Pidato Kunci: Membicarakan Sensori, Mengalami Pengetahuan
Di auditorium, bangku kosong, bangku terisi, diduduki manusia. Kursi kosong terlipat, terlipat, terlipat. Aroma pewangi badan melintas, melintas, bertabrakan dengan aroma khas ruang ber-AC. Kursi terisi terbuka, diduduki manusia, manusia, manusia, manusia, manusia. Wajah di sorot cahaya lampu, empat terkait di sisi kanan-kiri atas panggung. Bayang-bayang mengambil posisinya. Bergantian menyala, padam, dipadamkan, dinyalakan. Terang, gelap, gelap, gelap, gelap, terang. Bunyi berseliweran mememenuhi ruang, suara pembicara, pendingin ruangan, disahut batuk, lalu bisik-bisik.
Melalui teks di atas, saya mencoba memulai tulisan ini dengan kesadaran menghadirkan bentuk formal bahasa sebagai alat “penyampai rasa”, ketika saya mengalami peristiwa simposium di Forum Festival ARKIPEL Garden of Earthly Delights – 11th Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival yang digelar Forum Lenteng di Auditorium Pusat Studi Jepang, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya, Universitas Indonesia, Kamis pagi, 22 Agustus 2024. Kesadaran itu coba saya aktifkan sebagai respons saya terhadap tema pembahasan forum, yakni Sensori. Memasuki ruang auditorium yang dihadiri audiens yang terdiri dari para mahasiswa, seniman hingga pemikir lintas disiplin baik dari dalam mupun luar negeri, dengan segera saya merasakan peristiwa sensori melalui tumpang tindih suara manusia hingga tabrakan-tabrakan aroma yang ada di dalam ruang tersebut.
Dalam forum ini, Nindityo Adipurnomo, seorang seniman dan aktivis seni, bertindak sebagai pembicara kunci, dengan Hafiz Rancajale sebagai moderator. Pembuka pidatonya seperti mengajak saya dan juga para audiens untuk kembali merenungkan dan membicarakan perihal sensori melalui pertanyaan “Sensori – Apa, Mau Dibawa ke Mana?” Pertanyaan itu menjadi pintu masuk untuk meninjau, membaca, dan mempersoalkan kembali tentang sensori. Seniman yang juga merupakan pendiri Galeri Cemeti tersebut, memaparkan perjalanannya sebagai seniman, yang dalam praktiknya sangat lekat dengan peristiwa sensori. Menurutnya, berbicara sensori tidak lepas dari persoalan empiris.
“Dalam banyak perjumpaan langsung dengan publik penonton karya seni rupa, ratusan pertanyaan yang bertanya: Ini maksudnya apa, Pak? Ini konsepnya apa, Pak? Telah saya dengar, saya terima dan saya serap selama lebih dari tiga puluh tahun lamanya, saya mengelola Cemeti. Saya mencerna, dan saya mengolah pertanyaan-pertanyaan itu sampai menghasilkan semacam taktik dan strategi untuk bisa menjawab sebaik-baiknya. Saya pikir fenomena pertanyaan senada ini sering muncul, memang saya sadari bahwa akhirnya hal ini menjadi bangunan pengetahuan tersendiri bagi saya,” ungkap Nindityo dalam pidatonya di hadapan para audiens simposium.
Di auditorium, bangku kosong, bangku terisi, diduduki manusia. Kursi kosong terlipat, terlipat, terlipat. Aroma pewangi badan melintas, melintas, bertabrakan dengan aroma khas ruang ber-AC. Kursi terisi terbuka, diduduki manusia, manusia, manusia, manusia, manusia. Wajah di sorot cahaya lampu, empat terkait di sisi kanan-kiri atas panggung. Bayang-bayang mengambil posisinya. Bergantian menyala, padam, dipadamkan, dinyalakan. Terang, gelap, gelap, gelap, gelap, terang. Bunyi berseliweran mememenuhi ruang, suara pembicara, pendingin ruangan, disahut batuk, lalu bisik-bisik.
