Gajah Mada-Kuruw Majah
Video, DVD, 18 min 7 sek, 2003

The film Gajah Mada-Kuruw Majah was made in Jakarta during a workshop about urban space I was invited to conduct and participate by the Goethe-Institut. The main concern was to capture the complexity of the facades of the streets connecting the area of the „Monas“ (the national monument) and the old station in Kota Jakarta. In their function and style and with respect to their state of decay they reflect passing time. Actually built to represent the regulating powers of early modernism they now look abandoned and alive at the same time.
The camera is focusing only on the facades and cuts off the vibrant city life happening underneath so that people and cars etc. are only present through sound.
The buildings on the left side of the street leading uptown, named “Gajah Mada” constantly mirror the facades of the opposite street leading downtown, named “Hajam Wuruk”. Both shots were edited half transparent. The film is so capturing both sides of the streets at the same time. Through reversing Hayam Wuruk (so it becomes „Kuruw Majah“), the facades are floating into each other creating endless temporary possibilities of new spaces and forms and after a certain time of watching the buildings themselves start to become the moving objects. In addition there is a confusing play of light and shadow caused by the early morning sun