IMAGINARY HOMELAND
我是不是該安靜地走開 來下留敢勇該是還 ( ) BOEDI WIDJAJA
( 我也不 知道那 麼多無 奈 )
Aborted Interview #29 Tse Hao Guang
“Until quite recently, the Javanese language had no word meaning the abstraction ‘society’” (Benedict Anderson). How would you define ‘society’, Mr.Widjaja?
Where is here?
You make images of him over and over again. How were you affected personally by the regime? Do you think he is handsome?
Where were you in May 1998 during the riots? What were you doing on the 21st when he stepped down?
You use negative drawings. Why so pessimistic?
Were you sleeping?
“Drawing, with its graphology, elaborates what our consciousness grasps in an instant.” (Henri Cartier-Bresson). Elaborate?
Eliza Handayani just published a novel, This Time Everything Will Be Different. Juli, a photographer, carries around with her a box, “The Box of Unfinished Projects”, into which she puts ideas she’s had for projects, dreams, life goals yet or never to be attained. What would you put in your box?
How did you come to live here?
What is the biggest thing that has changed since then?
When you look through a pinhole camera, you have to squint, perhaps even bend down. What do you miss?
Whose peci are these?
Do you know that people will say the most outrageous things to your face if you look like you don’t understand the language they speak?
John Pilger calls him “Our Model Dictator”. His friends were, among others, Richard Nixon, Margaret Thatcher, and Lee Kuan Yew. Who is your best friend?
Doesn’t it get tiring answering questions about home?
Which is the one artist who makes you want to stop making art forever? Keputusan Presidium Kabinet Nomor 127 Tahun 1966 encourages Indonesian Chinese to better assimilate into the majority culture by altering their names. What is your real name?
“What would we honour or desire to make invisible? Why would it matter?” (Zarina Muhammad).
“It is 4 p.m., Jan. 13, 2008. The main entrance to Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta is besieged by dozens of journalists. Almost all of them are local, as Indonesia doesn’t attract international media conglomerates, unless there is a deadly landslide, tsunami, or airplane crash. Some reporters are placing the lenses of video and photo cameras against the glass of the hospital entrance, hoping to spot at least some action.” (Andre Vitchek). Should you or should you not have left quietly?
Can you feel it? Does it hurt?
Are we getting close? Peci have secular, nationalist overtones as opposed to the religious connotations of songkok. How do you celebrate racial harmony day?
Do you like this?
Light travels 299792458 metres and 4.3 babies are born every second. How long does it take you to complete one drawing?
How has the iPad advanced the role of the artist in society?
How has the artist advanced the role of the iPad in society?
黃: Darwis, Wibisono, Wibowo, Widagdo, Widiatmo, Widjaja, Widodo, Wienathan, Wijanarko, Wijaya, Wijonarko, Wijono, Willy, Winardi, Winarto, Winata, Windra, Winoto, Wiraatmadja, Wiranata, Wirya, Wiryanto, Wiryo, Wiryono, Wisanto, Witoelar, Wiyono, Wuisan. Which is best?
May I call you Boedi?
Is it near? Is it hard? Is it cold? Does it weigh much? Is it heavy?
This is an artist-published book, accompanying the exhibition Imaginary Homeland: 我是不是該安静地 走開 by Boedi Widjaja at the Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore, on view from 1324 January 2016 as part of the Singapore Art Week. The exhibition looks at mass media and its impact in our remembering and re-forming of personal narratives. Having left his hometown of Solo City, Indonesia due to ethnic tensions at the age of 9, the artist’s historicisation of his former country was mostly through images and the imagined. The process started with the artist drawing negative images of press photographs of Indonesian politics in pre-Suharto (1945-1968) and post-Suharto (1998-present) periods - bookends to the New Order Era. Political leaders of that era figured in the drawings: Sukarno, and when he met with Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro, Suharto, Megawati, Amien Rais and Gus Dur. The negative drawings are then photographed into positive prints. Shifting between the modality of drawing and photography, the artist reflects viscerally upon the imagery of his personal history, seeking agency. This book contains selected works from the exhibition, and images made specifically for the publication. All the portraits in the book are of Suharto, the second president of Indonesia who was in office from 12 March 1967 to 21 May 1998. Readers may use a mobile phone on camera mode, with invert colour setting switched on, to view the positive images of the negative drawings on this page, and on the first page. The artist had to draw seeing the image through one, as the screen shows up tones that our naked eyes cannot see. Without a device-aided process, the artist would not have been able to make the subtle tonal shifts to create images of sufficient detail to be viewed through screens.
The Chinese text in this publication, including the second half of the exhibition title, are lyrics from a 1991 Mandopop love song by Aaron Kwok. About heartbreak and its melodrama, the song was part of a popular genre and a common selection in karaoke clubs which the artist visited growing up. The extracted lyrics are: 我是不是該安靜地走開 wo shi bu shi gai an jing de zou kai Shall I quietly walk away 還是該勇敢地留下來 hai shi gai yong gan liu xia lai Or shall I bravely stay 我也不知道那麼多無奈 wo ye bu zhi dao na me duo wu nai I never knew there was nothing I could do 可不可以都重來 ke bu ke yi dou chong lai Can we start all over again? ____________________________ All artworks and book design by Boedi Widjaja; text for Aborted Aborted Interview Interview #29 #29 by by Tse Hao Guang; photography at SooBin & Him Studio; project management by Audrey Koh; and printed by Blurb on 118gsm, velvet-finish paper and UV-coated semi-gloss cover. The exhibition is supported by the National Arts Council, Objectifs and CushCush.
YRANIGAMI DNALEMOH
開走地靜安該是不是我 ( 可不可以都重來 )