Jompet Kuswidananto
Dream Express: Personalized History of Mysticism
Kohesi Initiatives, Yogyakarta

In a dark, black gallery space a strange figure lay face down on top of shattered glass and an ornamental rug, its upper half draped in a multichromatic Jathilan robe used in Javanese folk dances to invoke spiritual possession. Its lower half was dressed in a pair of jeans, feet splayed at awkward angles, arms stretched out as if attempting to crawl, head morphed into that of a wolf, concealing any indication of consciousness. Caught between awareness and entrancement, Subterranean Thunder #1 (2023), this half-human, half-lupine figure—and, by extension, the entire exhibition—became a portal through which Indonesian artist Jompet Kuswidananto projected his personal encounters with mysticism. The installation was Kuswidananto’s way of representing its role as a catalyst for collective resistance and populist intoxication.