Mulyana: Modular Utopia (Capsule Review)
[Original publication: No Proscenium, 3/7/23]
In downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to the vehicular stream of a busy thoroughfare, is a gorgeous expanse of coral reef with thousands of fish, a massive whale, and clusters of sea anemone — all captivating and transportive.
Get Laura Hess’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
SubscribeSubscribe
All made of crochet.
Presented by USC’s Fisher Museum of Art, Indonesian artist Mulyana’s Modular Utopia portrays marine underworlds through knitted environments and kinetic sculptures. His artistic philosophy views creation as an act of human endurance, a necessary foundation for the themes of his work.
Anchored by two spacious installations, Modular Utopia offers opposing outcomes: a colorful, abundant reef and a monochromatic, bleached embodiment of extinction. Bridging the spaces are gray wall sculptures; their muted spectrum serves as a kind of limbo, a purgatory of yarn. Mulyana leverages palette to spotlight vitality or its total absence. Color serves as a vehicle for immersion and a visceral call to action.
Collective experience is at the heart of Mulyana’s practice. He describes art as “a ‘feeling game,’ a place to share imagination.” Collaboration and imagination play key roles for Modular Monster, the show’s interactive project. An assortment of oversized plush parts — tongues, mustaches, lips, tentacles, and eyes — invites guests of all ages into joyful, communal exploration with a focus on group effort and open dialogue. To that end, Modular Utopia is indeed an appeal. It’s also an example of sustainability. Materials include repurposed yarn, recycled foam, and overstocked art materials.
As a medium, crochet feels warm, inviting, and threaded to childhood. There’s a familiar, familial sensation in its pliability. Interested in “the combination of science and creativity,” Mulyana characterizes crochet as “concise and clean”; its precise stitching emphasizes nature’s patterns and fractal designs. The effect is a wondrous, dynamic tension between its gentle quality and its urgent portrayal of our climate crisis. It shows us why our world is worth saving.