This project started as a participatory performance with hot chocolate and a refrigerator, as part of ‘900mdpl’, curated by LIR (Mira Asriningtyas and Dito Yuwono) in Kaliurang, Indonesia. For the exhibition ‘Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversations: LIR at ISCP, New York’ I ‘translated the site-specific experience in Indonesia into this apron/table for the New York Audience. The chocolate fingers refer to power structures and figures in history, who point at others: you are right- you are wrong, you are a colonial, you are a corruptor, etc.
During colonial time, in the former Dutch East Indies, the Dutch created settlements in mountainous areas to escape the tropical heat. They built second homes in Puncak, Lembang, Munduk, and Kaliurang amongst others. Up till now, in these areas, there are many examples of Dutch architecture and other colonial traces to be found.
In central Kaliurang, a village located on the slope of the volcano Merapi, there is a small house that has always reminded me of my grandmother’s home in the Netherlands. In the eighties and nineties, I used to visit this house to get a shot of nostalgia, fresh air and a cup of hot chocolate. For this project, which takes Kaliurang as its subject and site, I take you to Vogels, a traveler’s café in the center of Kaliurang. Its owner, Pak Christian, used to take people up to Mount Merapi. While you listen to Pak Christian’s many stories, I will serve you a shot of hot–steaming chocolate milk—and cold—you will be sitting in front of a refrigerator—as a way to activate your senses.
Link to The Right Shot I