. 900mdpl #3 .
(*) provisional title
_____
900mdpl is a biennial
site-specific project in Kaliurang. Located 7 km away from the crater of
Mt.Merapi with average altitude of 900 meters above the sea, around 2800
inhabitants of Kaliurang today are living in an immediate vicinity with the
active volcano. The first edition of 900mdpl was held in 2017 as a ‘family
portrait’ of the community and their living space. The second edition in 2019
was an attempt to pinpoint the small village within the map of Indonesian
bigger history. The third edition (2021) will look upon the relationship
between mythology and local wisdom on how it affects the environmental
sustainability of the area.
Provisionally titled
"900mdpl: Genealogy of Ghost and How to Co-Live with Them”, the project
aim to collect local beliefs, mythology, rituals, oral tradition, bedtime stories,
and cautionary tales on how to behave around a sacred sites that manifested as
local wisdom. It will explore the decentralized polycentric knowledge that
allow us to start learning back from the rooted local wisdom for ecological
sustainability. The landscapes of Kaliurang and around Mt. Merapi are subjected
to the whims of colonizers and capitalists through tourism, over-development,
exploitation of the land and extraction of its natural resources. This project
try to propose a more sustainable approach to the daily reality in Kaliurang as
tourism area.
Mt. Merapi is considered
as one of the two most powerful mythical kingdoms in Yogyakarta, connected
through an imaginary axis with the Sultanate of Yogyakarta and mythical
Queendom of the Southern Sea. Around Mt. Merapi, the ontological knowledge of
Javanese cosmology used to coexist with Islamic values, tradition rooted in
Hinduism and animism as a heritage knowledge. The aim of this project is to
stimulate and discuss the possibility of exercising folklore and mythology as a
heritage knowledge of how to co-live with the non-human counterpart. It
suggests not only about how to control nature but stresses the importance of
maintaining an equal position of human and non-human alike. The findings would
later be presented to wider public through an art exhibition, series of public
programs, and a publication to transmit the knowledge to younger
generations.
The final project
presentation of all artists at scattered sites around Kaliurang where wider
audience will be guided on the exhibition walking route as a spatial
practice—turning the site into a space of experience. The exhibition route is
chosen based on the current topic as a way to connect the different ideas
brought up by artists’ solo projects and researches. At the end of every
walking tour, the audience will be provided with the complete whole narratives
of the project. For this edition of 900mdpl, the audience will be guided
through forgotten natural tourist spots around Kaliurang and a nature walk
close enough with the nature to experience the richness of it and the
microclimates of Kaliurang but not getting to the point where the nature is
still virgin and protected. Some of the artists’ projects will be presented
outdoors and all artistic production will have carefully measure impact to
remain eco-friendly. Artwork production using natural resources that are
abundant and available, or recyclable waste, or those that are not changing the
ecosystem of the non-human part of the nature are encouraged. The artists
coming from outside Yogyakarta are expected to travel slowly by train instead
of taking a flight and artists from abroad are encouraged to rethink a more
sustainable way to travel or ship the work. For international artists, new
media installation consisting of video or sound work and a publication format
are expected instead of a large scale installation.
At the end of the three
edition of 900mdpl, the afterlife of the projects will be made to support the
continuous process of archiving the space and extend the life of the project.
The publication will be consisting of text contributions from writers and
academics and available in two different editions (English only, or Indonesian
only). A simpler version of a module for elementary school consisting of local
history and environmental sustainability will be made too. The module and
e-pub/pdf version of the publication can be accessed for free for the local
community of Kaliurang under the creative common. For the audience worldwide, a
website is accessible with all the essay and artwork info. Aside from this, a
movable Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversations Kaliurang will be made for
wider audience to learn about the previous editions’ findings and
achieve.