“Transaction of Hollows” is a durational performance where the visceral and aural takes centre stage. Wielding a Javanese bow, Suryodarmo shoots hundreds of arrows in a custom-built room that the audience also inhabits. The arrows whizzes through the air and pierces the walls, producing a loud hollow sound on impact. Through this performance, she meditates on the direction of our lost society.

To aim at something can be both literal and metaphorical. An archer aims at the bull’s eye and people aim to attain certain goals or achievements. The path of the arrow also matters. The world is full of distractions and impurity that sway the direction of the arrow. Javanese archery teaches that the process is as, or more, important than the target. In society’s search for bigger, better and more, as it aims for a certain utopia that cannot realistically be achieved. Suryodarmo proposes a more direct relationship with the world around us. Dealing with the process, perhaps of life itself, is more important as the utopia can only be hollow.

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Melati Suryodarmo: Transaction of Hollows