A Message to You
2024 | installation of cassette tape and audio
A Message to You
2024 | installation of cassette tape and audio
Agnes Hansella (born in Banjarmasin, 1992) completed her sound design studies at Jakarta Institute of Arts in 2015. As a self-educated artist, since 2017 Agnes has shifted her interest to macrame techniques, a technique that she is devoted to exploring the use of patterns/arrangements and materials. Agnes' works attempt to challenge the rule of macrame knotting which always starts from top to bottom. At the same time, she wants to play with an object (or organism) to find her calm in small feelings.
Agnes' work has been exhibited in various exhibitions, including Continuum, TEKA (2023), Oops Loops, Naarthouse (2023), Arisan Edisi Ketiga, Museum Macan (2020), and Indonesian Contemporary Art and Design (2019). Apart from that, Agnes is also actively involved in several commission projects including Macrame Collage untuk Hotel Marriot (2023), Macram Roof Covering untuk Yona Beach House LTD Thailand (2022), and NUNU for the Indonesian National Library (2019). Agnes has also published a book entitled Makrame: Kreasi Tali untuk Dekorasi Rumah in 2019.
Armed with her artistic experience and formal studies, this work is a great opportunity for her to bond with the sounds and techniques of macrame art. Semiotically it binds like connecting songs from the past with visitors in the present. In this work, visitors can catch prophetic phrases that appear as reminders from the compilation of song lyrics she made. It's like the lyrics are treated like a mantra, easy to remember and can be sung differently according to each person's experience. Even people believe that all words have multiple interpretations. Many of these old songs are interesting because they record problems at that time and we are still experiencing them today.
Even news that is read casually will also become true when people believe it and walk towards it randomly. Just as humans believe more in information and narratives they get from new places. By relying on the principle of chance, the end of this work can be encouraged to help hunt for the mysteries of the future.