Webbing Projects

Webbing Project 
23.05 - 30.05 2015 
Museum of Osaka University, Osaka - Japan 

Curator: M. Dwi Marianto 
Writer: Anton Larenz 

The Webbing Project consists of two elements: the exhibition of artworks with different visual media (photography, installation, painting) and a collaboration between performers and dancers, translating the basic ideas of The Webbing Project into motion and dance.
The project started from the idea to bring different arts together, with artists from several countries. Most of the participating artists come from Indonesia, but live and work in other countries (Denmark, Liechtenstein and Japan). There are also artists from Japan and Denmark involved with this project. All of the participants are experienced to perform and work in international contexts. Artists today build a kind of international community beyond borders building a web of communication by using their .special artistic means amd finding a common language to express their ideas and concerns.

The Webbing Project is build on metaphors derived from nature, but refers as well to technology and development. An archaic and mythical symbol like the spider that is spinning threads and building nets serves as a metaphor for representing the activity of webbing or connecting through lines of communication (through cables, ropes, thread and so on). Webbing as a natural process and activity... 

Another natural process that is refered to by the artists implies the process of fermentation. Fermentation once induced transforms natural materials into something else, an irreducible process once started. It could be stopped at a certain point when the substance is ready for consumption. The results of this process could be eaten (like certain kinds of mushrooms or cheese, or yeast being used in bakery products) or drunk (for example alcoholic drinks, but also soy sauce or yoghurt) or used in other forms. The fermenting process breeds something new, it is also a perfect metaphor for artistic and creative activities. 

The Webbing Project addresses social and environmental issues, fermentation has become a sensitive issue in Indonesia because of religious reasons (Islam prohibits drinking alcohol). Other sensitive issues like tradition and modernity (or change) are involved in several artworks. Traditional art forms are transformed to contemporary comments on universal conditions, with different perspectives evoked  through the choice of materials and styles. 

Intelligently woven structures combine the threads between different forms of expression, forming a web of entanglement.  The Webbing Project creates an intense performer/artist – audience relation, exploring different ways to understand the various ways of connecting and shows the intersection of communication technology, mythology and nature through the arts.

Anton Larenz, anthropologist and art writer