Sensori sebagai pembahasan utama berangkat dari tema yang diusung Forum Lenteng dalam perhelatan ke-11 ARKIPEL Garden of Earthly Delights yang diambil dari lukisan Hieronimus Bosch. Melalui pembahasan dan peristiwa ini, sedikitnya menjadi semacam provokasi pada tubuh-tubuh, setidaknya bagi saya pribadi sebagai yang mangalaminya untuk mengaktifkan kesadaran yang lebih akan kehadiran tubuh. Sebab tubuh menjadi unsur terpenting dalam kasus ini, sebagaimana yang diungkapkan oleh Nindityo sepanjang pidatonya yang banyak mengajak kita dalam perenungan serta penggalian esensi persoalan.
“Kita, hadirin semua dan saya sekarang ini, di sini sedang bersama-sama merenungkan judul keynote speech saya pada simposium ini: “Sensori – Apa dan Mau Dibawa Kemana?”. Merenung, menggali esensi persoalan seperti yang ditunjukkan dan dituntun oleh pemikiran-pemikiran ketiga orang filsuf besar (nama-nama fisuf modern dan kontemporer barat yang saya ketengahkan di sini); saya sangat mengerti jika sebagian dari hadirin, mungkin sebagian kecil, bahkan sebagian besar beranggapan bahwa renungan model begini barangkali bukan tradisi kita,” ungkapnya.
“Bersama-sama, tentu kita tidak sedang memburu jawaban dan tuntunan praktis/pragmatis atas apa dan mau ke mana kita membawa sensori ini? Karena realitasnya adalah, kita telah berabad-abad sedang terus menerus mencari esensi dengan menjawabnya sendiri melalui cara berbahasa yang diskursif. Kita mampu melahirkan mitos-mitos besar yang selalu kita yakini sebagai yang paling benar dan paling kekinian; namun kita juga melihat bahwa oleh caranya itu pula, kita akan terus berkemampuan melahirkan mitos-mitos yang lebih besar dan lebih kekinian,” sambung Nindityo.
Di auditorium, bangku kosong, bangku terisi, diduduki manusia. Kursi kosong terlipat, terlipat, terlipat. Aroma pewangi badan melintas, melintas, bertabrakan dengan aroma khas ruang ber-AC. Kursi terisi terbuka, diduduki manusia, manusia, manusia, manusia, manusia. Wajah di sorot cahaya lampu, empat terkait di sisi kanan-kiri atas panggung. Bayang-bayang mengambil posisinya. Bergantian menyala, padam, dipadamkan, dinyalakan. Terang, gelap, gelap, gelap, gelap, terang. Bunyi berseliweran mememenuhi ruang, suara pembicara, pendingin ruangan, disahut batuk, lalu bisik-bisik.
Forum Festival dihelat sebagai salah satu rangkaian panjang ARKIPEL Garden of Earthly Delights – 11th Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival yang berlangsung hingga 1 September 2024 mendatang. Selain Forum Festival, sebelumnya pameran bertajuk sama juga telah berlangsung sejak tanggal 14 Agustus 2024 lalu di Museum Seni Rupa dan Keramik Jakarta.
Keynote Speech: Talking about Sensory, Experiencing Knowledge
In the auditorium, empty seats, filled seats, seated by people. Empty seats were folded, folded, folded. The scent of perfume was passing by, passing by, colliding with the distinctive aroma of the air-conditioned room. Filled seats unfold, seated by humans, humans, humans, humans, humans. The faces were lit up by the lights, four tied on either side of the stage. The shadows took their positions. Alternately lit, faded, turned off, turned on. Bright, dark, dark, dark, dark, bright. Sounds wandered around the space, the speaker’s voice, the air conditioner, interrupted by coughs, then by whispers.
