A Spectacle of Sound and Light in Bagus Pandega's Solo Exhibition
Jakarta. Drumming sounds, spinning vinyls, flashing lights — one could be forgiven to mistake Bagus Pandega’s solo exhibition for a music shindig were it not held in an art gallery. Immersive experience, after all, has always been a leitmotif connecting the meticulously built installations created by the acclaimed Indonesian contemporary artist.
In his latest show, “Random Black,” on view at ROH Projects, South Jakarta, until June 21, Bagus seeks to explore the dynamic between the absolute and the random through an electric array of works — quite literally — that incorporate sonic and kinetic forces.
Working together with curator Mella Jaarsma, Bagus took a cymbal painted in black, from which the exhibition title derives, as his starting point when preparing for the show last January. Objects associated with music anchor most pieces, with their repetitive strums and clangs chanting the audience.
Greeting visitors near the front of the gallery is an installation titled “Breadman’s Automation,” an imposing mechanical structure reminiscent of a rock band’s on-stage equipments. Every part of the work — electric guitar strummed every so often, the aforementioned cymbal, amplifier, brass speaker — is connected with cables to one another, with an LED strand lending a lightning-like effect.
Tip-toeing between the undulating cables strewn across the gallery, visitors can also revel in a trifecta of works laying on the floor under the title “A Tea Poi on Moo.” Each set consists of an LP vinyl spinning on a turntable — sans sound — as a desk lamp shines light on it.
The intermittent movement of each vinyl — also apparent in “Polka,” a large wooden frame displaying a set of turning LPs — is influenced by an electronic relay system, which represents the idea of random happenstance that Bagus wants to express here. At one particular time, the vinyls will spin simultaneously in the same duration.
“Delay Relay” evokes the same idea as well. The installation is assembled of several black cymbals, each equipped with an electronic timer that decides when it will be hit by the stick. As if to drive the point forward, a snare drum, which encases a neon light spelling “bygone,” stands in front of the piece.
When Bagus was working on the pieces on the show, Mella challenged him to think not only about randomness, but also its contrast with the absolute. The latter value is epitomized by the color black, which appears on the surface of the objects on display.
“There’s an absolute in black, and Bagus used the cymbal as a sort of carrier of that idea,” Mella told the Jakarta Globe during the exhibition opening on Tuesday (31/05).
Light also plays a prominent role in the exhibition. Inside a pitch-black room, “Childhood Mixed Fantasy” shows colorful sound-sensitive LED lights that respond to the aural trigger emanated from a set of rotating bolts.
The most blinding piece, however, is “What You Read.” The installation is created from a set of siren-like flashing lamps in yellow that, when photographed at a certain point, will reveal the word — spoiler alert — “PEAK.” Mella said this particular work initially intended to reference Bagus’s interest in onomatopoeia — word formed from the sound it is associated with, like “roar” — although she surmised he didn’t bring the notion forward enough.
Unlike some other Indonesian contemporary artists, Bagus’s works are deliberately devoid of certain socio-political messages. Instead, they summon up an indelible multi-sensory experience — dubbed a “total theater” in Mella’s curatorial writing — for the viewers, who interact with each installation with a distinctive reaction.
“I am not interested in creating narrations and I’d rather not explain anything to the audience,” Bagus said. “I just start from the medium: an object, its kinetic aspects and sounds.”
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“Random Black” continues through June 21 at ROH Projects, Equity Tower Level 40, SCBD, South Jakarta.
For more information, visit rohprojects.net or @rohprojects on Instagram.
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