Research trip to Indonesia

“A space of communal dissonance made up of the interrelationships between our singular movements, which are inseparable from the movement of the ensemble moving towards the reality of the everyday that lies before us. This is how I would like to remember this trip, through the senses. Time is always at stake or so it seems. Perhaps the fulfillment comes when one is able to feel that is part of an other.”

“Backstage is more important and takes more space than the front. / You can change place whenever you like. / The musicians all wear the same clothes. / Same shirt / different skirts and scarves on their heads. / Jasmines, but the outfit changes from one region to the next. The female singers, same clothes. / They are also drinking their tea. / It’s more important for them how they are on stage and not the show itself. See the colors of the dolls, they are there for the puppet player… not for the audience.”

“How to concretize in words an experience that was soft, fluid, rigorous and vulnerable, like our existence itself? Experiencing Indonesia the way we did, was unperceivable, indescribable, raw and holistic in the most deep and triggering ways. Trying to describe these twelve days through the use of language may even harm the experience itself. Raed Yassin’s concept of the “soft shell crab” tested us in the best ways; it exposed us, deconstructed our minds and senses, as if our bones were made of glass, they shattered and were restructured with a more honest, flexible and empowered foundation than before. When I recollect our experiences within the Indonesian art scene, all I can think about is notions of collectivity, empowerment and support.”

“But there was also the hot and humid weather, the mangos and the rice, the shadow puppet theatre, the gamelan all around –from a workshop we took, to crazy remixes at rave parties – a wedding we kind of crushed in, and, inevitably, there was also Gojek. Gojek is this Super App based on platform economy (controversial old acquaintances to the majority of us) that struck us with its infinite possibilities and its efficiency as the height of modernity. However, it raised the question do we all benefit from the digital revolution.”

“She was waiting for us in the evening, when the drivers brought us back to the parking space with their open topped Jeeps. Before, our group was visiting for hours the terrain around the Merapi Volcano: the “Omakhu Memoriku” memorial site, which displayed the aftermath of the devastating eruption on November 5th 2010, the “Lava Merapi” plateau, which usually offers an unblocked view on the volcano, but on that day it was cloudy, and the newly build “Kaliadem” bunker, which promises to offer shelter in case of any new dangerous activity. One of her colleagues was following us everywhere taking pictures, another one was printing them out, a third one was packaging and delivering them to the tour’s finishing point, and at the end of the work chain there was she, selling them. Because of the outbreak, nine years ago, she had lost her home and had to move to a safer zone in the south of Indonesia, where she lives up until today. Every morning she is coming back to the place that changed her life, trying to convince visitors to buy their souvenir pictures. Her name is Nurul.”