Opening Tumbuh Rimpang
November 29, 2024
“SRI SERIE”
Drawing as Poetic Performance Solo Show by Agung Kurniawan
Exhibition
Exhibition
“SRI SERIE” Drawing as Poetic Performance
Solo Show by Agung Kurniawan
Written by
Agung Kurniawan
Unveiling History Through Art: A Performance to Remember the 1965 Genocide
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I began this project about eight years ago. The performance manuscript started at the UGM student center, involving sixty-five students who were reluctantly participating. It wasn’t going well initially, but I saw the potential of using this method to address the issue of the 1965 genocide differently. No longer through seminars, workshops, or paintings that tend to be temporary and self-centered, but through involving many people. The reluctance that arises when discussing the 1965 genocide is due to the political consequences of broaching the subject. The fear of raids by mass organizations, police, or fake intelligence agents looms overhead. In practice, however, censorship often manifests through reluctance or fear that we impose upon ourselves.
In that student building, a student jokingly remarked, “If you give me your picture, I’ll join.” I quickly stopped the protest with a stern word, but that comment lingered in my mind on the way home. Seeing the potential of using images as a tool to engage people could ease their reluctance or fear to participate in this performance project—a temptation that’s hard to resist.
After a thrilling performance at the Museum Macan in Jakarta, I realized that the issue wasn’t about distributing images or not, but rather that most participants never knew that the 1965 genocide had occurred in Indonesia. An eyeopening fact showing that this project couldn’t stop after one attempt because the issue was more substantial than anticipated. Moreover, during the performance, even though many participants were unaware of the issues behind it, they reflected on the 1965 genocide through their personal struggles—a personal reflection to capture their life’s anxieties. An entertaining plot twist amid the stark reality that the genocide, which claimed millions of lives, is never truly remembered.
The first performance yielded numerous notes that enriched subsequent performances. Amid all the busyness, I continuously received news about the passing of many survivors I knew, one by one. Some died from old age, others were struck by memory loss due to senility. There are dwindling sources that can detail the cruelty of imprisonment, torture, and social sanctions they endured throughout their lives. Soon, all these horrific events will become mere myths. Concealed, sealed in silence, and untold.
All these living facts reinforce the importance of this simple performance involving 65 people to speak through a single word hidden within an image. People can grasp the course of history without getting caught up in its major issues. Just by shouting one word, as long as it connects to the other 64 words, the Pandora’s box of civilization opens.
Being responsible for one word is the key in the performance. A word released from its context, thus having no meaning other than its lexical one. Raw and unrefined. The artist’s task is to weave these words together to form a network of meaning. The word shouted out loud is a path to the terrifying reality hidden within its dense context. Played with in a tangle of other words until, finally, at the end of the performance, it unfolds into a complete story. A tale about an old singer, imprisoned and unable to sing again, just for being on the wrong side of history.
This story is hidden within a word that’s wrapped, bent, and concealed in a simple picture. It entices people not only to remember the bigger story but to first be captivated by the image. Like moths to a flame, trapped by its brightness, then shedding their wings and either living or dying with their new reality.
