Arin Rungjang: Bengawan Solo

Portikus is pleased to present Bengawan Solo, Arin Rungjang’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany.

Rungjang (*1975, Bangkok) is known for deftly revisiting historical material, overlapping major and minor narratives across multiple time periods, places, and languages. His interest lies in lesser-known aspects of Thai and South-East Asian history and their intersection with the present, both at the sites and within the contexts of his practice. Cultural artifacts, which can draw together distant events from across time and space, are central to his investigations. He has a practice that spans across different media and often involves video and site-specific installation. In his exploration of history and everyday life experiences, he skillfully dissects material and revisits master-narratives through the lens of a small-scale event.

At Portikus, Arin Rungjang will show Bengawan Solo, a seven-channel video installation which he produced for the 2017 Jakarta Biennale. The song is one of most popular Indonesian folk songs, and its title refers to the longest river on the island of Java. Rungjang’s work juxtaposes the artist’s personal narratives, the singers’ stories, and the complex history of “Bengawan Solo.” It contrasts the romantic idea that can be found in the song’s lyrics with the river’s dark history during the Indonesian massacre of 1965–1967.

Rungjang’s first encounter with “Bengawan Solo” was when he saw Wong Kar Wai’s film In the Mood for Love (2000). It was originally written in 1940 by the 23-year-old Gesang Martohartono. Later Rungjang traced the genesis of “Bengawan Solo” and found that the song was about a river called Bengawan that passes through the city of Solo. Composed in a keroncong style, a genre influenced by Portuguese culture from the 15th century, the song depicts the beauty of Bengawan Solo.

From that moment, the meaning of “Bengawan Solo” started to change for the artist.

During the purge of Communists and people of Chinese descent in Indonesia from 1965 to 1966, many dead bodies were thrown into the Bengawan Solo river.

In preparation for the Jakarta Biennale, Arin Rungjang visited the river, where the true story of the massacre upset the romantic overtones in his interpretation of the song. For his video installation, Rungjang invited Rachel Saraswati to sing “Bengawan Solo” with her keroncong group. The display of the individual singer and musicians on every screen is synchronized with texts recounting his personal experience. Rungjang’s work suggests that the meaning of things can change drastically following the twists and turns of our lives and the stories revealed in unexpected situations.

Arin Rungjang’s work has been featured at: documenta 14, Athens/Kassel (2017); CAPC—Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (2015); Satellite 8, Jeu de Paume, Paris (2015); and he was a finalist for the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize (2014). He represented Thailand at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), as well as participated in the 18th Sydney Biennale (2012), the Bandung City Pavilion at the Shanghai Biennale (2012), and the third Singapore Biennale at Old Kallang Airport (2011).

He currently lives in Berlin as a guest of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.

Director: Philippe Pirotte
Curator: Christina Lehnert