Charmed by anxiety
(Terpesona dengan Kegelisahan)
(2021-2022)
- Medium
- colour digital video, sound
- Measurements
- 16 min 10 sec
- Place/s of Execution
- Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Accession Number
- 2022.912
- Department
- Contemporary Art
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased NGV Foundation, 2022
© A+ WORKS of ART and Nadiah BAmadhaj - Gallery location
- Asian Gallery Temporary Exhibition Gallery
Mezzanine linked to Level 1, NGV International - About this work
-
Tepersona dengan Kegelisahan (Charmed by anxiety) is based on the online viral yel-yel TNI videos made by the Indonesian military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI), which are choreographed dances depicting military power and strength. Nadiah Bamadhaj collaborated with the Garuda Merah troops from the Yogakarta Infantry Battallion 403 who perform to the popular song ‘Tepersona’, which is about unrequited love. Set against a black-theatrical space, the song and dance was edited in extreme slow motion, where the sound is like that of a dirge. Bamadhaj’s interest in examining various intricacies and displays of power in Indonesian society has often used the language of architecture and public monuments; the ‘military spectacle operates as a forceful and hyper-masculine war cry’.