The Museum of The Unworthy

A creative engagement with Piyungan Landfill, Yogyakarta

Nindityo Adipurnomo – Ferial Afiff – M. Lugas Syllabus – Anang Saptoto – Cassandra Schultz – Ned Branchi – Hedi Hariyanto – Tony Maryana – Andita Purnama

Start Time: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7:30pm
End Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 5:00pm
Location: Cemeti Art House
Street: Jl. D.I Panjaitan 41
City/Town: Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Phone: 62274371015
Email: cemetiah@indosat.net.id

“In an unproblematic sense garbage is leftover matter, it is what remains when the good, fruitful, valuable, nourishing and useful has been taken. Appropriation is the mother of garbage.In another guise this is seen as human propensity for differentiation (a complicated way of saying we choose or accept something whilst rejecting something else) that inaugurates a lifetime of cutting-off, disconnection and removal. Nevertheless, these activities become the principal means of marking of the valuable and the worthy, and this sense differentiation is what establishes culture.” (Scanlan, John On Garbage ReaktionBooks, London, 2005 pg 13)

When I first saw a photograph of Piyungan a few years ago, I was struck by the resemblance the cattle and people sifting though the waste bore to Van Gogh’s Gleaners. The image was almost idyllic until closer inspection revealed the nature of the matter from which this landscape was composed, a landscape of garbage. Gleaning was once a practice undertaken by the poor in Europe, following the harvest and collecting unwanted leftovers. This practice has virtually disappeared in industrialized nations. Fascinated by the difference between the barren and invisible landfill sites in my own country, and the chaotic and inhabited landscape of Piyungan, I determine to come and see this place for my self.

That people and cattle should live and work amongst waste raises the questions of how all this stuff came to be discarded, when it obviously still contain much that is sustaining and of value. The scale of the waste is awe inspiring; it is in installation of major proportion, made up of the most intriguing and disgusting items juxtaposed in random relationships that bear no reference to their origins.

In conversations with a local I was told a mountain of waste could be as deep as 500 meters and covers an area of around 80 acres . in 2010, the site is anticipated to be unable to hold anymore, and the steady stream of garbage truck will cease to bring their loads. Much of this waste is plastic and will never biodegrade. The piyungan mountain of waste will remain as a monument to consumption, to loss of desire.

Finally standing on this mountain, I began to see my position in relation to this place, and to the role of the artist in creating desire, consumption and excess and ultimately, waste. To consider the commoditization of art itself, where the reputation of the artist, the dealer, the gallery, replace and over ride intent and original message contained in the work of art, if ever there was one. In tracing the hand of the artist, the designer, the manufacture, the trader and the consumer, the constant desire to upgrade and replace worthy commodities maybe revealed.

In relation to this, I invited a number of artist to come with me to piyungan landfill site and make works which responded to these notions. Each artist has responded in differently and intersected with the underlying themes in diverse and complex ways. Each has found experience of actually visiting and standing of this mountain of waste, amongst the people and the animals that leave there, to be challenging, revealing and inspiring. In presenting their works. We hope to share this with a broader audience and inspire a dialogue which resonates beyond the gallery walls.

Cassandra Lehman-Schultz, artist in residence, Cemeti Art House, Jogjakarta, March-June 2009
This is an Asialink Project funded by the Australia Indonesia Institute and arts Queensland.