Merkayangan: A Study of the Realms

Lobe is hosting the final residency showcase for Merkayangan: A Study of the Realms, by Romila Barryman.

Merkayangan is a 4DSOUND simulation of the seven kejawen realms using traditional Javanese instruments, sounds in nature and archival recordings. Merkayangan consists of 5 pieces, with a few minutes of speaking in between.

This project uses modern technologies (leveraging Lobe's dedicated spatial sound studio) and spiritual technologies (kejawen mysticism and Javanese instruments, such as the gamelan and angklung) to reconstruct a pre-colonial recollection of these liminalities while also engaging in new ways in its depiction. These pieces are a reclamation project which blend archives, academic research and cultural knowledge to re-document these understandings into present-day discourse through auditory art as storytelling.

It is of importance to state that, in developing this project, the artist upholds the spiritual responsibility of keeping all and any dimensional gateways closed in recognition that — on our physical plane of existence — the territories this work occurs on was never surrendered and the territories — unseen and parallel to the ones we know and do not know today — are not to be disturbed. Read more about Romila Barryman here.

[sold out] Tickets: Sliding Scale, PWYC Donation. Suggested $15-$30.