[S]MALLSERIES #3 : Quantum Omnibus
Curator : Mulyakarya Yogyakarta
Artists : Angel Melanie, Agni Saraswati, Alfin Agnuba, Vendy Methodos, Wulang Sunu, Yonas Kristy, Antonius Ipur, Upit Dyoni, Erwan Iwank, Danang Catur, Yudha Sandy
[S]mallseries is an annual exhibition that is held by Independent Art-space and Management (I AM). The concept of [S]mallseries is a collaborative exhibition involving (more or less) 10 artists. This exhibition sets a rule that the works should not exceed 50 cm², dimension-wise. The artists are FREE to choose the theme and the media of their works. I AM has held two [S]mallseries shows and for this 3rd [S]mallseries, it has assigned Mulyakarya as the curator.
From the beginning, Mulyakarya enthusiastically analyzes the word ‘series’. From there, a film series spontaneously came to mind. A film series in which each episode is independent and varied. A film series that was once a favorite. A film series about time travel. Nonetheless, this one was a little different, not only was it about jumping from one time and space to another, but also from one body to another. Quantum Leap film series, it is. The word Quantum in the title of this exhibition comes from that film series.
Quantum Leap was a TV series that told a story about a time-traveler named Dr. Sam Beckett. When time-traveling, he saw that he became a different figure. This figure could be seen when he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He became someone else and controlled the history of the person whose body he took over. The figure of the story always changed in each episode of this series because Dr. Sam Becker kept jumping from one’s life to another’s. He once became an old black man who lived in the 50’s when racism was a very sensitive issue in America. He also once became a young boy who was always bullied by his peers. Among the figures he had become were a jet pilot, an Italian Mafioso and even a woman at times! The problems faced by each person he ‘took over’ were diverse and had to be resolved in various ways. After accomplishing a mission, he would jump/move. That is how his life was, seemingly to constantly move endlessly. His only hope was to come back to his actual body and life.
We sense that this film hoped to express the value that every human deserves attention, love, to be heard and to be helped in solving their problems. Dr. Sam Beckett could not choose as to which person he would take over every time he ‘jumped’. He always gave his attention and help to every person he took over, either when he became a black person, an old man, a troubled person, a dumb person, a villain, an unfortunate person, a drunkard, a woman, even a transgender, or whoever they were. Everybody is equal, everybody is important.
Omnibus comes from the word omnis, Latin for “all” or “many”. In the film industry, omnibus is used for depicting a film in which various themes and stories occur, sometimes also by several directors and writers, but all those are somehow linked to each other in general. In architecture, there is also the term ‘Urban Omnibus’: an area that has many kinds of dwelling.
Yes…this term is intentionally paired with Quantum as the title of the 3rd [S]mallseries. This term is employed to highlight the diversity in the exhibition, yet shows the red thread: small series. In a broader sense, this term also depicts the tendency and the behavior of today’s generation, when we become a part of the global pop world, virtually connected, cut through the partitions of physical space that was once the determinants of the group’s character and culture.
Now we live in the digital culture, a culture that is not merely determined by the shared physical and territorial characters, a culture that upholds open access, complex information and knowledge. All are easily connected by technology devices that are increasingly becoming human’s primary need. Google, Youtube, Yahoo, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp are products of the digital culture that have changed the world in the last decade.
We have been provided the gate to a new world that enables us to be connected and to transact in it; presenting signs without presenting ourselves physically, yet without losing the essence.
This digital culture will indeed produce more references and inspirations; we will find, see, copy and follow whatever exists and fancied more easily. Moreover, each individual is entitled to deciding their personal choices as written in one of the basic terms of Twitter: follow you like. Yes…just follow what you like. Because whatever the choice is, everything will be connected in Quantum.
Photos : Dwe Rachmanto , Antonius Ipur
