Watching: Meta Ekologi

Overview

Meta Ekologi was made in 1979 and is based on a performance by Sardono W. Kusumo and his group. They are shown in a pool of mud in a Jakarta slum, with the local population watching as the artists cover themselves entirely in mud. It's a response to an attempt at dialogue with the ecology of land and water. Humanity expresses its feelings through the body, trying to become one with the universe. It refers to the peasants who work the land and are covered in mud. It's a process of poetisation. Gotot Prakosa, ‘Interview with Gotot Prakosa’, Cantrills Filmnotes, 1990