by Simon Soon

On view now in Cemeti Art House, Jogjakarta, is Eko Nugroho’s spell-binding foray into the world of wayang (shadow puppetry), exploring a centuries-old performance medium that functions both as popular entertainment and as a form of culturally sacrosanct art in his ever expanding body of experimentation with different representational formats.

by Simon Soon

Lining up against the entrance corridor into the main exhibition space at Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, last December is an armed unit of five invisible standing figures, suggested through a skeletal furnishing of their martial disposition by the uniformity of their red helmets, strapped-on rifles and firmly planted boots. They allude to the ‘Lombok Chilli’, royal guards of the Yogya Sultanate who still plays a ceremonial role today, that protects, above all, a distinct sense of pride in the Javanese identity they represent.