Art, The Ancient Spirit of ‘Gotong Royong’, And The Global Pandemic Village
Salima Hakim
Abstract
According to the World Giving Index, a study done by Charities Aid Foundation that provide insights to the global trends of generosity, Indonesia has taken top position of the chart and was named 2020’s most charitable country in the world. The notion of communality, consensus, and collectivity, also known in Javanese as gotong royong or mutual assistance, a prominent characteristic associated with the traditional village life, appeared to also transpire within the global village. As we are universally connected through the digital world and are collectively experiencing a global pandemic where all art activities came to a halt, it is important to look further into how art adapted to these sudden changes and limitations of circumstances. Using a cultural studies approach and virtual ethnography data collecting, this paper will seek to examine how several online art initiatives tries to embody the spirit of collectivity, using artworks as a tool of activism to help others survive the pandemic, and at the same time re-imagining the notion of gotong royong that can persist in the digital village.
Keywords: global village, collectivity, art activism, pandemic
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