kelvin atmadibrata

It's been a while since my last residency blog which was back in 2017 with Rimbun Dahan. This year, still in the midst of covid-19 pandemic, I am beyond grateful for the opportunity for studio residency with V SS L in Deptford, London, UK. The residency comes at the time when I really need access to working space but also a safe space for discourses and collaboration. For the next seven months, I will be sharing the space with two co-directors of V SS L, Joseph Morgan Schofield and Benjamin Sebastian as well as Adriana Disman who is also doing the residency with me. Super stoked to be working with the three of them who are live/performance art practitioners whom I greatly admire.

I have several plans spanned over the next coupld of months but it was interesting to visit Deptford for the first time. I have been living in London for the past two years but my geographical exploration has been limited to south west and north east boroughs. Deptford which is located south east near Lewisham and Greenwhich is one that I visited for the first time in November 2020- and to my pleasant surprise that the area is filled with asian grocers and vietnamese restaurant. Fast google search seemed to suggests the area being Vietnam-town. Will definitely roam the area more in the enxt couple of weeks, when lockdown is eased.

V SS L itself is located in one of the units within Enclave of Resolution Way with art spaces as its neighbors. We started the residency during the second nation-wide lockdown so the area is relatively quiet at the moment- hopefully it will peak up crowd and bustles in December.

This year has actually been relatively passive for my creative output. Compared to 2019 when I took up over twenty projects around UK and EU, this year, primarily due to my intent to focus on graduation project as well as the global pandemic, I revisited video gaming back- (ehem) almost full time. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: War of the Vision (gosh, that is a mouthful) has been dominatingg my daily routine especially since I took on the role of guild war scouting in May. I have been approaching the experience as some sort of research, accompanying a series of self-reflection of past works. I hope the accumulated materials (which are quite abundant; from gender representation in modern gaming culture (gacha and waifu collections) to the risk of gambling addiction, as well as the trend of e-girls and boys within video gaming stream sculture) can develop into a much coherent project in coming months. I have picked up my short dissertation paper last year, titled "only a girl can save me now" which is based on Hatsune Miku and the recent religious-blasphemy case in Indonesia to be revisited with elements from this current gaming venture. I have presented a preliminary presentation with Slant Project- a online studio program I am currently involved in alongside V SS L.

To get the ball rolling, I have been realizing a new performance piece titled "I Believe You!!' which was to be premiered in Manchester this month and its two-dimensional collage pieces exhibition in London; however, both have been postponed to next year due to lockdown. Hence I have been making drawings and collages over the past few weeks. Apart from that, I have also recently left my student accommodation of two years and moved into a new flat where in the midst of moving, I realized the ridiculous amount of hoarded carton boxes- mostly from delivery services. I hate to see them being thrown away that I spent the last weeks cutting them into smaller pieces- in the hope of using them as the base of a series of work.

With the physical space that i have now access to, I decided to start experimenting with the collected materials.

The current idea is to create a brick wall- sort of- from cartons that visually hints towards the contrasts of three little pigs' houses. There is also an inspiration from 2016's anime 映画聲の形 directed by Naoko Yamada, based on best-selling manga by Yoshitoki Ōima. I watched the two and a half hour long story of bullying and its loneliness effects on adolescents on Netflix during the first lockdown based in May that it resonated with the current pandemic and the general scenery of solitude. This work is at this early stage, going to be very much inspired by this film.

i have a brief projection of how the installation and performance will be- but I think I will share them bit by bits through this residency blog updates.

Some other shots of brick walls I found whilst strolling in the city. I suppose the attempt in 'replicating' or 'sculpting' I must say, brick walls with carton boxes is inspired by primarily the latter's socio-economical context.

There is so much relation between carton boxes with both contrasting human conditions- the homeless and their counterpart.

But the approach towards the material is very much on opposite ends- one depends on it for survival, temporary shelter, often as speech bubbles pleading for help.

The other, one that I might put myself within it, purely convenience and security that is of a luxury and not urgency. Food and online shopping deliveries, packed securely but also to be argued, monotonously. Vibrant items turned dull brown, curvy objects turned squarish.

I feel the conflict between my encounters with the materials is flabbergasting and coflicting as I have not been able to juggle these altercations of how I need to handle carton boxes- or maybe I should not aim for a singular response but I hope this forray into familiarizing myself with the materials throughout the residency could somehow shed some lights onto my personal understanding on these issues.

Like the three little pigs' houses, which one do I, did I and will I belong to?

Apart from the carton boxes, one plan to proceed onto this exploration is by extending the hand gestural experiments that I have been exploring for several years now. My approach towards performances have shifted slightly by trying to pay deeper importance on a specific pair of limbs, or a limb as a representation or containment of bodily energy of the living.

There are so much that we as social beings communicate with through gestures and presence- one aspect that attracted me towards live art in general. I took a brief Level 1 British Sign Language course last summer to simply get a more practical grasp on non-verbal communication and gestural performances- where I feel and this has just come to light while writing this entry, pay homage to the craft of mime performance.

Going back to its socio-economical perspective, disability is considerably one of the common denominator that establishes some sort of social and economical patritions- hence power struggle and the tower of hierarchy.

The preliminary drawings here speaks: friends.

month 1