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Incantations (Double Double), 2017
Installation. HD-projection (16:9), 2 two-sided wooden screens,
4 HD-projectors, 2 loudspeakers, audio in Javanese, text in English,
10 puppets in painted and perforated bualo leather and horn,
mounted on painted metal.
Duration: 240', in random loop
Singers: Yeni Arama, Anngun Nurdianasari, Cahwati, Nia Dwi Raharjo,
Sri Lestari, Sri Sulansih Kenyawursita
Puppeteer: Nanang Hape

The word incantation derives from the Latin incantare (to enchant), which itself has cantare (to sing) at its root. This reminds us that magic and rituals have always been associated with chanting and music.

In the shadow puppets, some visitors may recognize the inkblots that were introduced in 1921 by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach. The Rorschach test became highly popular since the 1930s, also among anthropologists doing fieldwork. In this controversial projective test, a person is asked to describe what they see in 10 inkblots..

For this artwork, Torfs selected fragments of tests dating from between 1938 to 1981, recorded by anthropologists on different places around the world: namely,  the island of Alor (then a Dutch colony in present-day Indonesia), in Native American Reservations, in Japan, Algeria and China; and also pieces from reports by Hermann Rorschach himself.

With these elements, the artist created a script with 120 song lyrics for six voices. Then, six female singers of different ages made improvisations based on a Javanese translation of Torfs’ original script. Simultaneously,  the 10 Rorschach inkblots were translated by Javanese craftsmen into shadow puppets and brought to life by Nanang Hape, a young puppeteer from Jakarta.


go to The Parrot & the Nightingale, a Phantasmagoria, 2014