The Room is Bigger Than it Looks: at Omah Budoyo, Yogyakarta

The Room is Bigger Than It Looks explores the tensions of the Anthropocene—our current geological epoch marked by the unprecedented impact of human activity on the Earth’s systems. Drawing from theorist Donna Haraway’s call to “stay with the trouble,” the exhibition rejects techno-utopian solutions and instead invites us to live within entanglement, uncertainty, and complexity. Artists Dabi Arnasa and Zikry Rediansyah offer no grand resolutions; their works dwell in quiet ambiguity, resisting simplified narratives.

Zikry, through the recurring figure of Alex, stages an existential slapstick—a mundane yet profound choreography of being. Alex, an “ordinary” character navigating surreal environments, embodies the absurdity of everyday life and the silent burden of simply existing. In contrast, Dabi presents speculative, dreamlike scenes where humans, nature, and objects intersect. His surreal visual language critiques human exceptionalism, portraying people as tiny, almost insect-like, overwhelmed by their own creations.

The exhibition reframes the idea of “space,” suggesting it is never passive. What at first seems contained and comprehensible slowly unravels—dust vibrates, shadows shift, time expands. Through subtle yet layered gestures, both artists reveal the overlooked infrastructures and residues that shape our lives. The room, indeed, is far larger—emotionally, ecologically, and temporally—than it first appears.