Collaborating Artists
- Notes on Artwork
A Leap in Time, Stillness Whispers
The stillness time in a photograph sometimes triggers a thaw of long-frozen memories of the past. Silently, it stirs up memories of space and time that have fallen silent.
This visual record was made almost 15 years ago, at an annual celebration in a small plot of public space whose presence was always anticipated by so many people. It still lingers in my memory that being there was an all-sensory attack; the lights and colors vying for the eye’s attention, the cacophony of deafening rides, and the aromas that aroused and tantalized the taste buds. Bodies fused and bonded in a buzz of excitement. Emotions erupted in the commotion.
Looking back at it now, this fleeting capture has turned out to be a sign of the times. The living space captured is now locked in solitude. The cheering is over. The silence of the photo that fails to depict the excitement that was once present there, ironically becomes a more apt representation of its condition today.
Most visual recollections don’t often get the chance to leap far from the purpose for which they were made. However, the memories triggered by a photograph can go beyond what is visible within its four-sided frame; gazing at a slice of the past with our contemporary eyes might just make it leap through the boundaries imposed upon it.
–Kurniadi Widodo
- Notes on Bumper
Adult Contemporary
Today’s world is alive with a multi-layered whirlwind of distinctive behaviors. Hybrid figures formed by human mobilization and culture through economic transactions, machtpolitik, climate change, technological developments, and many other means. Then, does the ethnicity and customs in one particular location created in the past still exist as a single entity? How do we envision our hometowns? Do we still need to dispute our authenticity in the face of artificial intelligence?
— Wok The Rock
Artists
Kurniadi Widodo
Photographer
Kurniadi Widodo (1985) is an educator and freelance photographer based in Yogyakarta. Since 2010, he has been actively engaged in a number of photography education communities and initiatives, including Kelas Pagi Yogyakarta, Pannafoto Future Talents, and the collective Arkademy Project.
Wok The Rock
Artist
Wok The Rock is an artist active across the fields of visual, sound, and social. He is interested in developing collaborative, experimental, and interdisciplinary works to bring together diverse artistic practices in an equal, open-access, and sustainable way. Wok is a co-founder of artist collective MES 56 in Yogyakarta and runs the music label Yes No Wave Music. He was the curator of Biennale Jogja XIII in 2015 and Nusasonic 2019-2023.
