Nusantara Cultural

Appreciation in Media Arts

Suzy Sulaiman
1st July 2021
 4 core ideas
Relevance of the discourse in contemporary society

Defining the key terms

Media / Art Projects

Tendencies of media / art in Nusantara

Why “Nusantara”?
Why now?
“Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the
premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can be modeled in ways that
communicate spatial information effectively.”

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartography
Nusantara: Delineating its authentic map based on indegenious sources* 13th-14th century
 Title: Eastern Side of Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales's Island,
Title: View Overlooking Georgetown Media: Print 1814 Width: 220 With Fort Cornwallis Media: Engraving Width: 435 mm (17.1 in)
mm (8.7 in) Height: 140 mm (5.5 in) Height: 274 mm (10.8 in) Year of creation: 1810
Date 1811 http://www.penangmuseum.gov.my/museum/museum/historical-
Collection of Penang State Museum paintings
http://www.penangmuseum.gov.my/museum/museum/historical-pai
ntings
 Identity vs.
homogeneity
 Language Death
In the modern period (c. 1500 CE–present; following the rise of colonialism),
language death has typically resulted from the process of cultural assimilation
leading to language shift and the gradual abandonment of a native language
in favour of a foreign lingua franca, largely those of European countries.[4][5][6]
As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,000 natively spoken languages existed
worldwide. Most of these are minor languages in danger of extinction; one
estimate published in 2004 expected that some 90% of the currently spoken
languages will have become extinct by 2050.[7][8]
(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_death)
Source: http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/#/5/1.188/125.594/0/100000/0/low/mid/high/unknown
 Muthu Nedumaran:
Preserving the diversity and identity of script in the region

“Muthu Nedumaran has over 3 decades of

experience in designing typefaces for
complex scripts. In the 80s, he developed
bitmapped fonts for dot-matrix and laser
printers. This, together with his simplified
input method for the Tamil script, changed the
entire landscape of Tamil printing in Malaysia
and Singapore. Muthu’s type design for
Indian and Indo-Chinese scripts are now
bundled into iOS and macOS and some
Android devices. Besides Typography Muthu
has also innovated and built fast and efficient
input methods for all the languages he works
on, in various platforms.”

Source: https://2021.typographics.com/conference/muthu-nedumaran_joanne-chew_sueh-li/

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFMToEw0sHc&t=1646s
Searching for a shared identity of the region
Media/Art Kitchen: Reality Distortion Field
● Survey exhibition on media
art in southeast Asia and
Japan.
●
● 13 curators from Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Vietnam,
Thailand and Japan.
●
● Exhibitions in 6 countries.

Source:https://mediaartkitchen.tumblr.com
Media/Art Kitchen: Reality Distortion Field
 Defining: Media Art
“media art is understood to apply to all forms of time-related art works
which are created by recording sound or visual images. A time-related art
work is a work that changes and 'moves', in contrast to older art forms that
are static, which stand still, such as paintings, photographs and most
sculptures.

Time-related art works include works in the fields of sound, video and
computer art, both installations and internet projects, and single
channel works. Single channel works are video works that are shown by
projection, or on a monitor screen.”

Source: : http://www.nimk.nl/eng/education/what-is-media-art)
 Defining: Media Art
“...one can appreciate symbolic meanings and aesthetics and also appreciate it

for datafication and other technical aspects that make the medium what it is.”

Unlike modern art, where it becomes an icon to convey a symbolic meaning and

aesthetics; in media art there is an appreciation of the technical consideration and

technology behind the artwork.

Source: Seen/Unseen (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Japan)

 Defining: Media Art
Like film appreciation, where it can be appreciated as a media and a medium. A

person could appreciate the aesthetics and symbolic meanings in the stories

portrayed in the film or appreciate how the film was made such as the frames per

second. There is a “process-oriented” appreciation that is commonly associated

with media and tech-based art.

Source: Seen/Unseen (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Japan)

 Nusantara

Source:
https://www.longdom.org/open-access/nusantara-delineating-its-authentic-map-base
d-on-indigenous-sources-2375-4516-1000163.pdf
 What role does the media have in our daily lives?
What is the turning point where media overlaps with
“artistic expression”?
Jogja River Project (2011-)
(Lifepatch & friends)
 Jogja River Project (2011-)
(Lifepatch & friends)

Source: https://andreassiagian.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/jogja-river-project-project/
Jogja River Project (2011-)
(Lifepatch & friends)
Jogja River Project (2011-)
(Lifepatch & friends)
 Tragedi Insan Berembang (2005-06)
(Anak-anak Seni Kg. Berembang & Fahmi Redza, Lostgen & para seniman)
Tragedi Insan Berembang (2005-06)
(Anak-anak Seni Kg. Berembang & Fahmi Redza, Lostgen & para seniman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmHqo3OjWQA&t=233s
Sekolah Main Wayang (2015)
(Fairuz Sulaiman & rakan-rakan)
Operasi Cassava (2012-present)
(Lim Kok Yoong (Wing)
Operasi Cassava (2012-present)
(Lim Kok Yoong (Wing)
Operasi Cassava is an online archive that
enables storage and access of social
memory in the form of still images, sounds
and texts related to the cassava plant for its
rich cultural history, particularly in South East
Asia. This project was set forth to recast the
cultural distinctiveness in the midst of the
diversity of people and experiences as a
positive integrative force in the sustenance of
social identity in Malaysia.
 Media Art in the context of Nusantara
“new formulation “Media / Art” (media that is also art), which, with its insertion of a slash between media
and art, can now be reinterpreted as “that which mediates and its technology.”

Far from the so-called hi-tech “media art” first established through the integration of cutting-edge
technology, expensive equipment and specialized knowledge in programming, it is the works and
projects rooted in a kind of DIY spirit, which adaptively make use of the environments and resources at
hand and are produced through flexible creativity and independent experimentation with technology,
which provide the most insight into the knowledge required for creative living and its possibilities, as well
as into the questions of how to define media and how to understand what media is capable of
producing.

Source:https://mediaartkitchen.tumblr.com
Anthropological:

the customary beliefs, social forms, and material

traits of a racial, religious, or social group.

CULTURE

Sociological:

The characteristic features of everyday existence (such as

diversions or a way of life) shared by people i.e “pop
culture” or “Southern culture”.

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture
MEDIA / ART

Source:https://mediaartkitchen.tumblr.com
Tendencies of media/art in Nusantara
1. DIY vs. Do-It-With-Others (DIWO)
2. Collaborative practices
3. Hacktivism (Hacking + Activism)
4. Piracy, privacy and creative commons
5. Co-authorship vs. single author
6. Narrative-based / storytelling
7. Critically vs. consumerism
Thank you