[Past Event] all circles the moon & dirt shines in the sun

—an expanded audio-visual work produced by Dogmilk’s cross-cultural exchange project Sipakatuo (Glorify One Another).

Delta Sangalla’ TV (DSTV) has documented the social and ceremonial life of the highland region of Toraja in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, since 2006. Known for its distinctive funeral ceremonies that galvanize entire communities, DSTV’s footage captures events that reveal a life in Toraja rarely shown. In 2011, DSTV launched a cable television network in their district, Sangalla’. In 2017, DSTV set up a YouTube account, gaining 300k followers. Broadcast out of the DSTV headquarters. Their images can be seen playing across the district and around the world.

Four channels on four screens, each a different perspective and temporality of the same event. Adjacent actions, with each perspective contributing to constructing a shared collective memory, and each produced by a cameraperson in the DSTV crew. In a collision of form and substance, the work proposes an emotional topography of DSTV’s work over the last 15 years, a living and growing archive of Torajan life, individual and communal.

all circles the moon and dirt shines in the sun is made up of over 4000 separate clips from the DSTV video archive. Re-arranged and constructed by Wahyu Al Mardhani and Chris Cochrane-Friedrich, the archival video material, accompanied by text from interviews conducted with the founder of DSTV Victor Konda over the last four years and sound recordings collected by sound artist Josh Peters in Toraja.

The content of this moving image work concerns the lives, culture, history and lands of Toraja in South Sulawesi. The artists would like to express their deepest respect and gratitude to Torajan communities around the world.

Content Warning

• Images of a person who has passed away and their body’s preparation for a funeral ceremony are included in this work.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the program contains images and voices of deceased persons from Toraja, Indonesia.
• Some viewers may find this footage distressing.

Access

• The North Magdalen Laundry is wheelchair accessible.
• Entrances to the North Magdalen Laundry are wheelchair accessible.
• There are wheelchair accessible bathrooms at North Magdalen Laundry.
• All-gender bathrooms, separate to unisex accessible bathrooms, are also available in the Sacred Heart Courtyard.
• The event will take place inside.

Your safety is our priority

View the Convent’s COVIDSafe plans here.

Support

This project is presented and supported by Asialink Arts with generous funding assistance from the Victorian government through Creative Victoria, we acknowledge additional event support from Project Eleven.