ROH is pleased to invite you to 〇, Bagus Pandega’s (b. 1985, Jakarta, Indonesia) second solo exhibition with the gallery which features a cycle of new and earlier artworks throughout his career that concerns energy, resources, and biofeedback.
At the heart of Pandega's many artworks is a disruption of mechanical and industrial systems, suggesting new ways of relating to technology. Through multimedia installations featuring light and sound, Pandega explores recycled materials and circular economies with an inquisitive, do-it-yourself approach. The artworks often employ a modular logic, assembling different elements to form new notions. Circles recur as a motif, appearing formally and conceptually. Chemical components and biofeedback from plants urge viewers to reconsider their relationships with nature and technology. Throughout the exhibition, Pandega makes the case for a more pluralistic way of understanding the tools we use to shape the world around us.
The exhibition’s title can be pronounced as lingkaran, an Indonesian term for “circle.”
Bagus Pandega
〇
Essay by Harry Burke
Artist
Born 1985, Jakarta, Indonesia
Lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia
Working primarily through the medium of installation, Bagus Pandega often challenges pre-conditioned relationships between objects and its viewer. In his works, Pandega assembles various electronic systems as ‘modules’ and explores objects such as voice recorders, cassette and record players, lamps and electronic circuit boards— among others— to construct his works. Many of his artworks become activated through the interaction of movement, sound and light.
Pandega graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) in 2008, majoring in sculpture. Pandega’s selected solo exhibitions include A Pervasive Rhythm at Yamamoto Gendai, Tokyo, Japan (2018); Random Black, ROH Projects, Jakarta, Indonesia (2016); and A Monument That Tells Anything, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2015). Selected group exhibitions include Frieze Seoul with ROH, Seoul, South Korea (2022); WAGIWAGI at documenta fifteen, Hübner areal, Kassel, Germany (2022); Declaring Distance: Bandung — Leiden, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia (2022); ArtJog MMXIX: Common Space, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2019); Paris Internationale with ROH, Paris, France (2018); all of which feature his collaborative practice with Kei Imazu; Art Basel Hong Kong with ROH, Hong Kong (2023); The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial at QAGOMA, Brisbane, Australia (2021-2022); Tiger Orchid presented at Art Basel OVR: Miami Beach (2020); Condo London at Project Native Informant, London, UK (2020); Ripples: Continuity in Indonesian Contemporary Art at Taipei Dangdai, Taipei, Taiwan (2019); Distorted Alteration at Project Fulfill, Taipei, Taiwan (2018); Amsterdam Light Festival, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2017); and Clandestine Transgression at Art Basel Hong Kong: Discoveries with ROH Projects, Hong Kong (2015). After winning third place at Bandung Contemporary Art Awards #2, Pandega completed his first residency at Le Centre Intermondes, La Rochelle, France in 2012. A nominee of the 2016 Sovereign Art Prize, Pandega had also collaborated with Adi Purnomo and Irwan Ahmett in presenting Freedome, Indonesia Pavilion at the London Design Biennale: Utopia by Design in 2016.
View ArtistCopyright belongs to The Artist
Essay by Harry Burke
Photography by ROH
Courtesy of The Artist and ROH