Timoteus Anggawan Kusno (Angga) finally managed to arrive at the Secretariat of the Festival Film Dokumenter (FFD) after struggling with the heavy rain along the way. Wrapped in a parachute jacket, he entered and began greeting the FFD crews one by one with a smile on his face. Angga is one of the collaborating artists for this year’s FFD. He contributes to create a bumper video that will be shown at the beginning of the film program that is screened. Angga is also a prolific artist in creating and exhibiting, both in local spaces and on the international stage. Recently, he was invited by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, to collaborate in an exhibition entitled “Revolusi!”. We had the opportunity to interview Angga amidst his busy schedule. Here are the results of our casual chat.
THE BEGINNING OF INTEREST IN THE WORLD OF ART
It is still clear how fragments of the past opened the door to Angga’s interest in the world of art, especially photography. His grandfather was the owner of Afterphoto store. Meanwhile, his father, who was a teacher, used his spare time to open a film developing business in Bengkulu. For Angga, the memory of how the photos were processed is magical, powerful, and memorable. It was also his first contact with the world of art—through photography.
Angga got his first camera from his father and grandfather while he was in high school. Armed with a camera and curiosity, Angga began to conduct experiments and explorations in photography. He joined the photography club at his school, De Britto Photography Club, where they hold an exhibition annually. The exhibition experience was very memorable for Angga. Those moments embarked his interest in the world of art and photography.
The passion for exploration led Angga to go further, opening up experimental spaces in various other lines in the field of art. From photography, he tried videography, then graffiti. His career began in 2007. At that time, the Festival Kebudayaan Yogyakarta (FKY) started an open call. Angga was still in his second semester back then when he decided to make a proposal and submit his work. In a tit-for-tat, his work passed the curation process. “It turned out that the reaction to my work was quite positive, so from there, I was excited to try to continue exploring.” The doors of opportunity began to widen. In the same year, Angga received an invitation to be involved in the Biennale Jogja exhibition. After that moment, he never stopped exploring and venturing into various fields of art.
For Angga, his exploration process in this field can be analogized to a journey. Along the way, many questions were disturbing and challenging to unravel. “What if I process this into an artistic experience, in the form of an artwork? Whether it’s video, installation, or writing?”. Many of Angga’s artistic discoveries, which later became answers to these troubling questions, came from reading, talking with people, and watching films. For him, the process of creating works is a process of how to feel the reality happening around him. “It is the attempt to understand reality, which is then conveyed through works,” he said.
AN ENTHUSIASM FOR RETELLING HISTORICAL MEMORY
History seems to be the only way to understand and investigate the truth that existed in the past. Angga finds that history is narrated individually and simultaneously intertwined with the structure of fiction creation in terms of narratology. “Why is the date that gets the highlight this one, not others. Why is the event shown this one, not others? The processes of selecting and sewing are interesting to dismantle.”
How history is narrated, being talked about, and becoming a guide to comprehend the past is something essential for Angga. In addition, his life journey drove him to experience the dictatorship of the New Order regime and the transition to the reformation period. It made him reflect and observe how power works and use “history” as an heirloom. Angga observed that during the Soeharto era, the historical material he received tended to be closed and tight. From there, he had the desire to be able to reflect on how history works towards power through his art projects. “It’s all about personal experiences in reading history.“
JOURNEY OF BODY EXPERIENCE
In the process of making an installation for one of his relatively recent exhibitions, Luka dan Bisa Kubawa Berlari (2022), Angga has been traveling around for two years to be able to collect and complete the soul of his exhibition. Only riding a motorbike, he recorded voices from various places that kept memories of the resistance and struggle for independence. These sounds were recorded, stored, and transformed into an aural experience that visitors can feel in the exhibition space. We wondered what Angga got from the “traveling” method. “There has to be a body experience to be there, to stimulate the imagination. So, (we know) what the smell is, how it sounds, and so on.“
Every journey has always been influential in the process of creating Angga’s works because there must be certain impressions that help build the direction and feeling that he wants to present in his work. Traveling is his method of processing the feeling.
HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND PSEUDO-INDEPENDENCE
Angga admitted that he had much to do with literature during his creative process. Memoar Tanah Runcuk (2014) is one of Angga’s exhibitions published as
artistic response to the reading of Max Havelaar. He felt he was invited to experience past events, but in a way that, he said, was very humane. For Angga, historical novels can present the past, with its various complexities, in a transparent manner. History and literature are always intertwined. It was as if he was invited to ride a time machine and was thrown into specific periods to feel that time’s atmosphere, pressure, and tragedies.
For Angga, history should present itself as something that holds many questions and tensions. There must be a unique and disturbing experience shown. These experiences will ignite the power of imagination, which becomes ammunition for creating Angga’s works. “What if this is reflected back into a medium? Something that can invite people to go back in time.”
Angga’s works, some of which can be explored on takusno.com page, are full of revolutionary spirit. We asked Angga, at this time, where are we? What is our position? Are we really free from colonialism?
Angga argued that colonialism as a historical period has been placed in the past. We also had declared independence long ago. However, there are problems that we are not aware of. The problem is the matrices of power and colonialism mindset that unconsciously continues to regenerate to this day. For Angga, it demands to be described. Some power structures managed to survive the collapse of colonialism and still survive to this day.
“When we have the right to determine our own destiny. Freedom of thought. Responsible for our thoughts and actions. Let go of dependency—which is actually still in process.”
FFD AND MODE OF WORKS
FFD is an important event that can offer a new way of seeing reality. Angga revealed the concept is similar to what he has done. “We need a lot of lenses, perspectives, to see our experiences and the experiences of our fellow man living in other places. How that life experience can be presented through documentaries. This is surely necessary.“
Angga works a lot to explore the structure of fiction creation. From there, he sees how authorship works are presented. This idea was taken in producing a video bumper for this year’s FFD. Within a minute, Angga delivers a “mystery” experience through walking footsteps. Those steps belong to the people who work behind the scenes in the film process, which are cameramen and others who are working on painting a light masterpiece using their cameras.
“The question is who is framing whom. Who is watching whom? There are interpretations of questions that are presented before the film is screened. Working makes this interpretation an interesting experiment because a camera is working on the film to be watched. Someone is working behind the process, dismantling the layer of reality again; who takes pictures of reality; how that reality is generated.”
FFD AS A BODY
We associated FFD to an installation, then we asked Angga how FFD’s position is in narrating the history and memories recorded in each film that will be screened later? According to Angga, “This (FFD) is an alternative way of looking at reality. FFD is a way to see our position in a moving world; with its problems. The hope is that it can spark solidarity, so we realize we are not alone amid problems in this moving world.”
This year, FFD entered its twenties at the age of 21. These ages are usually associated with maturity and adulthood. Does FFD experience this association? According to Angga, as an event, FFD continues to grow in a world that is also constantly moving. FFD offers an alternative way to see. It is very relevant to see the changes around us, both in the medium of capturing reality and the reality itself.
Written by Hesty N. Tyas | Edited by Vanis
