Bahasa Individual + collective
Contemporary artists commonly live and work in different geographical areas, frequently traverse the world, and benefit from digital access to distant divergent creative spheres. In this way, artists both connect and shape our contemporary worlds. A survey of Indonesian practice in the post-Reformasi era reveals a determined expansion beyond discussions of national identity and the socio-political concerns of the previous era. Instead, leading Indonesian artists are critically engaged with global currents and concerns.
The body and psychology of the individual as distinct from, but necessarily functioning within, the global mass is explored by Melati Suryodarmo in her durational performance and installation Transaction of hollows. Across four hours, the uniformed body of Suryodarmo undergoes intense practice as she repeatedly sets an arrow in a gendawa (traditional Javanese bow), methodically draws its string, aims and fires. The intense focus and repeated physical actions of the individual archer demands collective silence. From within the hushed group, one becomes aware that the work creates a set of overlapping sound waves: the internal soundscape of one's own body, inadvertent stirrings from the audience andwith the repeated impact of 800 arrows fired into a shallow-cavity wallthe sound of splitting wood echoing throughout the gallery. A heightened awareness of the boundaries of one's own body becomes paramount as we are cast from an individual into a herd. One should be alert and silent; one should remain calm so as not to induce target-panic; one's body must move as part of the group and out of the way of the performer, constantly shifting position lest serious injury result.
Transaction of hollows is a complex interplay of sound and silence, private and public soundscapes, and a spontaneous negotiation between the individual and the collective. By confronting each audience member with their own psychological soundscape, the artist provides a means for us to momentarily attach to and detach from the group. We receive and are responsive to the sound of being in and of the contemporary moment.
