DIBUNGKAM (SILENCED)

In this video, there is an initial mural action bearing the text “DIBUNGKAM” (SILENCED). This mural was born from a spontaneous critical art movement initiated by street artists Anagard, Kinky 20, Wimbo Praharso (the late), Hi Hava, Juange Culture, and Hello Pelangi. During the mural action, video documentation was assisted by Ali Minanto’s team, who was conducting his PhD research on the street art movement in Jogja at the time. The word DIBUNGKAM (SILENCED) was a protest against the attitude of the Indonesian government under the Jokowi regime. This regime was highly repressive, criminalizing critical voices such as pro-democracy activists, environmental activists, journalists, content creators, and artists. The DIBUNGKAM mural was created on Saturday, August 21, 2021, and removed by government authorities in less than 12 hours. The artists faced online attacks by security forces, and other art, not associated with the mural was removed, creating an atmosphere of fear and further repression. The second mural action in this video was a project idea initiated by Ali Minanto, Anagard, Kinky 20, Wimbo Praharso Guerrillas (the late), and Young Surakarta. “New Modes of Environmental Communication: Four Street Art Experiments” is a 23:34-minute documentary film by Ali Minanto, that reflects on how knowledge about the environment is produced and shared in creative ways, moving beyond the, sometimes, narrow spaces of academia, without disregarding academic knowledge. One of these spaces of knowledge production and creative communication is street art, where artistic aesthetics and practices of civic expression are combined. This video features the experiment, where academic researchers, based at Charles University in Prague and affiliated to the Mistra Environmental Communication Research Program and the 4EU+ European University Alliance, commissioned four Indonesian street artists to produce four street artworks in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta: “Welcome New Pollution” by Anagard, “Plant Trees Plant Hope” by Guerrillas, “Plastic Reduce” by Kinky Twenty, and “Planting Determination” by Young Surakarta. Embedded in deeply localized knowledge about the environment and with great communicative eloquence, these street artworks provide visual (and highly visible) alternative discourses that critique indifference towards, and exploitation of, the environment. In the documentary, we see Anagard reflect about the phenomenon of medical waste (in particular the disposal of masks used during the pandemic). Guerrillas also critiqued the rampant forest fires in Indonesia, used as a deforestation tool by plantation corporations. Kinky Twenty’s work is about the environmental threat posed by plastic waste. And finally, Young Surakarta emphasizes the need of planting trees as a way to protect the environment and to help to ensure humankind’s survival.