Dito Yuwono.
Dito Yuwono (b.1985) works as a visual artist-curator in Yogyakarta – Indonesia. He is interested in the narrative of how a space is interwoven with politics, whether it is a domestic space or a public sphere. His works often addresses social issues through the production of site-specific work, video, photography, and audio-visual installation. In his practice, he uses a form of storytelling using a personal approach to subtly grasp the bigger picture of the socio-political environment.
In the past five years, Dito did numerous residencies as part of his artistic practice at institutions such as The Northern Territory Center for Contemporary Art – Australia; Ruangrupa – Jakarta; Jatiwangi Art Factory – Indonesia; GOLEB & Het Wilde Weten – The Netherlands; and TIFA Working Studios – India. His work has been exhibited in Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art – United States, Jimei X Arles International Photo Festival 2017, Cemeti Institute for Art and Society – Indonesia, ISCP New York – United States, Jakarta International Photo Festival ’22, among others.
/ Selected Projects /
Sand Run through Your Hand, Flow with the Water
Titled “Sand Run through Your Hand, Flow with the Water”, Dito Yuwono’s video scrutinizes the sand mining industry and the human-nonhuman relationship through the ecological perspectives within the local context of Mt. Merapi.
The questions are rooted in the locals’ belief that things that come from the volcano are considered ancestral material inhabited by spirits. This is where ideas of local beliefs and ecological impact intertwined.
A Kingdom, a Giant Mushroom Shaped Volcano
Dito Yuwono’s series of photographs titled “A Kingdom, a Giant Mushroom Shaped Volcano”, is part of his long-term research on the extractive practice of the sand mining industry under Mount Merapi volcano. Anchored in the connection between the world of the human and the non-human, the visible to the invisible, and the mythical to the ‘real’ world due to its proximity to Mount Merapi; the research question the presence of displaced spirits that are extracted from the volcano through the sand mining industry.
The First Political Space Called Home #2
In the “First Political Space Called Home #2”, it is the intergenerational encounter that became the main object of observation. In relation to the house as a political narrative production space, there is a transfer of feelings, views, understandings, and experiences — narrative migration of the history.
However, migration of the narrative does not always run smoothly and the reproduction of the narrative (supported by “memory”) is no longer oriented towards story/fact likeness. This migration of the narrative actually exists as a process rather than as an objective; a process that reconfirms roles while repositioning space and spatial politics.
The Map Drawn from Memory
A compilation of fictional-documentary narratives from five old workers who works for an old Hotel called Shalimaar Hotel in Pune, India.
The First Political Space Called Home
Solo exhibition in Cemeti Institute for Art and Society, Indonesia called “The First Political Space Called Home” The exhibition takes its starting point from my understanding of domestic space as the first site of political encounter.
Collective (im)Possibilities: The Politics of Too Many Dinner Parties
A short research about collectivity; followed by a intervention titled “Collective (im)Possibilities: The Politics of Too Many Dinner Parties”, in his residency in Project GOLEB.
WakareKaraoke
A project that he make during his residency in Jatiwangi Art Factory, Indonesia. Wakare itself is known by the local residents as a folk song that was used as form of protest against the Japanese that occupy seven village around Jatiwangi area around 1942.
The Geography of Here and There
A two works project during his residency in Northern Center for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Darwin – Australia: 1. Gaze Study: North-West South-East, and 2. The Fan Club. An effort to find the position of NCCA as an institution, the image of Darwin through the citizen’s eyes, its geographical position that is closer to Asia than to other cities in Australia, and also its history and politics.
Recollecting Memories: Tukang Foto Keliling (National Monument
An extension of Recollecting Memories: Tukang Foto Keliling (Itinerant Photographer) in 2014. This time he choose the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta as his research area.
The Memories of Unidentified Experience
A project about his learning about his personal history and memories of the past that was lost. The project consist of three stories, “Naked”, “Prescribed”, and “Sleeping with Myself”.
Recollecting Memories: Tukang Foto Keliling (Itinerant Photographer)
A research based art project that focuses on tracking the practices of tourism photography in Kaliurang.
The Secret Garden of Ledok Timoho
The Secret Garden of Ledok Timoho (2012) is a documentation project about people who lives illegally in Ledok Timoho, a riverside wasteland by Gajahwong river that used to be part of governmental project later abandoned in 1998 because of the political turmoil in Indonesia. On that spot, a group of young people start to build their own organic garden to provide sustainable food for local community. This project is specifically focused on five people who organize the garden, and the garden area which both very solid and vulnerable at the same time.
/ Selected Group Exhibition /
- “Jakarta International Photo Festival’22”, Group Exhibition, Jakarta – Indonesia
- “Collective (Im)Possibilities: Deconstructing Misfortune”, Group Exhibition, Ruang MES56, Yogyakarta – Indonesia
- “900mdpl: Genealogy of Ghosts and How To Live with Them”, Group Exhibition, Kaliurang, Yogyakarta – Indonesia
- “Surveying Surfacing”, Group Exhibition, Ruang Dini, Bandung – Indonesia
- “Iwaya Community Biennale Lagos 2021 (ICAB-Lagos 2021)”, Group Exhibition, Lagos – Nigeria
- “On Heavy Rotation: The Understatement (ARTJOG MMXXI)”, Group Exhibition, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta – Indonesia
- “Hotel Asia Project: The Happiest Place on Earth”, Group Exhibition, Ruang MES56, Yogyakarta – Indonesia
- “Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversations”, Group Exhibition, International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York – United States of America
- “MANIFESTO 6.0: MULTIPOLAR”, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta – Indonesia.
- “Most Things Happen when I am Asleep”, Artspace NZ, Auckland – New Zealand.
- “Tale of Two Cities: Narrative Archive of Memories”, Gimhae Arts and Sports Center, Gimhae – South Korea.
- “Assembly of Access”, TIFA Working Studios, Pune – India.
- “Jimei X Arles International Photo Festival 2017”, Xiamen – China.
- “900mdpl”, Kaliurang, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “The History of Boys: The Mes 56 and Beyond”, Deck, Singapore.
- “Identity Crisis: Reflections on Public and Private Life in Contemporary Javanese Photography”, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca – United States.
- “Village Video Festival #8”, Jatiwangi Art Factory, Jatiwangi – Indonesia.
- “PROOF Photo Exhibition”, Northern Center for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Darwin – Australia.
- “Indonesia in Song Eun: Mes 56 – Keren dan Beken”, Song Eun Art Space, Seoul – South Korea.
- “The Creatures from the Black Lagoon”, Mayfair Gallery, Darwin – Australia.
- “Seni Indonesia Berkabung”, Pusat Kebudayaan Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “Poetry of Space”, Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “Manifesto No. 4”, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta – Indonesia.
- “Arte 2014”, Jakarta Convention Center, Jakarta – Indonesia.
- “1×25 Jam”, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “Disana Project”, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “Constellation”, Blanc Gallery, Manila – Philippines.
- “Feels Like Home”, Kelas Pagi Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “Bela Bangsa”, LirSpace, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “Archive: Reclaim.doc”, (Part of Melawan Lupa Project by Ruang Mes 56), National Gallery, Jakarta – Indonesia.
- “Dies Natalis XXVII Institut Seni Indonesia” (Part of Melawan Lupa Project by Ruang Mes 56), Indonesian Art Institute, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “ArtJog 12”, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
- “3Point Award” (Part of Photography Month by French Culture Center), Rumah Pagi Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta – Indonesia.