• Name: Rush Hour V
• Archive Type: Material Art
• Designer: I Nyoman Nuarta
• Year: Unidentified
• Material: Metal
• Location/Display: NuArt Sculpture Park, Bandung, Indonesia
• Available File(s): Photos
• Keywords: Chinese, women, 1998 tragedy, nightmare, blanket, racial segregation, capitalism, nationalism.
• Link: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/nyoman-nuarta-rush-hour-v

To commemorate the May 1998 riots, Indonesian artist I Nyoman Nuarta created a sculpture that he later titled “Nightmare” (Mimpi Buruk). In 1998, many people hated the Chinese population, who were made the scapegoat for the economic crisis. Many people of Chinese descent in Jakarta became victims of persecution or murder, especially women, who were also r*ped.

Nyoman’s work is also adapted in the form of a poem with the same title written in Jakarta on May 20, 1998. If you look at the upper level of the gallery, you will see that the Mimpi Buruk sculpture is divided into four parts. It is not deliberately divided since he wanted to make a giant sculpture at the beginning. But because it is difficult to move, cutting it into 4 parts solves the technical difficulties. However, the cuts dramatized the moment, as if the woman was tortured and killed, and cut into parts.

According to I Wayan Endra Kurniawan (Indonesian Arts University, Denpasar), Nyoman Nuarta wants to convey a message to men, to respect women because everyone’s mother is also a woman. If we hurt a woman, it is the same as hurting our own mother. In this work, the female figure is in pain and helpless. The dynamic composition in this work is a sleeping position with the impression that the body is covered with cloth. The curves of the cloth on the woman’s body appear to contain aesthetic value. This sculpture uses metal material. It is made using a heating technique and then formed by hitting the material. The color used in the work is the natural color of the metal.

This sculpture is the biggest presentation in his exhibition, NuART, in Bandung, West Java. Art educator and influencer, Bill Mohdor (@billmohdor), states that Nyoman let the exhibition visitors touch this because he wants people to know how “dirty” the tragic 1998 moment is.

Photo(s)

Source(s)

• I Wajan Endra Kurniawan, “Mimpi Buruk Wanita pada Karya Nyoman Nuarta, ISI Denpasar, https://isi-dps.ac.id/mimpi-buruk-wanita-pada-karya-nyoman-nuarta/.
• Anggun Nindita, “I Nyoman Nuarta: The Maestro Behind the Magnificence of Istana Garuda IKN,” Bandung Institute of Technology, August 1, 2024, https://itb.ac.id/news/i-nyoman-nuarta-the-maestro-behind-the-magnificence-of-istana-garuda-ikn/61070.

Written by Abel K. Aruan (November 16, 2024); Edited by Abel K. Aruan (January 24, 2025).