Through the text above, I tried to start this article with the awareness of presenting the formal form of language as a means of “conveying feelings” when I experienced a symposium at the Forum Festival of ARKIPEL Garden of Earthly Delights – 11th Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival held by Forum Lenteng at the Auditorium of the Center for Japanese Studies, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of Indonesia, Thursday morning, August 22. I tried to activate this awareness as my response to the theme of the forum discussion, Sensory. Entering the auditorium, which was attended by audiences consisting of students, artists and interdisciplinary thinkers from both national and international bases, I immediately felt a sensory event through the overlapping of human voices and the collision of scents in the room.
In this forum, Nindityo Adipurnomo, an artist and art activist, was the key speaker, moderated by Hafiz Rancajale. His opening speech seemed to invite me and the audiences to ponder and talk about sensory through the question “Sensory – What, Where Should We Take It?” The question became an entry point to review, read, and question sensory again. The artist, who is also the founder of Cemeti Gallery, explained his journey as an artist, whose practice is closely related to sensory phenomena. According to him, talking about sensory cannot be separated from empirical issues.
“In many direct encounters with the public who viewed my artworks, hundreds of questions were asked: What does this mean, Sir? What is the concept, Sir? I have heard, received and absorbed for more than thirty years while organizing Cemeti. I digested, and I processed those questions until I came up with some kind of tactics and strategies to be able to answer them in the best way possible. I think this phenomenon of similar questions often arises, but I realize that in the end this has become a particular knowledge building for me,” said Nindityo in his speech to the symposium audiences.
In the auditorium, empty seats, filled seats, seated by people. Empty seats were folded, folded, folded. The scent of perfume was passing by, passing by, colliding with the distinctive aroma of the air-conditioned room. Filled seats unfold, seated by humans, humans, humans, humans, humans. The faces were lit up by the lights, four tied on either side of the stage. The shadows took their positions. Alternately lit, faded, turned off, turned on. Bright, dark, dark, dark, dark, bright. Sounds wandered around the space, the speaker’s voice, the air conditioner, interrupted by coughs, then by whispers.
Sensory as the main discussion arises from the theme presented by Forum Lenteng in the 11th ARKIPEL, that is Garden of Earthly Delights taken from the painting of Hieronimus Bosch. Through this event, it becomes a sort of provocation to the bodies, at least for me personally as the one who has experienced it, to activate more awareness of the presence of the body. Because our bodies are the most important element in this matter, as expressed by Nindityo throughout his speech, which invited us to contemplate and explore the essence of the problem.
“We, dear audiences and I, are here together contemplating the title of my keynote speech at this symposium, “Sensory – What, Where Should We Take It?”. Contemplating, exploring the essence of the problem as shown and guided by the thoughts of the three great philosophers (the names of modern and contemporary western philosophers that I mention here); I fully understand if some of the audiences, maybe some, or even most of them think that this model of contemplation may not be our tradition,” he said.
“Together, we are certainly not hunting for practical/pragmatic answers and guidance on what and where we want to take this sensory? For the reality is, for centuries we have been continuously searching for essence by finding our own answers through discursive language. We are able to generate enormous myths that we always believe to be the truest and most current; but we also see that in this way, we will continue to be able to generate more and more current myths,” he continued.
In the auditorium, empty seats, filled seats, seated by people. Empty seats were folded, folded, folded. The scent of perfume was passing by, passing by, colliding with the distinctive aroma of the air-conditioned room. Filled seats unfold, seated by humans, humans, humans, humans, humans. The faces were lit up by the lights, four tied on either side of the stage. The shadows took their positions. Alternately lit, faded, turned off, turned on. Bright, dark, dark, dark, dark, bright. Sounds wandered around the space, the speaker’s voice, the air conditioner, interrupted by coughs, then by whispers.
The Forum Festival was held as one of the events of ARKIPEL Garden of Earthly Delights – 11th Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, which is running until September 1, 2024. In addition to the Forum Festival, an exhibition with the same title has also been held since August 14 at the Jakarta Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics.
