15.09.22 — 05.11.22

ATTUNEMENT

A group exhibition by Agung Santosa, Agus Suwage, Budi Kustarto, Dadang Rukmana, Dewa Ngakan Made Ardana, Eddie Hara, Eko Nugroho, Goenawan Mohamad, Handiwirman Saputra, Heri Dono, J. Ariadhitya Pramuhendra, Jumaldi Alfi, Mella Jaarsma, Ronald Efendi, Sardono W. Kusumo, Teguh Ostenrik, Uji 'Hahan' Handoko Eko Saputro, Yuli Prayitno, Yusra Martunus

Nadi Gallery's 22nd Anniversary as a Festival

Gleaming decorations, strewn gifts, and arrays of food and drinks accompanied by traffic of laughter are the popular displays for birthday celebrations. Reductively as well as normatively, these things are often apprehended as the being of a birthday celebration event and what birthday celebration should be celebrated. The meaningfullness of a birthday celebration that is immune from these things, shall be put into question or even doubted. What is a birthday party without the gleaming of decoration, piles of gift, dinner party, and laughter? Another question that we may ask as a contestating question is: Will the meaningfullness or significance of a birthday celebration be intact still by the presence of the things above? From a certain perspective, the answer to this question is no. The certain perspective that is referred to is the perspective of one of the contemporary German philosophers, namely Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002). His philosophical view of festivals shall be presented as a philosophical framework that is different from that of existing popular view of birthday celebration. The decision to opt for his philosophical account specifically related to the Nadi Gallery's 22nd anniversary event.

Historically, the birth of the Nadi Gallery itself was initiated by Mr. Biantoro Santoso. Its existence has contributed in making the dynamics development of fine arts in Indonesia more colourful since 2000, exactly on September 15th. Mr. Biantoro's love and devotion in promoting contemporary art does not stand merely as constitutive elements for the gallery’s existence, but also plays a prominent role in perpetuating the pulse of the Indonesian art’s body to this day. The support from the artists as well as the challenges which arise from various situations also interweave the dynamics of its existence. The Covid-19 pandemic was one of the situational challenges that Galeri Nadi recently faced. This global situation had become an obstacle for the gallery to celebrate its birthday for two years and it demanded various changes, both small and large, in keeping its existence established. The struggle with this challenging situation has prompted Galeri Nadi to interpret the 22nd anniversary of his birthday from a different perspective. The point of view that is referred to here, as mentioned earlier, is Gadamer's philosophical account of festival.

From Gadamer's perspective, the term “festival” refers to his view of the temporal and collective experience of art and beyond, namely our overall experience of the world (Grondin 2001, 45). Festivals are characterized by a certain temporality in which we are enticed. Its enticement disrupts and dislocates our everyday experience of time (which is often viewed objectively) (Lawn 2006, 94). In a festival, our daily experience of time is suspended and at the same time it injects a mystery into the festive event. This can be illustrated by the birthday of the Nadi Gallery which, before the emergence of the pandemic, was regularly celebrated every year. Even though the event of its birth day is celebrated every year, the meaning of each celebration is always different; there is no such thing as fixed and "routine" meaning. Every event of celebration reveals a different and deeper meaning. It uprises us from the routine of everyday life and offers an opportunity to re-atttune ourselves and our relationship with the world. Each festival opens an opportunity for us to reevaluate our existence in the world in a reflective and deliberative way (Lawn 2006, 95). This also indicates that festivals don't always have to be associated with laughter, feasts, let alone crowds of gifts; it is not necessarily linked to joy or happiness. For Gadamer, sadness or mourning is also a qualitative experience that is shared in a festival.

Festivals are there to be celebrated. But what is the festive character of a festival? Naturally, this quality need not always be associated with joy or happiness, since in mourning we also share this festive character together (Gadamer 1986, 58).

The festival does not stand as a mere canal for joy and happiness to travel, but is a reflective moment for each individual who participates in it. A shared moment to reevaluate reflectively and deliberatively our relationship with the world we are living in.

Commonality, the active involvement of each person in a festival is also understood as something that is necessarily fundamental. Gadamer's view of festivals is not only about temporal experience, but also a collective one. This collective experience of the festival is demonstrated by him emphasizing the importance of participation. Participation, for Gadamer, is an essential element of the festival (Grondin 2001, 46). Festivals are there to be celebrated and celebrations cannot be acted upon individually. Gadamer himself states that “a festival is an experience of community and represents community in its most perfect form” (Gadamer 1986, 39). In festivals, participating or taking on roles for the sake of getting unified by intention, has become everything.

The last thing that is worth pointing out in this foreword is that every festival raises awareness of the fragility of human life and this is one temporal aspect of the festival (Grondin 2001, 47). When we participate in a festival, we may ask ourselves with both gratitude and anxiety, for example, “How many more holidays can we celebrate together?” Within the scope of this 22nd Nadi Gallery's anniversary celebration, such mixed feelings can also arise. For example, "How many more anniversaries can we celebrate together?" or “Can I still participate or be involved in its 23rd anniversary event?” The festival is nothing but a reflective moment to celebrate the finitude of humanity and in finitude, people get In touch with their humanity.

Ferdinand Indrajaya


Bibliography:
Gadamer, Hans-Georg. The Relevance of Beautiful and Other Essays. Translated by Nicholas Walker. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Grondin, Jean. “Play, Festival, and Ritual in Gadamer: On the theme of the immemorial in his later works.” In Language and Linguisticality in Gadamer’s Hermeneutics, 43-50. Lanham: Lexinton Books, 2001.
Lawn, Chris. Gadamer: A Guide for The Perplexed. London: Continuum, 2006.