Ki Lurah Semar and Eyang Bagong 





























  
 

        Java Noise is a wayang installation from a PCB (printed circuit board) with a synthesizer in the body of the wayang. Controlled by the puppet's hands tochange the sound character of the synthesizer in the puppet's body. This idea started from an investigation into the study of codes that exist in Javanese culture. Puppets with all their colors, graphics, movements, or images are meaningful codes. As the personification of character and behavior, from the ancestors, wayang stories have been passed down from generation to generation. according to time, a distortion of time with its meaning occurs. Borrowing a communication model from Shannon and Weaver, once information is converted into code, a critical situation occurs.

      When the code is sent, and the decoding process becomes information, sometimes interference occurs. Distraction is referred to in this model as Noise. Puppets, or other forms of cultural products, always have problems with "noise". This work of art tries to analogize the vulnerability of information and the distortion of meaning.

JAVA NOISE : Behind the stories

        My meeting with several Javanese cultural activists made my awareness of the original roots of my culture become clear again. For so long, I've been absorbing myself as a generation that has been uprooted, and finally I've done it. One of the points that is quite relevant is about the origin of the universe, which in the West is often connected with the Big Bang Theory or Darwinian Evolution, but in the Javanese cult the beginning of the universe is always connected to things that are often considered to be things that irrational or scientifically unstandardized.

        Through puppetry we can explore the beginnings of the universe. The specific subject I then encountered was Punakawan. So far, we only know 4 figures who are called punakawan, namely Semar (the Hyang Ismaya), Bagong, Petruk and Gareng. Referring to the meaning of the phrase Punakawan which consists of two words, namely "puna/pana" which means difficult/miserable and "kawan" which means friend, so that Punakawan can be interpreted as a friend when suffering/difficult. They are often positioned as "servant" or protector figures for a generation. And because they become friends when times are difficult, it is their jokes that ease the sorrow of the characters they care for. A joke that turns out to be not just a joke, but a joke that contains a message.

        The reference to the meaning of the word Punakawan which means "friend (servant) in times of trouble" actually clearly makes us ask whether there are only 4 characters who are called Punakawan, because in the mythology of wayang stories, then there are other characters who are "sovereign" with different functions. The same. They are Eyang Togog, Eyang Mbilung (Sarawita) and 2 female Punakawan figures, namely Eyang Limbuk and Eyang Cangik.
 
        There is a harmony when we talk about noise and wayang. Noise is a collection of data whose composition is random (without structure). In my practice of working with a synthesizer, when I want to use noise as control data, various work processes such as "encryption" must be carried out. The encrypted data from the noise can then be used to control other synth modules. Just like wayang which also contains various codes which are sometimes cryptic, the codes must also be encrypted so that they can be applied. Noise puppet is a synthetic implementation that tries to logic how to encrypt the message/code. Then we no longer talk about whether the meaning can be conveyed, but how a message/code is then decoded (encryption).

 
SEMAR/ISMAYA on PUNK – ALL STAR 
 
Wayang Semar

        The "punk look" presented in Semar's shop is an anti-establishment statement brought by Eyang Semar. Mythologically, Eyang Semar was willing to leave heaven and descend into the human realm which was far from perfect. Semar is capable of becoming anything under any circumstances.

Technical : 
4 x OSC (hacking between OSC) 
 1 x Starve control on front hand 
 
BAGONG on HIP HOP (GETHO) - NIKE
 
Wayang Bagong 

        Mythologically, Bagong was created from Semar's shadow. The Hip Hop image that is then attached to Bagong is a form of satire. Historically, when the VOC/Dutch colonial rule controlled Indonesia, the Bagong figure was a satirical tool for the VOC by the puppeteers under Sultan Agung, so that his existence was once removed from the clown group at that time. Just like Hip Hop is a form of satire on "Western" people who always put the Getho people as under class. The blink blink appearance, baggy clothes and expensive shoes are an insinuation that even the under class can be like the upper class
 
Technical :
1 x Random OSC (OSC 1- divide – OSC 2)
1 x Divider
1 x VCO ( pitch control on front hand)