#TITLE_ALTERNATIVE#

• Main Author: Iwan Saidi, Acep
• Format: Dissertations
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/5634
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The title of the dissertation is the Symbolic Narratives of Indonesian Contemporary Arts. The structures and the symbolic narrative patterns of Indonesian contemporary arts as well as the themes beyond the narratives are analyzed. The art works are limited to seven artists including Tisna Sanjaya, Heri Donos, Agus Suwages, Arahmaiani, Dede Eri Supria, Ivan Sagita, and I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih. The limitation is done for some reasons including the existence of the artists in their periods and the relevance of their works as the subject of research with the topic of dissertation. The choice of symbolic narrative topic is based on the attractiveness of the topicas the object of research. In Indonesian arts history, addressing and categorizing narrative visual arts have been commonly conducted. However, a comprehensive and systematic study on what and how an art work can be regarded as narrative has not been done. This study attempts to seek the answer of the research question. By applying Sausurre structural method and Ricoeur hermeneutics, the structures and the symbolic narrative patterns of the seven artists works can be used as a reading model for similar Indonesian contemporary arts as a whole. On the first step, an art work can be regarded as narrative if there is a relation between two or more visual elements that develop a story. The visual elements include event, character, setting, plot, point of view, and word pattern. The elements are parallel with the content of literature works since the term narrative derived from the area of literature. Yet, on the next step, art works should be distinguished from the literature. Art works tell stories by employing visual signs that require a comprehensive understanding than the literature works using verbal language. Therefore, in this dissertation, narrative in visual arts is called symbolic narrative the story that is developed through the relation between symbolic elements. The symbolic narratives in visual arts are more developed implicitly (in absentia) or patterned on the appreciators minds after seeing the works (after image). On a broader scope, through the analysis of structures and the symbolic narrative patterns a relation between the structures and symbolic narrative patterns with the structures and the patterns of culture as the place where the artists live and work is discovered. It is the distinctive tradition of telling stories, and it has been going on for ages as a culture heritage. Through the interpretation of hermeneutics adopting Jung psychoanalysis as the relevant supporting theory, it is found that the symbolic narratives in visual arts appear as the collective unconsciousness. Visually, the collective unconsciousness also appear in the drawing technique that has a relation with the drawing method of prehistoric society and tradition. The study on the structures and symbolic narrative patterns is a study on the form aspect. On the aspect of theme, it is found that the developed narratives revolve around the present matters including politic, gender, poverty, spiritualism, body, and those related to the tradition and the local values in the contemporary prospective. The themes are found in the narrative visual word patterns and has a relation with the collective unconsciousness mentioned previously.