A sonic theatre "Gong ex Machina" is created based on the sound composition. The event will also highlight and develop the presence of sounds as its anchor. “Gong ex Machina”, is a word play from a technical term in ancient Greece in the 5th century: Deus ex Machina, which more or less means God in or out of the machine. The term refers to the technique to present actors playing as gods on the stage of a Greek tragedy using equipment like cranes, moving up and down, or a trap door, to allow the actor coming from below the stage. Hence, Gong ex Machina, a gong in or out of the machine. The concept of the performance evolves from a reflection following an extensive research by Morinaga on the gong culture throughout South East Asian countries. Gong ex Machina also stems from the history of an encounter between music or sound cultures and the modern technology of sound recorder and player: phonograph or gramophone. Similar to other encounters between tradition and modernity—happened against the background of the industrial revolution and European colonialism in the 17th to 20th century—the encounter of gong culture with gramophone is a story of a complicated acquaintance. Apart from stories of adaptation and appropriation are also stories of distortion and manipulation. It was an encounter that changed the way we experience and understand music, in particular, or sounds in general.

Venue: Gedung Kesenian Jakarta
Date: 29 & 30 November 2018

Cast
Mian Tiara,
Gunawan Maryanto,
Dwi Windarti,
MN Qomaruddin
Arsita Iswardhani.

Sound artist: Yasuhiro Morinaga
Director: Yudi Ahmad Tajudin
Sound Technical Director: Tetsushi Hirai
Recording Engineer: Yoshiyuki Minegishi
Sound Engineer: Yossy Herman Susilo
Sound Assistant: William Oktavianus Tampi
Lighting & Technical Director: Ignatius Sugiarto
Visual Artist: Wulang Sunu
Stage Manager: Gading Narendra Paksi
Stage Crew: Ega Kuspriyanto
Translator: Tomomi Yokosuka
Production: Lusia Neti Cahyani / Dara Hanafi
Executive Producer: Rama Thaharani

Co-produced by The Kingdom of Archipelago and Teater Garasi/Garasi Performance Institute.
Supported by The Japan Foundation Asia Center, the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Djarum Foundation, and Lijiang Studio Foundation,

the premiere in Jakarta is part of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Indonesia diplomatic relations.

Gong ex Machina is co-produced by The Kingdom of Archipelago and Teater Garasi/Garasi Performance Institute. Supported by The Japan Foundation Asia Center, the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Djarum Foundation, and Li Jiang Studio, the premiere in Jakarta is part of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Indonesia diplomatic relations.