Action in public space, with the support and participation of the Goethe-Institut and the Centre Culturel Français of Jakarta, Indonesia, 25th of May 1996.
Several hundred people were gathered together, each wearing a T-shirt with “Rendez-vous!” written on the front and a target printed on the back.
Long before Facebook, Twitter, flash mobs and the Arab Spring.
The expression “Rendez-vous!” in French is ambiguous : does it mean a meeting, or is it an order to surrender — or not? The typography is ironically the same as the one used by a luxury hotel in Jakarta. The leaflet inviting to participate in the event, presents itself innocently like a childen’s game, a paper hen. The text avoids consciously any direct political signification, you had to read between the lines. We didn’t have any authorization for the event.
In the context of a dictatorship like that of Suharto in Indonesia at the time, the expression “We are the target” (of publicity, of manipulation by mass media, of surveillance etc.) has a much stronger meaning ...
Suharto had to resign in 1998.
My heartfelt thanks to Yves Ollivier, Rudolph Barth and Mechtild Manus, to Jerry & Barbara, Florent, Farah, Retty and all my Indonesian friends and participants.
Photos in Jakarta : Jason Karaïndros