Jatiwangi art Factory at Small Arms Inspection Building

LAIR is a clay music ensemble with sound artists, Tedi Nurmanto, Pipin Muhammad Kaspin, Ika Yuliana, Andzar Agung Fauzan, Kiki Rasmadi Permana, Tamyiz Noor Ramadhan, and guest collaborator, who are part of a larger art collective, Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF), based in Jatisura, West Java, Indonesia. Comprising over fifty multimedia artists, musicians, designers and curators, JaF’s artistic practices emphasise local rural life in relation to land and the terracotta industry in Jatiwangi District. Clay is central to all their artistic and cultural activities in the spirit of community empowerment.

To mark the opening of the 2022 Toronto Biennial of Art, JaF will open with Terrakota Route, a mobile performance of original sound pieces inspired by the traditional obrog-obrog played throughout the village of Jatisura during the beginning of Ramadan. During sunrise upon each morning throughout the month of Ramadan in Javanese Islamic traditions, an obrog-obrog ritual sounds the awakening of the village. Bicycles are ridden throughout the village while the obrog-obrog is played. As April 2nd, 2022 marks the beginning of the month of Ramadan in Canada, JaF rings in the opening of the Biennial while calling forth a time of fasting, introspection, and prayer observed by many community members of Toronto. The material remnants of this performance remain at the Small Arms Inspection Building for the duration of the exhibition.

The Shape of Sound is organized by Sebastian De Line, as a part of the 2022 Curatorial Fellowship program, made possible by the generous support of TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment, and in partnership with the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, and the Gardiner Museum. Accommodations generously provided by The Drake Hotel.

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