Exhaust pipes a metaphor for reviled New Order

Exhaust pipes a metaphor for reviled New Order

By Ahmad Solikhan

YOGYAKARTA (JP): No loud growling noises and no thick black
smoke pollutes the Cemeti Art House, where an exhibition with the
theme of exhaust pipes is now under way. What you find is a
debate, of sorts, featuring installations, paintings and
drawings, all attempting to recapture the oddities of the New
Order era.

An exhaust pipe is generally understood to be part of a
motorized vehicle, and acts to muffle the sound of the vehicle's
engine while filtering dirt from the exhaust fumes. To artists,
however, an exhaust pipe can be interpreted in a variety of ways
in connection with human behavior and daily life.

An exhaust pipe may be likened to an anus, as both not only
dispose of high-pressure gas but also produce sound that many
people find to their distaste. To the Javanese, the word "anus"
is not usually used, as they think it better to use a more polite
way to refer to it indirectly.

Grasping for the essence of an exhaust pipe, the artists
taking part in the exhibition are also participating in a
peaceful campaign for an honest and fair election, not by joining
noisy parades of cars or motorcycles, but by using original works
of art as their medium to criticize social and political problems
prevailing during the New Order era.

Lasting from May 1 until July 31 at Cemeti Art House, this
exhibition features 17 artists' views on the exhaust pipe. An
exhaust pipe may be considered a pipe through which putrid or
noxious matter will be released, or it may be thought of as a
source of problems, or even a hole that gives pleasure and is
found in all living creatures.

If an exhaust pipe is well taken care of and causes minimal
pollution, goes one view, the world will be spared a host of
problems.

One of the participating artists, I. Gak Murniasih, features
seven expressionist oil paintings, all in one frame, on a canvas
measuring 1 meter by 2 meters. One of the paintings, called Ibu
Detik Berdebar (Mother of Throbbing Second), is a picture of a
vagina, which looks like an open crater of the Merapi volcano,
between two thighs lying on a bed. This painting depicts how
vulnerable women are to rape, particularly in riots, in which
women may experience sexual harassment.

For Murniasih, who has intentionally focussed on the female
sex organ as the main subject of his paintings, the struggle of
women for gender equality is still neglected.

In the middle of the gallery 17 human heads made of gypsum are
placed in a row on logs supported by four concrete legs. Lamps
shaped like chilies hang from each neck, connected by a white
hose to a bottle on the floor containing urine. A red cross is on
the glass bottle, while a 14-inch television set and a video
recorder are perched on the wooden table, as if monitoring the
sociopolitical oddities of the New Order.

This installation work by Heri Dono is entitled Badut-Badut
Politik (Political Clowns). In this work Dono takes a close look
at political figures who are concerned only with their own
interests. He has included a television set because he would like
the community to watch TV to learn about the nation's socio-
political condition. It is the urine of the political clowns,
kept in a bottle, that has sullied the lives of the people.

In one corner of the inner room there are 95 cardboard boxes,
some stuck on the wall and others scattering on the floor. A
heart-shaped hole is made on one side of each of the brown boxes
and a used can of mosquito repellent and a can of air freshener
are both stuck into the hole.

Some boxes also have pictures of community figures and artists
stuck on them. This installation work addresses environmental
destruction, which is nearly always neglected, but which can
actually cause the deaths of people, as well as many less
profitable creatures.

The collapse of a clove tree which has just bloomed is also a
source of inspiration for another interesting installation work.
Two continuously burning kerosene lanterns and a pile of bird
cages are hung on twigs, among the leaves. This work by
Anusapati, called Empty Nest, shows how people can demonstrate
their mundane arrogance and disregard of other people's
sufferings. Burned forests and the habitat of the birds have
disappeared without a trace.

Shigeyo Kobayashi, hailing from Japan, is also taking part in
the exhibition, with his installation work titled, I am convinced
that amidst the confusion there is hope for the future. This work
shows a tiny oyster sticking out a long snout, on the tip of
which there is a red rose. The medium of this installation is
wood painted in a variety of colors. Kobayashi is convinced that
democratization will be a reality, although blood is the price of
it.

Meanwhile, Agung Kurniawan, relying on his drawing technique,
describes the sociopolitical conditions prevailing in this
country: poverty, political intimidation and anarchic acts which
may spell the death of human beings. This description is
reinforced by Nervita Primadewi, who, through her audio-visual
work, intentionally presents the throbbing of the brain of a
human being subjected to the arbitrary violence of soldiers. In
this installation work, Kembalilah Jadi Otak (Be the brain
again), a combination of media and television, handycam and
charcoal scattered on the floor, Primadewi asks all of us to
think clearly in dealing with today's uncertain political
situation.

According to Nindityo Adipurnama, the owner of the gallery,
the theme of the exhaust pipe has been considered since the 1997
general election. To many people, election campaigning
highlighted by the deafening growling sound of exhaust pipes, is
brutality of a sort that can disturb the peacefulness of the
community. To Adipurnama, an exhaust pipe may be interpreted as
another way to understand the current sociopolitical situation.

"That this is so is evident from the works put on show in this
exhibition. Besides, you can interpret yourself what response
these young artists have given to the exhaust pipe theme in their
works," he said.

Adipurnama has spent 11 years at what was formally known as
Cemeti Gallery, and has promoted as well as organized the
exhibition of the works of Indonesian and foreign contemporary
artists.

In May, the gallery assumed the new name Cemeti Art House.
This change of name is intended to stimulate interaction and
exchanges among various fine art disciplines. There is also a
plan to involve the local community around the art house and
Indonesian artists concerned with the development of the
country's fine arts.