Exhibition: Anonim

25 Jun –
16 Jul 2023

Framer Framed is delighted to present the exhibition Anonim by artist Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat, who has been the Atelier KITLV-Framer Framed artist in residence for the past year. Anonim explores different ways of dealing with colonial images and how artistic practices offer new insights towards knowledge production around the archive. The exhibition is open until 16 July 2023.

When browsing the web pages of the photographic archive of KITLV – ‘Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde’ or Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, one encounters the flood of unidentified faces from a world that was once called the Dutch East Indies. Open for immediate download and sharing, the digitalised images hold an uneasy quality: so close, yet so far; we think we know (or know how to know) them, but with careful scrutiny, many plot holes still remain to be filled. Who are these people? What are their stories? Why are they here, and how can we do justice to their anonymity?

Anonim is Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat‘s residency journey in exploring the various possibilities to engage with suspended questions surrounding the archive. Grounded in Bandung, Indonesia, while connecting with people and communities beyond, Theo’s year-long learning process unfolded with a hybrid presentation*, a group exhibition, and a series of experimental workshops. These experiences involving multiple senses and sensibilities are further translated into different mediums presented in this exhibition, as well as a new painting in which Theo epitomizes the peculiar attitude needed to comprehend the vast collection of anonymous photos from the past.

Condensed into one particular colonised subject from Pematang Siantar in North Sumatra, the painting explores the capacity of art for forging new connections with the anonymous figures in KITLV’s photographic archive. Here, facing the screen and facing the canvas are considered as both singular and interchangeable experiences tied by the simultaneous acts of recognition and recreation: as if our world(view)s are born again in every click and in each stroke of the brush. The interaction between mediums initiates the visceral and affective responses towards materials from a different time/space. These responses, embodied in art practices, act as an open-ended invitation to embrace the unknown elements of existing knowledge structures.

Installation of the exhibition Anonim (2023) of Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat at Framer Framed, Amsterdam. Photo: © Maarten Nauw / Framer Framed

Artist
Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat

Exhibition and Graphic Design
Chen Jhen

Handout, Playbooks and Zine
The presentation includes a free, limited handout in the format of a newspaper available upon arrival.

On display in the space are two playbooks Anonim, Reframing and a zine Peculiar Playground. The playbooks and zine, designed by experimental design studio Copyright/Reserved, are packed together in the form of a course kit available for purchase at our bookshop.

Opening
24 June, 16:00 — 18:00u

Workshop
On 27 June, 19:00 — 21:00, the artist will organise a workshop to explore with participants playful and critical ways to interact with archival images with one of the playbooks, Anonim.

Location
Framer Framed
Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71
1093 KS, Amsterdam

* The hybrid presentation Declaring Distance / Menyatakan Jarak was held on April 8-9, 2022; the group exhibition was on view at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, in Bandung, Indonesia until May 29, 2022. Following the exhibition, an Extension Course ‘Merangkul Jarak’ took place at the Integrated Arts Program of Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, between November and December 2022.