Technology Brings History to Life

KOMPAS/ERIKA KURNIAWAN

Adi Panuntun

Since childhood, Adi Panuntun has known that there were many interesting things displayed at the museum. However, at that time he was reluctant to enter because for him, the museum was cold and creepy. He is now changing that image with technology in the form of interactive installation works.

Colossal cinematic music leads to the arrival of a large ship at a harbor. There, at a coastal community in Java, residents who were carrying on their daily activities seemed to be unprepared by their arrival. One, two, three ships later followed, showing the white flags that read VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie).

On a transparent medium measuring 24 square meters, the atmosphere of the past Dutch colonial occupation in the area, now known as Jakarta, is depicted in holographic animations. That era was a part of Jakarta\'s history that was visualized within 25 minutes. Adi Panuntun named the installation Kala Jakarta.

"Jakarta is full of inspiration. Not only about politics or controversy, inspirational stories can also be explored from history," Adi said before a number of Jakarta administration officials and reporters at the National History Museum in the National Monument (Monas) complex, Central Jakarta, at the end of July.

Although it is only displayed one week during the Monas Week event, the installation has become the center of attention for museum visitors. The other historical dioramas at the whole room seemed to stay quiet.

The determination to bring history to life with technology was realized by Adi through the multidisciplinary creative studio Sembilan Matahari, which was jointly founded with his younger brother in 2007.

The installation was not only successful in attracting visitors, but also helped fight against the fear of visiting the Monas museum or other museums just like what Adi experienced decades ago. Now, Adi is determined to change the image of museums being creepy and boring into places that are interesting and interactive places to visit.

"Museums must be innovative and interactive by involving new media. I am interested in working on how to find innovations," he said.

Exploration

The determination to bring history to life with technology was realized by Adi through the multidisciplinary creative studio Sembilan Matahari, which was jointly founded with his younger brother, Sony Budi Sasono in 2007. As chief creator, he has produced many works in the form of video mapping in a number of museums domestically. The objects that are used for the video mapping get a touch of optical illusions, as if they were born and had lived before us.

In 2010, he presented a video mapping show in front of the Fatahillah Museum in West Jakarta. The work became a buzz because his studio was previously known as only focusing on making independent films. One of the films made by Sembilan Matahari and produced by Adi was entitled Cin(T)a in 2009, which won the Indonesian Film Festival for Best Original Screenplay.

In the BI Museum, a four-dimensional video mapping projection is installed to display the building\'s historical journey and the BI Museum.

"We are now exploring more audiovisual media with more contemporary technological approaches and more innovative ways of design thinking," he said.

In line with the transformation, the studio is no longer filled with film directors or writers but animators, programmers, sound designers and architects. Adi and his team then continued to explore lighting and projecting techniques to produce optical illusions.

Some of their works are displayed at the Bandung Science Center in West Java, and the Samosir Geopark Gallery Museum in North Sumatra. In 2017, Adi and his team also initiated the presence of an immersive cinema installation at the Museum of Bank of Indonesia (BI), which received an award from the Museum of World Records Indonesia (Muri).

In the BI Museum, a four-dimensional video mapping projection is installed to display the building\'s historical journey and the BI Museum. In one performance, visitors can watch historical visualizations from all sides of the room.

Adi said he had never imagined such experience as a child. However, he grew up as a person who has enjoyed visual and optical exploration since becoming acquainted with mirrors, magnifiers and paper.

The cultural elements are presented with the local characteristics of music and Matryoshka dolls.

"When I was in the third grade, I was always told to take a nap. However, I could never sleep. In the room, I was actually experimenting with these three things. I play around to produce a projection image from a magnifying glass to a mirror and paper screen, create moving objects and capture colorful mirror reflections," he recalled.

Those three things not only made him imagine but also gave birth to inspiration. When he was about to go to college, he decided to take visual studies, multidisciplinary design and the technology around it, including video mapping.

Adi\'s ability to lead a creative business is not only proven with the turnover of Sembilan Matahari, which reaches tens of billions every year. He and his team also produced many works that make Indonesia famous globally.

In 2012, they won the Grand Prize Winner Projection Mapping Competition at the Zushi Media Art Festival in Japan. His video mapping installation artwork was also chosen as the winner of the Classic Video Mapping Gallery, Circle of Light in Russia (2014), and the first-place winner of the Festival of Lights Championship in Germany (2017).

When they won the championship in Russia, they presented three aspects of Indonesian culture, namely batik, temples and angklung (bamboo musical instrument), in a show of light in front of the VDNKh Building. The cultural elements are presented with the local characteristics of music and Matryoshka dolls.

At present, video mapping makers from abroad, such as Japan, Singapore, Korea and Russia, have entered the Indonesian market.

"One of the main consideration of the judges is that the music and visuals that we performed could combine cultural exoticism but are still acceptable to the European community," he said.

They do not keep their success and achievements for themselves. Adi and his younger brother later founded Sembilan Matahari University. Although the university is not present in physical form, its presence is intended to grow the seeds of creativepreneur through education and vocation.

"Sembilan Matahari University\'s duty is to give birth to new human resources in the creative world," he said.

Through the community service activities, Adi hopes that more creative industry players in the visual field can compete globally. Moreover, at present, video mapping makers from abroad, such as Japan, Singapore, Korea and Russia, have entered the Indonesian market.

"We all have to grow together and host this industry here," he said.

Regarding competitions in the video mapping industry from other parts of the world, Adi is not too worried. For him, the arts and creative world have their respective characters and segments.

"Many players will actually enrich the expression of technology for Indonesia," he concluded.

Muhammad Adi Panuntun

Born: Bandung, 23 December 1978

Education:

Magister Management in Design from University of Northumbria, Newcastle, Inggris (2010); Bachelor in Visual Communication Design, Bandung Institute of Technology (2007)