Indonesia’s Complexity: Investigating the Layers between the Apparent and the Underlying

15^th International Indonesia Forum Conference
Hosted by Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University
September 23-25, 2022
(Virtual Format Via Zoom)

The wayang kulit, a renowned cultural form throughout Indonesia, is well-known for its complexity: a lamp projects the shadows of puppets, brought to life by a puppeteer (dalang), on a large white cloth screen, in front of which the audience understands the performance. Behind the screen is a complete gamelan ensemble composed of musicians and singers, adding another layer of experiential complexity to the performance. It brings together visual art (the carving and manipulation of these puppet figures), vocal finesse (the performance of different voices), and instrumental music (the accompaniment of the gamelan ensemble); it bridges the mediums of music, dance, literature, theater, as well as religious and ritual practices. An assemblage of moving parts, the wayang kulit is perhaps inseparable from its performative complexity: different perspectives, movements, symbolism, and elements all come together-occasionally in harmony and otherwise in dissonance-contributing to a sense of semantic depth and richness.

Taking the wayang kulit as our theoretical inspiration, the 15^th Annual International Indonesia Forum Conference (Virtual Format), titled Indonesia’s Complexity: Investigating the Layers between the Apparent and the Underlying, invites scholars from all over the world to examine the multilayered dimensions of Indonesian society in their own fields of research and analysis.