Heri Dono

b. 1960, Indonesia

This work tells a story of the ideology ‘clo(w)ning’ happening for more than thirty years in Indonesia during the rule of the military dictatorship called the New Order.

The ideology ‘clo(w)ning’ was instigated by the government through the governmentcontrolled mass media, propaganda education, and what I call the fermentation of the mind. It was applied by the military regime to everything – the people and the natural environment – in the county. High government officials, close to the centre of power, and intellectuals, including the students, were victims of, as well as actors in, this clo(w)ning process. These were the clo(w)ns of the New Order era, and are the clo(w)ned puppets of my present work.

My work is a critique of the arrogance of any power that considers itself to last forever. To the Indonesian people, the ideologues and the politicians were just a bunch of clo(w)ns and their politics was a stupid theatre of cruel clo(w)ns. The Indonesian people were not stupid or blind to what was going on in their country, but they were scared of the cruelty the military was capable of inflicting on them.

My work is a work of performance installation art in the form of wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre, performed indoors as well as outdoors. After the performance, the work will be left at the performance place as a work of installation. Enjoy.

(Text: heroes + holies catalogue, 2002)