Daftar Isi Ambangan
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction | Artwork Images | Opening | Exhibition Essay | MILISIFILEM Collective | Biographies
Milisifilem Collective
Ambangan
13 – 21 March 2020
Cemeti – Institute For Art and Society
Jalan D. I. Panjaitan, No.41, Kelurahan Mantrijeron
Kecamatan Mantrijeron, 55143
Yogyakarta
Opening: March 13, 2020, 8.00 PM | Performance (72 hours): March 13-16, 2020
Teks Pengantar
THE DIALECTICS OF SYSTEMS AND DISCOURSES do not stop within dichotomous divisions (e.g. “central vs. peripheral”), because everything that is lying — or mediating — between the two different types of zone, presumably, invites speculation about knowledge, noetic, or other mental activities that have not been — or even they seem almost impossible to be — formulated through frameworks that so far relied on the rationality and logic typical of modern knowledge. This kind of criticism shifts our focus to things that are rarely, not yet, or may not be seen. These things seem to be in the “intermediate” area or some kind of “crossing zone” —like a doorway that intersects two spaces. In other words: threshold zone. Things that in this context we call “ambangan” (“threshold-ness”).
Despite its “noetic” characteristic, if we can successfully comprehend them, “ambangan” have the potential to not only stimulate new possibilities but may also be able to mutate the human knowledge system as a whole. However, instead of being understood definitively and articulately, “the ambangan things” seem to be something far more meaningful if we experience them. Even in the context of attempting to find their presence (or experiencing their presence) in pedagogical processes, the non-empirical experiences often become the basis of arguments about the validity of their existence. In the face of art, how do we treat them as a metaphor concerning aesthetic initiatives? What kind of methodical speculation can be offered to at least map out the intricacies of such ambangan which is still difficult to formulate?
Since 2003, Forum Lenteng has been running alternative education spaces to produce knowledge and develop skills in the arts, media and film. Open to activists and enthusiasts with any background, especially to those who are from the working-age category. Forum Lenteng continues to develop its alternative education spaces until now, then they are manifested into several platforms, one of them is the MILISIFILEM Collective (first initiated in 2017). In addition to being rigorous in the study of art history but also very flexible towards experimentation, the MILISIFILEM Collective platform emphasizes the concept of “shared experience” as a foundation in the practice and learning (which is also the subjects’ process of creation in the platform) to build a multidirectional model of the knowledge production, to create a mutual understanding with an equal frequency between the participants. The learning methods — or style of production — based on the “shared experience” developed by this platform constitutes a modification of the models of work that we have known using a community-based approach, mutual-cooperation principles, and ideas—even the ideology—of collectivism; the models that are often considered synonymous with social norms, traditions, customs, and conventions in the context of the lives of Southeast Asian people.
By presenting many simulations of art events in their learning processes, the participants of MILISIFILEM Collective build a critical communication to the real art world. While those processes are still being done to train their self-discipline toward visual or mediums of work, the realization of such activities in the platform are applied through a highly organic and flexible working relationship mechanism among them. Such organic flexibility can trigger speculation and various tactics in dealing with structural constraints and rigidity that often hinder artistic progression in the works of an art collective. By consciously mutating established systems and concepts, the knowledge of art produced and distributed by the MILISIFILEM Collective actually plays a role like a portal or a threshold which, once passed, enables the transformation of experiential insights, provoke a new way of thinking and open perspective, and the discovery of any other relevant contexts.
In this “Ambangan” project, MILSIFILEM Collective tries to sort out and critique several aspects of the art field through a small simulation which, this time, is framed into 72-hour performance art. Citing the routine activities of the artist-participants (members of the MILISIFILEM Collective) as the main element and factor of their performance content, the “Ambangan” project is experimenting with a threshold of endurance between common and uncommon time; with a threshold of understanding between the realm of production and the realm of the exhibition; and with a threshold of experience between presentational zone and representational zone. This project explores the intricacies of the complex relationship between the nature of the audience and the position of the artists (both their role as the performers and their meaning as the body of the subjects framed in the performance itself), but at the same time offers a deconstructive approach to the system of the social field of the arts by maximizing the flexibility of their medium of work, which thus represents another aim of the project: approaching the threshold of possibilities of performance art experiments.
Curator
Anggraeni Widhiasih & Prashasti Wilujeng Putri
Artists
Alifah Melisa, Dini Adanurani, Maria Christina Silalahi, Maria Deandra, Niskala Hapsari Utami, Pingkan Polla, Raras Umaratih
Foto Karya
Artwork Images
Performance (72 hours) Process
Exhibition View
Dokumentasi Pembukaan
Opening Documentation
Photo documentation Art Project Presentation Opening Ambangan, March 13, 2020, Cemeti – Institute for Art and Society. (Photo: Muhammad Dzulqornain)
Esai Pameran
Exhibition Essay
Retracing The Journey, Interweaving Possibilities
Curatorial Essay
by Anggraeni W. & Prashasti W. P.
ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN VARIOUS LIVING SYSTEMS, including the system of knowledge, often do not merely result in a dichotomy. Perpetual interactions between these systems that make life possible have developed a dialogue so that the process of negotiation becomes a necessity. There are times when such things lead us to a situation of in-between, similar to how a doorstep threshold adjoins one room with another, an indefinite zone that leaves the door open to opportunities for possible transformation.
Milisifelm
About MILISIFILEM Collective
MILISIFILEM Collective is a platform formed by Forum Lenteng in September 2017. Specifically, it explores the practice of visual production technically and contextually related to today’s socio-cultural issues. Regularly, MILISIFILEM conducts a visual basic training in a cross- disciplinary, using participatory and collaborative approach. The participants explore various possibilities of visual experimentation as well as building collective discipline in producing visual works. Particularly, MILISIFILEM Collective involves the participant to deepen arts and cultural activism in order to encounter the challenging of changing times.
Profil Seniman
Artists Biography
Alifah Melisa (Jakarta, 13 April 1993), a Chinese Studies of Universitas Indonesia graduate. Have worked for Chinese company, but then chose to be a freelance translator and is a media relations and manager for ARKIPEL Film Festival and Milisifilem Collective (Forum Lenteng). She is now studying German language.
Dini Adanurani (Jakarta, 6 September 1998), is currently studying in Department of Philosophy, University of Indonesia. She is a writer, filmmaker, and freelance translator. She has been the festival director of UI Film Festival 2019, and is studying and playing with visual arts in Milisifilem Collective. Visit her blog at https://jesuismager.wordpress.com/
Maria Christina Silalahi (b. Jakarta, 31 May 1993) graduated from Criminology, University of Indonesia in 2018. She studies the experimental visual at Milisifilem Collective since then. She is now one of members of Forum Lenteng, in charge of AKUMASSA program. Visit her blog in https://milisimaria.wordpress.com/
Maria Deandra (Jakarta, 11 Februari 2000),is a student majoring in Film and Television at the Jakarta Institute of Arts. She currently active as an artist on the Milisifilem platform and 69 Performance Club, initiated by Forum Lenteng. Her latest performances; HELLO RED (2019), TYPING (2019), and UNKNOWN NUMBER (2019) were performed in GoetheHaus Jakarta.
Niskala H. Utami (Jakarta, 25 Agustus 1998), is currently studying film in Universitas Multimedia Nusantara, is an artist, filmmaker, and writer. Participated in Milisifilem since 2018, she is active in the arts and film communities, having volunteered as a Liaison Officer, Usher, and Reporter.
Pingkan Polla (Magelang, 1993), is an artist who focuses on performance art and fine arts. Member of Forum Lenteng as an artist and researcher in Milisifilem and 69 Performance Club. She began her artistic practice since joining the AKUMASSA-Diorama art project by conducting visual observations of the dioramas in the National Museum. That knowledge has been growing into performance art since she joined the 69 Performance Club platform. Her performance works focus on studies of body and work, social media, and studies of performance in the private sphere to the public sphere. In 2019, she had a residency in Bangsal Menggawe in Pemenang, North Lombok, and conducted research on the intersection between performing and performance art. In addition, she has also participated in a residency in Bulukumba, in the context of the 2019 Makassar Biennale.
Raras Umaratih (Malang, 5 Juni 1999) is a visual artist. Taking her degree in fine arts in Weißensee Kunsthochschule, Berlin, Germany. In 2018 she joined MILISIFILEM Collective.
Anggraeni Dwi Widhiasih (Sleman, 1993) is a curator, writer, artist who lives in Jakarta. After completing her studies in International Relations at Paramadina University, she became an active member of Forum Lenteng and was involved in the Milisifilem Collective (a group study of film production through the practice of visual experiments). As an audiovisual product, for Anggra, film has a close connection with the existing system in society, media technology, knowledge production, and spectatorship aspect. These matters also often appear in her artistic work, both in the form of curatorial, writings and visual works. Aside from being active in the art and film scene, she is also involved in the experimental economy platform named Purusha Research Cooperative and Prakerti Collective Intelligence.
Prashasti Wilujeng Putri (Jakarta, December 5 1991), is a performance artist and art manager. She graduated in Criminology at the University of Indonesia in 2014. Dancer of Radha Sarisha dance community and Central Java Pavilion Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. She started her own artistic process since she joined 69 Performance Club in 2016. She participated in Silek Art Festival in Solok, West Sumatra in 2018, doing research about silek (silat) in the life of contemporary bodies. The result of the residency was a video, and was continued with a performance art that was performed in Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea. Her other works focus on the body that is defined and formed by society, and how performance art can reconstruct it.
CEMETI 