A Spy in the House Of White Lies

Jakarta Globe, Marcel Thee, January 22, 2010

Inspired by Anais Nin, Syagini Ratna Wulan’s exhibition examines ideas of deception and intimacy.  (Photo courtesy of Vivi Yip)

Artist Syagini Ratna Wulan wants to guide people through the deception and intrigue common to everyday life with her new exhibition, “Love Affair Pt. 1: The Dining Room/White Lies.”

The exhibition is the first in a three-part project, and is currently on show at the Vivi Yip Art Room in South Jakarta.

Syagini says the exhibition aims to “explore the secrecy of double love-lives, unfaithfulness, seduction and the expurgation of fantasies.” She adds that it “stems from something very simple and basic, concerning the emotional connection between human beings.”

Featuring a range of works and objects, including paintings, drawings, furniture, clothing, tableware, embroidery and domestic objects, the exhibition creates what curator Agung Hujatnikajennong describes as an “enigmatic, sensual and ambient narrative.”

The centerpiece of the show is a dining room draped completely in white, including the cutlery on the dining table. Syagini says the inspiration for her installations was a novel by French author Anais Nin, “A Spy in the House of Love” (1954). Syagini was intrigued by the elements of sexual intrigue and taboos as well as the issues of intimacy.

“The dining room does not work merely as a room where food is served and eaten, but also a room where a family’s intimacy and social interaction takes place,” Agung says. “An argument that happens in the dining room holds the same significance as an argument that takes place in an office, the bedroom and even a government chamber. We can just imagine [Syagini’s] dining room as a place where anything is possible.

“It works as an open text which aims to break social mores, which are driven by humans’ natural instincts.”

Syagini graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology in 2001 and continued her studies at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Previous works include “The Ten Commandments” (2001), a bar of soap on which she printed the Ten Commandments. In another exhibition, “Delirium” (2002), Syagini displayed household items inside chemical bottles as a comment on “the hallucinations of the public as consumers.”

In her latest exhibition Syagini hopes to convey the more oblique, often unseen, side of human behavior.

“Lies, affairs and betrayal are like bones,” she said. “They cannot be seen because they are wrapped under the skin. But just like bones, the secrets we keep from others can truly show who we really are.”

Love Affair Pt. 1: The Dining Room/White Lies
Until Jan. 26, free entry
Vivi Yip Art Room
Lot 2-3 The Promenade
Jl. Warung Buncit Raya 98
South Jakarta

For opening hours, please contact:
081 511 67 1207
021 7900 480

www.vivivyipartroom.com