Acehnese performance artist shares stories at ICAD 2018

Various random items with eye-catching colors immediately attracted visitors who entered the 3 meter by 4 meter white room at the Indonesian Contemporary Art & Design (ICAD), which will run at the Grand Kemang Hotel in South Jakarta until Nov. 30.

Some of the visitors could be found marveling at the unique random items, which ranged from a water dipper, caping (traditional hat), a water bucket, a red cellphone, a scrap of photo used as wallpaper and fish to plastic toy tank.

"What is this?" asked one of the visitors, while another took a selfie with the items in the background.

Created by performance artist Agus Nur Amal or Agus PMTOH, the items are usually used in his solo show of Acehnese traditional storytelling as stage props.

"This time, I served as one of the artists that presented my work at the ICAD, which was initiated by the Yayasan Design+Art Indonesia Foundation," said Agus.

Agus said he had been utilizing daily items to convey a moral message to the public for years. In his hands, the objects become alive and assist him in making the audience laugh.

"I use these items as the construction base of my story that I consider to be quite communicative since each of them has morphed as required by the theme [of the story]," said Agus, adding that he wanted to broaden his audiences' imagination and lure them into exploring every simple or complicated story that he delivered.

This is the third time Agus has participated in an exhibition.

"The objects presented in this exhibition have their own stories as they were obtained in Aceh after the tsunami and became a story unto themselves. For instance, I got the colorful children's shoes and the doll head in Gampong Pande, a region in Aceh that was damaged the most by the tsunami."

The ninth installment of the ICAD, themed Kisah (Story), features more than 30 creative minds from all over the country. (kes)

Sourch: Acehnese performance artist shares stories at ICAD 2018