Your whole body works in complex ways that sometimes you just can’t understand. How your brain controls whether you should move to the left or to the right, how your legs work every time you do your morning jog, or how the human hips can be a place for another human being for nine whole months. Therefore, I was more than interested when this email from ruangrupa came to me. It was a poster for a BODY FESTIVAL, an exhibition, performance and discussion by three female artists. At first I was thinking, “What business does ruangrupa has to do with these medical things?” But reading their following explanation about the exhibition, it is actually quite fascinating.

 The BODY FESTIVAL showcases artworks inspired by three major organs of the human body: the head, the legs, and the hip. Annisa Utami projects the head exploration that focuses on the human brain through an exciting interactive video game. Natasha Gabriella Tontey, study the human legs by constructing an installation work made of various object arranged as a collage to give the audience the experience of body movement as they walk on the piece. As for the human hip exploration, Rega Ayunda’s sculpture mixed with audio-visual to deliver the ‘motherly’ sensation to the audience. Though the BODY FESTIVAL exhibition, these three young artists celebrate their appreciations and their perceptions of the human anatomy. To curate all the artworks for this exhibition, ruangrupa invites Ika Vantiani, an artist well known for her zine, collage, and crafts.

The BODY FESTIVAL will open at Thursday, 4^th July 2013 on 7PM at RURU Gallery with the performance from Dll and Café Mondo DJ Set. The exhibition itself will be held from 4-20 July 2013 (closed on Sundays) starting 11AM to 9PM at the same place.

Text by Septhiria Chandra