After inviting the audience to “BiblioTea”, an imaginary bookshop/tea house where various (fictitious) art books were infused into flavored teas, Syagini Ratna Wulan is back with a new project titled “100 Years of Tempest”.

The exhibition, based on her personal experiences, has been in the works for almost two years.

Syagini (usually called Cagi) said the initial concept for her latest work came from her previous project, “A Concealing Series”, in which objects were covered with a white cloth that tempted people to speculate about what exactly lies under or behind the veil.

The 33-year-old is known for her phantasmagorical narrative approach in working with visual materials.

Cagi started her career in the fertile creative art scene in Bandung in the late 1990s. She graduated from the department of fine arts at Bandung Institute of Technology in 2001 and then obtained her Master’s degree in cultural studies at Goldsmith College, University of London in 2006.

“What you see is never what you get. Human perceptions are complex and the things we see will never fulfill our curiosity,” exhibition curator Agung Hujatnikajennong noted in the catalogue.

Cagi has always been attracted to the idea of hidden and cryptic things. She believes that the world we are living in is an “ocean of symbols”. Humans have the ability to read signs, and yet are never satisfied with what they see.

“This [project] is actually sort of a diary of mine. Instead of telling people the story bluntly, I packed
it into hidden codes and put the audience as the actor who has to figure it out,” Cagi told The Jakarta Post.

The exhibition room at the Ark Galerie in Senopati, South Jakarta, is dominated by white. A hundred numbered lockers stand, with the clues given by Cagi waiting to be found by visitors. You can find three-dimensional objects, photographs, videos, drawings, the sounds of voices and text inside each locker. That is, after you unlock one with the right key.

Upstairs, visitors can see another of Cagi’s installations: a single bed covered by a white blanket with a note at the foot that says “Everytime I sin ... I have to be reborn”. This time, there is nothing in a locker, but the entrance to the room is covered by a large white curtain.

“The project is set in a game and I expect people to get involved instead of just standing around watching. The choices they make are crucial because it will determine how the story ends. Such a tempest, isn’t it?” she said.

The audience seem excited playing the game Cagi created as well as appreciative of the artist’s work. Inside each locker are postcards depicting the contents of the locker which are also in the catalogue. But you do not get 100 postcards at once in one game. Therefore, you have to play over and over again if you want all the postcards and see the objects inside each locker.

“This is fun because it’s interactive! We are allowed to touch the artist’s artwork which is rare in an exhibition. Locker #048, about self-delusion, is my favorite. I feel some sort of personal attachment to it,” enthused one of the visitors, Tissa Granicia, from Kandura Keramik in Bandung.

The game, however, is not about winning or losing, Cagi said. The actual final result is a blend between one’s personal experience and the artist’s original idea. Everyone has a different result because of different interpretations.

“I expect them to self reflect. I want them to view this as more about themselves, not about me. I’m just someone who facilitates them through the work of art,” she concluded.

“100 Years of Tempest”

 Ark Galerie

Senopati Raya 92  
South Jakarta 12110
Open Tuesday – Saturday
from  10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Nov. 10 to Dec. 20

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