25 Inspiring Music Video in Indonesia (2001 - 2011)

The session on music video had its own place at OK. Video - Jakarta Video Art Festival (2003) and OK. Video Sub/Version (2005). Many video artists appeared at the time who took interest in the video medium by creating music videos, or what is often simply referred to as video clips (although we know that video clips is not just limited to music videos).

Music video as a medium for artistic expression appeared in Indonesia in early 2000’s, prompted by the ease of technology, the close synergy between beats and visuals, the need for musical work to have a visual representation for its identity, the emergence of much good music with a new spirit, and the advent of new music channels on prominent TV stations; MTV which gave room for alternative videos. Forums such as video festivals and exhibitions in gallery spaces, to music concerts that provided a special place to show music video works, also began to emerge.

This situation became a phenomenon in its own right for popular culture in Indonesia, and seemed like an opporunity for the development of video music as an artistic medium, irrespective of music industry’s promotion needs. Seeing this development, OK. Video specifically held a video music screening and workshop program when it was first held in 2003, followed by OK. Video Sub/Version in 2005. Today, OK. Video will focus on music videos that have independent visual strength, not merely as an extension of promotional media, but more an audiovisual collaboration.

This year’s video music session will screen a compilation of music videos over a longer stretch. We sought, observed, watched, collected, then selected music video works with an intelligent and fresh visual exploration over the last 10 years (2001 - 2011).

Curating this was quite a feat, considering that music videos are now shown less on television channels. One could say that they have almost entirely disappeared. On top of that there are no sites, exhibitions, festivals, not so say archives specifically focusing on music video, so it is quite difficult to track its development. Some of the material came from ruangrupa’s own library, while others were collated from various online sites (including band websites and YouTube). There were quite many with varying quality. It required a special framework and perspective in selecting these videos.

These twenty five videos are considered the most inspirational music videos ever produced and distributed (both via television or internet) in the last 10 years. Being inspirational here means not only that they are advanced in the strength of the idea and technical exploration, but also in other elements that gave them a plus, including production factors, artistic approach, context, socio-political messages conveyed, not to say the exploration of a unique artistic language. These works show how music, lyrics, and sounds encouraged the video makers to design an assortment of strategies of visual exploration. The production process run on a DIY spirit (often by the musicians themselves almost on zero budget) was able to produce spontaneous work, while still keeping the quality, deserves appreciation.

The emergence of video works also became important as it is inseparable from the past historical context. It served as a historical and indentity marker of a generation. As such, we added our own remarks for each selected video; what elements made these videos interesting and why they are considered inspirational.

This program tries to revisit the possiblilities of new exploration of music video medium―as one of popular art medium―and how it evolved over the last decade. At the same time, this program also intends to provide a room for music videos in the sphere of contemporary art, and provide a different perspective to the music video medium as an independent art work.

Through this compilation, one can see that the music video medium has the potential to grow even bigger, not merely as contemporary art work, but also as a language of expression. These videos affirm the power of music videos as a form of artistic expression and able to detach itself from the logic of music video commercialization in general. Its attractive, unviersal and populist nature―with the ‘collaborative’ strength of audiovisual work (music-lyrics-images)―allows music video to be an effective method of communication that can reach anyone, making it an inspiration for the new generation, especially musicians and fans, video makers and fans, and even a wider audience.