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Hunger Tales: Art inspired by Indonesia’s food supply crisis
Art imitates life for the Yogyakarta-based Bakudapan food study group, as they bring their take on the politics behind Indonesia’s food supplies crisis to the 2021 Asian Art Biennial in Taichung, Taiwan.
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Painful games: Hunger Tales presents itself as a card and board game. (Courtesy of Bakudapan) (Personal collection/Courtesy of Bakudapan)
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em>Art imitates life for the Yogyakarta-based Bakudapan food study group, as they bring their take on the politics behind Indonesia’s food supply crisis to the 2021 Asian Art Biennial in Taichung, Taiwan.
The players converged around the board game, keen to know where the next roll of the dice would go. Just as Monopoly participants can land on Chance or Community Chests cards, the participants in this game have an equal chance to end up on Deal or Phenomenon cards. These cards seem promising, until you read their dry, cynical messages.
“TOURISM INVESTMENT. TOURISM WILL OPEN UP AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF JOBS (AND DEPENDENCY)!,” one Deal card proclaims. “When this card is drawn, [the] Mayor can discard 1 land from the market in exchange for 15 Grand [as in thousands of rupiah]. The discarded land is unbuyable [sic] for the rest of the game.”
The Phenomenon cards are just as scathing.
“LACK OF WATER. WHERE DID ALL OUR WATER GO? OH RIGHT, TO THAT NEW CONSTRUCTION IN DEVELOPMENT,” said one Phenomenon card, no doubt alluding to droughts afflicting parts of Indonesia, as well as the draining of groundwater by high rise buildings in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities in recent years.
“When this card is drawn, each land owned by farmers can only produce 3 food per turn. The effect lasts[s] for 1 round.”
