ARKIPEL menggunakan Grand Illusion sebagai istilah untuk mengacu suatu keadaan, di mana situasi politik nasional, yang terlihat bergerak menuju arah demokrasi di tengah dinamika politik internasional, berambivalensi dengan persoalan kemanusiaan di dunia yang belum pernah selesai, karena terus dikaburkan untuk melanggengkan kekuasaan kelompok tertentu. Melalui tema ini, ARKIPEL memancing perhatian kita tentang peran sinema dalam melihat produksi ilusi-ilusi tersebut, yang tidak hanya terkait dengan persoalan estetika (form), tetapi juga persoalan sosial-politik dan kebudayaan.
Untuk mendukung maksud itu, ARKIPEL melalui Program Kurator Muda Asia mengundang para kurator muda untuk turut menuangkan interpretasinya terhadap tema Grand Illusion. Berikut merupakan tiga kuratorial yang berhasil masuk ke dalam Program Kurator Muda Asia pada tahun ini:
The Kalampag Tracking AgencyMerv Espina & Shireen Seno, Filipina
Ikhtisar
Garis besar kuratorial ini terkait dengan ide mengenai aksi menangkap momen-momen, ide-ide dan visi-visi, serta aksi melacak semuanya yang membutuhkan keselipan bentuk dan waktu. Sesuatu yang cenderung menghindari kita tapi sukar diabaikan, sebagaimana Kalampag–sebuah kata Tagalog yang diterjemahkan sebagai ‘bunyi nyaring’. Mengenai tanda atau peringatan bahwa sesuatu dapat mengganggu perjalanan, melawan dengung sistem raksasa; seakan gemeretak yang dihasilkan dari bagian-bagian longgar mesin yang saling bertabrakan ketika sedang bergerak.
Tentang Kurator
Shireen Seno merupakan seniman yang aktif berkegiatan di Manila. Salah satu karyanya yang mendapat pengakuan internasional ialah Big Boy (2012). Karya lainnya, Trunks, pernah dipamerkan di MoMA, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angles, dan Tokyo Art Book Fair.
Merv Espina adalah seorang seniman dan co-founder dari the institute of Lower Learning (iLL), sebuah inisiatif pendidikan dan seni eksperimental berbasis di Saigon dan Manila. Ia juga merupakan Direktur Program Green Papaya Art Projects dan pegiat WSK – Festival of The Recently Possible.
Siew-wai Kok, Malaysia
Ikhtisar
Garis besar kuratorial ini terkait dengan ide tentang realitas kehidupan manusia dan dunia materi kita sebagai aliran konstan perubahan, namun secara internal dan secara psikologis kita merindukan rasa stabilitas dan bahkan keabadian.
Tentang Kurator
Siew-Wai Kok merupakan seorang vokalis, seniman video, kurator independen dan organisator dari Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dia menerima gelar Sarjana Seni dari University at Buffalo dan gelar Master dari Alfred University, USA.
Jonathan Manullang, Indonesia
Ikhtisar
Garis besar kuratorial ini terkait dengan peran sinema dalam mendadar persoalan dan pengetahuan tentang hak asasi. Sinema dilihat sebagai opsi untuk mendobrak kebuntuan definitif, sekaligus wadah efektif untuk memaparkan pengalaman dan mengakomodir rasa haus terhadap bentuk gaya tutur yang segar.
Tentang Kurator
Jonathan Manullang merupakan seorang sarjana teknik yang aktif memproduseri dan mengorganisir sebuah program penayangan mingguan, khusus filem Indonesia, di selatan Jakarta. Tinggal di Bandung. Tahun ini adalah pengalaman perdananya sebagai kurator di ARKIPEL.
ARKIPEL: Grand Illusion, Asian Young Curator
We use Grand Illusion as a term to frame a circumstance where the national political situation, which seems to move towards democracy amongst the dynamics of international politics, is being ambivalent with never-ending humanity issues in the world due to they continues to be obscured to preserve the power of particular groups. Through this theme, ARKIPEL provoke our awareness on the role of cinema in addressing the production of illusions, which is not only related to the issue of aesthetics (form), but also socio-political issues and culture.
Reinforcing this purpose, by the program of Asian Young Curator, ARKIPEL invites young curators to participate pouring theirs interpretation regarding the theme of Grand Illusion. Here are the three curatorial summaries selected into the Asian Young Curator Program this year:
The Kalampag Tracking AgencyMerv Espina & Shireen Seno, Filipina
Abstract
Briefly, this curatorial proposal outlines the idea on bang, or series of bangs. Like the tiny explosions in your brain that rattle you to take action. It could be something simple and small, not necessarily earth-shattering. The act of capturing the fleeting moments, ideas and visions and the act of tracking them down both entail a certain slippage of forms and time, something that tends to elude us but cannot be ignored, something which we liken to kalampag, a Tagalog word that roughly translates to a ‘bang’; something of an alert, a warning that something may worsen or interrupt the journey, versus the stable engine hum of a giant system, a well-oiled machine; like the rattling of loose parts that collide while in motion.
Biographical notes
Shireen Seno is a lens-based artist whose work addresses memory, history, and image-making, often in relation to the idea of home. She has had two solo exhibitions in Manila and received international recognition for her feature Big Boy (2012), shot entirely on Super 8. Her photo zine Trunks has been exhibited at MoMA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Tokyo Art Book Fair.
Merv Espina is an artist and organizer. He is co-founder of the institute of Lower Learning (iLL), an experimental art and education initiative based in Saigon and Manila; program director for Green Papaya Art Projects, the oldest artist-run creative interdisciplinary platform in the Philippines; and cook-janitor of WSK, a media art kitchen and festival for the recently possible.
Siew-wai Kok, Malaysia
Abstract
Briefly this curatorial proposal outline the idea which sees the reality of human lives and our material world as a constant flux of change, and yet internally and psychologically, we long for a sense of stability and even eternity.
Biographical notes
Siew-Wai Kok is an improvised vocalist, video artist and independent artist-curator and organizer from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She received her B.A. in Media Study at University at Buffalo, and M.F.A. in Electronic Integrated Arts at Alfred University, USA, where she lived there from 1998-2005. See her webblog site at https://koksiewwai.wordpress.com/about/
Jonathan Manullang, Indonesia
Abstract
Briefly this curatorial proposal outlines the idea on role of cinema to cultivate issues and knowledge of human rights. Cinema is seen as an option to break the definitive deadlock, as well as effective tools to describe the experience and to accommodate needs to form a fresh narrative style.
Biographical notes
Jonathan Manullang is an engineering graduate of Institut Teknologi Bandung who are actively produce and organize a weekly screening program focused on Indonesian films, in south of Jakarta. He lives in Bandung. This year is his first experience as a curator at ARKIPEL.
