Maruto manifests in luang – which means “vacant”, the ways we manage and project what may be viewed as ideal. Practical ideals are often manifested through various impressions of things and methods that are suitable. Thus is the natural way of how humans work that preserves the energy and mind. The human is the systemized and the most efficient, so that the hands and the head may imagine explorations and breakthroughs, or the next convenience.

Order is a non-existent, abstract objective. It would be the rights of all, and arrives from random origins. Its traces, determined by exploring attempts to achieve a certain manifestation. Maruto takes from the simplicity of how workers – craftsmen – achieve certain technical goals as fragments of imagined idealisation. The matter of suitability, for those who are limited in access yet expected to complete their works, has become a matter of hacking, and thus produced devices that have deviated from their original design, and are alienated from quality standards. However, hacking has also created a vacuum and grey area, a space to be free of labour that is also defined by labour. And thus, leisure time, albeit personal, is also alienated, and only its traces may be identified and reverse-engineered to actualize what and whom had been present.

The copyright in each artwork belongs to the respective Artist

Photos by The Artist and Andika Auditya

Text by Yacobus Ari R.

Courtesy of The Artist, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, and ROH