Installation and Artworks by Heri Dono,
at Gaya Art Space, Jl. Raya Sayan, Ubud. Tel: 979252.
Ethnology is a branch of science that studies human races, their ‘characteristics’ and their relationships to one another. The collections of Ethnology museums usually comprise of artifacts from ‘non’ first world countries, which are incorrectly considered developing or ‘primitive’ cultures. In a positive context, these museums have a role of presenting the cultural richness of nations, or cultural groups, to audiences who hail from another very different array of prominently ‘first’ world nations of European background. At worst, this cultural ‘souvenirism’ represents European egotism, and unbridled colonial attitudes towards another culture.
Picasso once said that “museums are just lies”. Picasso’s comment asks us to reassess the role and duties of museums, and, it also questions whether there is a ‘correct’ way of selecting and displaying artifacts by ‘first’ world museums of ‘non’ first world countries. Basically, museums manipulate knowledge. Encouraging a specific way of understanding and analyzing a culture. Facts, artifacts and art are selected and displayed to prove a theory.
In the catalogue notes which accompany the exhibition, ‘Post-Ethnology Museum’, the critic Mikke Susanto states that the Indonesian artist Heri Dono has visited many major museums in various countries. Heri Dono, it appears, wants to re-interpret and re-construct the role of the museum, and, if possible, the very concept of Ethnology. In his exhibition, Dono offers a space which considers “museums as the subject matter, not as the medium”.
Heri Dono was born in Jakarta in June 1960, and he studied from 1980 till 1987 at the Indonesian Institute of Arts, in Yogyakarta. His art is varied and intriguing as it can include singing, music, storytelling, mythology, philosophy, social criticisms and humor. These diverse elements can merge to create compelling multi-media performances and installations.
French philosopher Jean Francois Lyotard defined ‘Postmodern’ as “part of modern”, stating that: “Postmodernism rejects the charms of beautiful forms, and looks for new ways of presentation. The rejection and the search are not driven by the urge to consume the new forms, but solely to evoke the sense of impossibility brought on by the new forms”. Within his exhibition, Dono asks the viewer to consider alternative or even multiple ways of interpreting the museum ‘object’. Within a ‘Postmodern’ reference Dono seeks “to interrupt” the established point of view concerning ‘non’ first world cultures as presented in Ethnology museums. Accordingly, Dono’s art is involved with transforming elements and materials commonly found in social spaces into art objects. He offers contradictions, and simultaneously reviews and, possibly, reconstructs his objects and images to suggest a new collective memory. Perhaps, he even tries to alter our basic understanding.
Dono’s exhibition contains a collection of motorized objects, some sculpture and paintings. The motorized objects appear based on Indonesian Wayang puppets. Six ‘Angels’ are suspended from the ceiling and float above head height. Their wings beat to give an impression of flight. Unfortunately, at this time of the year, and as I come from a Western Christian culture, it’s hard not to see these ‘Angels’ as some form of Christmas decoration. This is obviously not the intention, but, difficult to overlook. With their rigid flight pattern, and sarcastic appearance, the ‘Angels’ seem to have a more sinister motivation. ‘Clinic Primata’ finds its reference point in traditional museum display cases. Pieces of Pop culture, such as Marlboro cigarettes, a photo of Michael Jackson, and an image of the popular Hindu god Krishna, are found under glass. On top of them is a skull, indicating the passage of time and the inevitable death of all cultural trends. The sculpture ‘Gandhi As Angel’ is one of the most controversial pieces in the exhibition. The head and torso of Gandhi is displayed, but his arms have been transformed into wings. To many people Gandhi is a saint, yet, to the English of an earlier generation, he is the devil incarnate. Responsible for the initiation of the Fall of the British Empire. It is these contradictions that give Dono’s exhibition its biting edge.
In his paintings, Heri Dono often makes full use of his profound knowledge of children’s films, cartoons, and comics. Therefore, it’s not surprising to find in this exhibition a series of canvases, entitled ‘Still Learning About The World’, which seem to have their basis in such films as ‘Planet of the Apes’ (1967) and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939). Really scary chimpanzees are depicted hard at work learning ‘Reading’, ‘Writing’ and ‘Arithmetic’. The issue here appears to be involved with questions of evolution, along with the suggestion of the absurdities of studying specific cultural groups as science. However, the most remarkable canvas in the entire show is ‘Tarzan Today’. In an amazing recreation of Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’, an aging Tarzan is seen aping the pose of the Virgin Mary, while the dead chimpanzee Cheetah is sprawled on Tarzan’s lap in a shocking recreation of the pose of Jesus Christ. Without a doubt Heri Dono is commenting on some of the absurdities of the Catholic faith, but, he is also making a very strong observation on the practices of Ethnology museums to read meaning into the inconsequential.
What is obvious in Dono’s exhibition is that visual transformations are an important issue for him in creating a new perspective. Dono seeks to provide an option for alternative thinking. He also delights in ‘the shock of the new’.
