Portrait of an unhappy artist

Irwan Ahmett, 34, a self-professed unhappy artist, has been trying to get happy. He is on a quest to find the meaning of happiness and documenting what he finds for an art project that has been running since 2007. He expects to complete the third part of his project soon. It was, naturally, an unhappy undertaking for him — it included watching the thousands of motorcycles that passed by his office every morning and watching an infinite loop of Spongebob Squarepants — but he found that people in Jakarta, other than himself, are a mostly jolly crowd, whatever the city’s shortcomings.

How do you define happiness?

Happiness is a magnet that pulls people into doing everything. Millions of people stream into Jakarta every day just to find happiness. From the corrupt to terrorists, all have a shot at happiness. Everyone has their own definition of happiness. Lately, capitalism has come up with its own definition of happiness to tempt consumers to buy products. Happiness has become a buzzword for the industry. Formula milk has been manufactured with happiness-inducing ingredients so that mothers will be happy for feeling that they have fed their children well.

How did you start your happiness project?

When I first started the project I did not have any clue what happiness meant. But I later found out that happiness has some indicators. I learned from this project that happiness is something that can be learned the same way we learn to play ping pong or use the computer. If we exercise a lot, we can easily be happy. But I also believe that happiness is what we make of it. Christiano Ronaldo may be the richest soccer player in the world, but I believe he is as happy as the kid I play futsal with when both score a goal.

What is the most significant finding of this survey?

I believe the past has an important role in building our happiness. If we know from experience that the traffic is worse at 5 p.m. we will not go out at 5 p.m. And we will be happy for not having to be stuck in traffic. We should also be able to tell the difference between what we need and what we want; this is one step to reach happiness. Everything we want is not everything we need. Polygamous men think that they will be happier if they can marry another woman. People who resort to corruption think that they will be happier if they have more money, even if this means they have to steal from the government.

happy lamp (Irwan Ahmett)

There is also irony in happiness. The flipside of happiness is unhappiness. There is a certain limit for happiness that if we pass that limit we are no longer happy. And I began to think that the true source of happiness is in fact our unhappiness. My greatest source of unhappiness is that I work 90 percent of the time, but the remaining 10 percent is my greatest source of happiness.

I also found that we can be happy about others’ unhappiness. I designed a project in which we blocked out bad news in Jakarta’s newspapers of record, Kompas and Lampu Merah. People complained about censorship. They want news about murder, corruption and celebrity gossip.

Back to the big question — are we a happy country?

In this country, there are too many people living well below the poverty line, but these people manage to survive. Every day people in Jakarta have to deal with worsening traffic jams which I doubt people in other cities could withstand. In the late 1990s, we suffered the greatest financial crisis, which I think would take the United States 50 years to recover from. We have been at the lowest, and there was nothing that the government could do, but we rose up pretty quickly.

As a big city, Jakarta is practically uninhabitable but we merrily crowd together. As a country we may not be happy but as individuals we are happy. Maybe because we are getting used to being unhappy that we cherish every bit of happiness we get. In terms of material advancement, Singapore is ahead of us, but to me it’s like a dead city. Go into any kampung and you will meet smiling faces, kids stopping traffic so that they can play street soccer, people having wedding parties at any given intersection. This is a happy place full of happy people.

But what if the government did better?

I don’t think it will do much to increase happiness level. I believe the unpredictable nature of life here has helped the ferment of creativity.

Does religion make people happier?

Religion is the only institution that can serve as a reference on how to achieve universal happiness. Religion, any religion, provides a roadmap for achieving happiness on absolute terms. One indication that religion has become the source of happiness for urban people is the heavy presence of mosques in urban areas. Those are places where people need to go to get access to instant happiness. But I also believe that happiness can be found in the most unlikely places, bars, brothels, soccer stadiums or rock concerts.

Do you consider yourself a happy person?

The reason I started this art project is because I am an unhappy person. I don’t always pray but I get really serious in my prayer after I neglect it for some time. I am easily depressed and have problems concentrating. I am also an ambitious person. Ambition is good for my career but not for people who are close to me.

What about those people who line up for expensive coffee and an overpriced donut [near to where the interview took place in a shopping mall]?

They look like happy people to me, but they have to try pretty hard to make themselves happy.

Back to The top page