Tromarama: Soliloquy

The collective Tromarama is a Bandung-based artist collective founded in 2006 by Febie Babyrose, Herbert Hans, and Ruddy Hatumena. The three met while studying together, and shortly began to create works that combine video, installation, computer programming, and public participation. Underpinning their art making, is their collective interest in the influence of digital media on society’s perception of its surroundings. Channeling language, text, wit, and interaction, Tromarama reflects on the cornerstones of Indonesia’s political and cultural environment, and on forms of perceptive engagement in our hyperreality that applies globally.

For 84 STEPS, Tromarama presents a site-specific iteration of their work Soliloquy (2018/2022). The installation features some ninety second-hand lamps scattered around the space like islands or entities left in solitude. Each time the hashtag “#kinship” is used on Twitter, the tweet is converted into binary code, triggering their switches and creating a symphony of flickers. The flashing bulbs transcribe layers of human desire, as well as individual stories that manifest users’ connections forged across physical and digital realms. The relationship with language, generally but also especially through the realm of social media, has been an important aspect of Tromarama’s practice. This work encourages us to reconsider everyday conditions, relationships, reasoning, and sensibility in our hyperreality.