Pranatamangsa AR

Abstract

Pranatamangsa AR is an augmented reality (AR) artwork that animates Javanese and Sundanese farming calendars based on traditional knowledge of astronomy, to address the unpredictability of climate change. It consists of 12 prints of astronomical simulations of constellations at certain times of year, known to indicate farming activities and natural phenomena. The AR app recognises these images and activates animations that portray scenes such as the harvesting of crops, change in wind direction, and rain. The stability of the Pranatamangsa calendar system is under threat due to changing climate conditions. AR disconnects moving image from its original timeline to express a disruption to familiar seasonal changes and combines still and moving image to show multiple temporal scales at play in climate change. Creative expression with new technology is used to connect changes we can perceive to those that are abstract, and to highlight how nature is linked to human actions. This artwork instigated practice-led research into the use of natural objects such as rocks, leaves and tree-rings as markers for AR artworks that investigate how expressions of past knowledge and future imaginings of the natural world can contribute to new understandings of environmental change. This work was first shown in the group exhibition Connections 2, organised by Dr Erica Seccombe and Ingeborg Hansen at Megalo Print Studio & Gallery in 2018. It has since been shown in Gaia Hypothesis, curated by Ngaio Gitzpatrick and supported by the ANU Climate Change Institute, at Belconnen Arts Centre, 2019, and shortlisted for the Footscray Art Prize, Melbourne. In 2019 it was selected to be shown in 'Langit Untuk Semua - The Sky is for All of Us', an exhibition organised by Associate Professor Premana W. Premadi, Director of Bosscha Observatory at the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), as part of National Culture Week, Jakarta.