaos of the city is translated in rustling from far, but in detailed street walks from up-close.”

HANOIHAIKU

SHERMAN ONG

“My series of photos Hanoihaiku are made in Hanoi, Vietnam, during my residency under the Goethe Institut Art ConneXions project. Vietnam is about change and contradiction. As a city, Hanoi is undergoing rapid urban development and social transformation. With 70% of the population below the age of 30, the country seems to be invigorated with the fervor of youth and consumerism, hungry to plug into the latest global trends and fancies. I am interested in the idea of transition and its relationship with the memory of the past, the changing of values, the passing of tradition, and the aspirations of a different reality. I am keen to explore the idea of whether an ideal state of end point exists within the progression of societies, or whether change is a constant and cyclical phenomenon of the human condition. “The series is presented like a visual haiku. Intentionally left untitled, the juxtaposition of images produces their own narratives, temporal connections, and is open to many interpretations infused with the personal experiences of individual viewers. Similar to the Japanese Haiku, they are observations in its purest form, distilled into a simple gesture, a moment of reflection, a point of continuum, touching on the beauty of imperfection, in delicate, quiet, nuanced moment.” (Artist Statements)

UNFOLDING PERSPECTIVES

SARA NUYTEMANS

“Dripping Conditions is an indoor video installation that reacts to the weather. When it rains outside, water soaks a girl on screen; when the rain stops,she dries. The installation represents how environmental instability caused by climate change clashes with modern society, which strives for control and predictability. In the context of Indonesia, climate change is unfolding before a people with a history of colonial and dictatorial rule. Having lived with injustice for so long, Indonesian society is accustomed to moving through the rain despite it. “I like to put things in perspective by disentangling different realities (truths) and then reconnecting them. In my work I look for ways to allow different realities to communicate. I do this by making video images that respond to the physical world and vice versa, such that the two affect each other. Within this framework, the tension between personal feelings and the physical moment occupies me most because an individual's perspective is closely related to personal values and judgments, but also to the feeling of safety and comfort in one's own environment. “In general my work is a response to the force of mass media, and especially mass-TV-media—how it can only shows a filtered and manipulated selection of the 'truth'. Mass media makes the public to believe that there is one version of the truth.”
(Artist Statement)

DUNIA TAK AKAN MENDENGAR

PHIL COLLINS

Works by the British artist, Phil Collins, are widely known because his video, installation, and
photography works are able to marry political issues with popular cultures in quirky, witty, and provocative manner. The artistic strategy that he often takes is by becoming directly involved in a specific location, then invites the communities inside to an interactive and participatory activity that is both emotional and creative. With video and photo camera, Collins made use of the ‘documentary’ techniques and mode of work to introduce representation of matters of politics and the global culture.

Collins’s video work in this biennale, "Dunia Tak Akan Mendengar" (2007) was done in Jakarta and Bandung in February – March 2007. This is the last of a trilogy, after Bogota (2004) and Istanbul (2005). The work shows a karaoke session with songs from the music group from Manchester, England, The Smiths, in the album entitled “The World Won’t Listen (1987). The songs are sung by people from different backgrounds.

The recording session of the video "Dunia Tak Akan Mendengar" in Indonesia only took a few days. Invitations to participate, distributed merely through e-mails and weblog, did not prevent many from coming. Through this project, Collins managed to bring together many social, economic, and cultural differences through the idiom of pop culture. Certainly, many would not have guessed that the Manchester music group that was popular in the early eighties still has many fans in places like Indonesia. This is something that Collins dubs ‘the power of the popular culture to move people and in ways that have previously unimaginable.” An array of expressions shown in Collins’s video recording show the potentials of the camera as a tools that liberates one from psychological barriers—such as shyness or fear—and simultaneously unveil human’s hidden desires and personality. (AHJ)

HARUS LEWAT GAPURA

NADIAH BAMADHAJ

“I have never used drawing as a precursor to
painting. Trained as a sculptor, my drawings have
always been an end in themselves, using the torn
pieces of the paper as a means of building up
three dimensional quality of the forms that I select
to draw.
“The drawing Harus Lewat Gapura (You have
to go through the Gapura) combines a self-portrait
as Medusa, and a small linear depiction of a gapura,
engraved in the drawing’s acrylic frame.
“The Gapuras are architectural norms in
Yogyakarta where I have lived for the last six years.
They are constructed as gateways or entrances to
streets, kampungs, and other enclosures; vary greatly
in size and detail; and are built primarily by the
residents of those spaces.
“I see gapura as a means of social delineation.
Though one’s physical association with it is fleeting
as the seconds it takes to pass through it, certain
kampungs place significant effort into a gapura’s
design and construction. Rather than a means of
welcoming, a gapura is a signal that one is entering
an area specific to the people who built it, to be
wary of the environment and one’s status as an
visitor, and to modify one’s behavior according to
these signs. Interestingly enough, gapura delineates
everyone that lives outside its confines as a ‘foreigner’.
“Medusa is a foreigner amongst foreigners.
Condemned in Greek mythology by Athena for
being raped by Poseidon then slain by Perseus, her
ability to be misunderstood is an understatement.
Adding a significant complication to the undertones
of delineation and conformity, this drawing suggests
that a Medusa-like character could not possibly fit
into the expectations of those that ‘construct’ the
gapura, yet at the same time, she has no choice
in the matter.” (Artist Statement)