Fyerool Darma, Kitschmensch with many failed flags of 1963 Maphilindo Confederation (Reworked) [featuring Tasyo, Nyai Ontosoroh, Efund, tatteredemalion and Exoducks and Manni Wang], 2021- 2023

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Chinese ink on polyfibres, synthetic fibres, cotton, polycotton, taffeta, silk, metal, fibreglass, with aluminium brace and 3M carbon fibre on aluminium with light-emitting diode

240.5 x 118 x 88 cm

Fyerool Darma’s Kitschmensch with many failed flags of 1963 Maphilindo Condeferation (Reworked) is a piece of wearable art modeled on a sleeping bag that recalls the popularity of backpacking in Southeast Asia. The suit is a patchwork of textiles that boast anodyne, touristic imagery of the region. Its aesthetics of kitsch and inauthenticity recuperates the largely forgotten Maphilindo entity, a proposed confederation of Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia that occurred in the 1960s. The deployment of the signifiers of so-called bad taste and mass culture, from cheap fabrics to flat images to low-budget travel, evokes a peculiarly Southeast Asian visual vernacular, as well as its postcolonial imperatives. The artist invokes the idea of a politics of looking: Kitschmensch and its pictorial components speak to the passive consumption of images today, a shifting stream of visual information bequeathed by contemporary media. The suit is featured in an upcoming film project by Fyerool, shot by Taufiq Rahman, to be titled UHD Azn Junglizt 2030; a selection of still images are included in the current presentation.

Exhibitions

Asia Now Paris Asian Art Fair 2023, 20 – 23 October 2023, Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France

From the Land of Gold Beneath the South Seas, curated Louis Ho, ART SG 2023, presented by Yeo Workshop, 12 – 15 January 2023, Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center, Singapore

To A Faraway Friend: Beyond Afro-Southeast Asian Affinities, 2 July—2 October 2022, ASEAN Culture House, Busan, Republic of Korea
In Our Best Interests: Afro-Southeast Asian Affinities during a Cold War, 22 January - 13 March 2021, ADM Gallery, Singapore

Literature

Seet, Yunteng. "Fyerool Darma on Re-Mixing Metaphors, Searching For Irregular Patterns and Questioning The Materials We Mine." Objects, Lessons, Space, 31 July 2023, https://objectlessons.space/Fyerool-Darma-on-Re-Mixing-Metaphors-Searching-For-Irregular-Patterns