ROH is pleased to return to the 2023 edition of Liste Art Fair Basel, exhibiting a site-specific project by Indonesian artist collective Tromarama, entitled MOTHERTHUMB. Teasing on the wordplay "mother tongue", the artists touch upon the increasing sense of nativity by which society is transitioning their collective consciousness into the realm of operating systems and digital interfaces, as well as how the thumb is increasingly becoming the primary conduit to communicate in this new reality relative to one’s own tongue. Tromarama upends the function of objects associated with leisure to discuss notions of labor, and vice versa.
Artist
Art collective formed in 2006
Tromarama is an art collective consisting of Febie Babyrose, Herbert Hans, and Ruddy Hatumena whose artistic interests include the notion of hyperreality and interrelationships between the virtual and the physical worlds. Their art often combines video, installation, and algorithmic based computer programming.
Tromarama has participated in major exhibitions at various notable institutions worldwide. Selected solo exhibitions namely Contraflow at Kiang Malingue, Tin Wan, Hong Kong (2023); PERSONALIA at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2022); Beta (2021 and 2019) respectively at DOCUMENT Space, Chicago, USA, and at Paris Internationale with ROH Projects, Paris, France; LLIMIIINALL (2019) at Edouard Malingue Gallery, Wan Chai, Hong Kong; Amphibia at Centre A, Vancouver, Canada (2017); Tromarama (2015) at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands. Notable special projects include Tromarama: The Lost Jungle at the Children’s Art Space at Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia (2021-2022); Madakaripura (2020), at Edouard Malingue Gallery, London, UK; and Private Riots at Encounters, Art Basel Hong Kong presented by Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong (2016). Tromarama’s selected group exhibitions include 84 Steps at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2023); CLOUD WALKERS at Leeum Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea (2022); Distrik Seni X Sarinah: Berdikari! at Sarinah, Jakarta, Indonesia (2022); NOT IN MY NAME at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel (2022); 1 at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2022); Last Words at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2021); Interdependencies: Tropical Lab, Lasalle College of The Arts, Singapore (2021); The Turn of the Fifth Age at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia (2021); NGV Triennial at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2020); Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia at National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia (2019); The Extra Extra Ordinary at Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila, Philippines (2018); Cinerama at Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2017); Jakarta Biennale 2015: Neither Back nor Forward: Acting in the Present at Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015); and the 11th Gwangju Biennale: The Eight Climate (What Does Art Do?) in Gwangju, South Korea (2016); and more.
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