Article Per Year (5 Year)
p-Index From 2021 - 2026
0
P-Index
This Author published in this journals
All Journal IKAT : The Indonesian Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Michał Bielecki
Graduate School for Social Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland and Center for Southeast Asian Social Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada
Economics, Econometrics & Finance Other

Published : 1 Documents Claim Missing Document
Claim Missing Document
Check
Articles

Found 1 Documents
Search

 1 
Can Art Make a Difference? Visual and Performative Arts on the Subject of Indonesian Mass Killings of 1965–66 Michał Bielecki
IKAT: The Indonesian Journal of Southeast Asian Studies Vol 1, No 2 (2018): January
Publisher : Center for Southeast Asian Social Studies (CESASS)

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | Full PDF (984.159 KB) | DOI: 10.22146/ikat.v1i2.32362

Abstract

This paper considers the impact of various activities of artistic nature in public debate and collective memory of the genocide in Indonesia in the years 1965-1966, as well as the public reception of these event, with a particular focus on Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary „The Act of Killing” (2012). As a result of systematic extermination of PKI members and sympathizers, between 500 thousand and 2 million people were killed. These murders are often considered an ‘unspoken’ or ‘forgotten’ crime. In Suharto’s Indonesia, questioning the official version of events was prohibited. In 1998, General Suharto resigned from office and the state begun a slow drift towards democracy. The issue of the traumatic past, however, remains a very uncomfortable one. The crime of such scale cannot be easily forced into oblivion. The pressure faced by authorities in today's Indonesia was caused partly, if not mainly, by mnemonic actors of an artistic nature, by both Indonesian and foreign artists interested in this matter. By applying content analysis, the proposed paper discusses varied artistic activities addressing the mass violence and their influence on the public discussion and the collective memory of that event. The analysis of media reports, interviews with artists, fictional and documentary films was carried out by the author. The study shows how art contributes to the process of dealing with Indonesia’s past. 
Co-Authors