Stefan Malicky

7th September

Got up early, drank tea, took a shower, shaved and went to the ATM. I hope I didn’t happen to use the one that is said to be tampered with, but anyway, I got my money. Went to the Superindo. Once more, I wasn’t able to get postcards.
The same goes for stamping ink, but this isn’t that important.
Later on, power failed and I went to sleep again.
So, now I’m going to see whether the drugs and the highly active intestinal symbionts help. I ate something at the curb-side stall of two ladies – the food tasted quite nice, but was only lukewarm. One of the ladies took several selfies with me, which suited me because then I was able to take pictures of how they prepared the food without feeling uneasy about it.
What should I do during the rest of the afternoon?
Power has been restored…

9th September

Older photos show that there was a rice field behind the wall with the window at the back of the residence’s garden. At present, this area is covered by what we would call a “Gstettn” (wasteland) in Vienna. Yesterday a few fires were again lit there. People burnt their waste…
Then I walked via Parangtritis Street to the Jogja Gallery and the stationer’s where I had been before together with Lashita. I felt completely wiped out. The weather app shows a UV index of 11. In comparison, Vienna has a UV index of 0 to 1. You can even get sunburnt through your shirt. I had to cross wide streets again and again. Some parade towards Kraton caused a huge traffic jam. The first Go-Jek didn’t find me. Or was it the other way round? I then walked back a bit to take a Go-Jek at a hotel and went home. The curbs along Parangtritis Street are very high and have a steep slope face. Parked mopeds encroach on the lanes. … You often can’t avoid walking on the lanes to get around them. People sit on the ground, sell food, rest in their own rickshaws, spray paint garage doors, repair mopeds or gather old car tyres. This street isn’t made for walking along it. But the people aren’t surprised when they see you. Now and then they offer you a ride on a motor rickshaw. You don’t get the feeling that they want to sell something to you with might and main. That was quite different in Cuba 17 years ago. People there used to be more persistent. I took a few pictures and headed home again. … The middle of the rotating fan looks like the pupil of a large eye from the bed under the mosquito net.

10th September

Yesterday evening I went out to get some water as our water cans were empty – because of breakfast. At the shop, the people told me that I should well leave my shoes on as I had taken them off. Also, they asked where I came from and I replied, “Austria, Europe”.
When I returned home, a praying mantis which had sat at the lower edge of the door before suddenly was on the inside door handle – exactly where you touch it when you close the door behind you. I immediately took a photo. This morning I managed to take a close-up of a gecko…

13th September

So, that was it: my mobile phone is out of credit. And I don’t know how to upload credit. I can’t quite figure out how to pay if that can only be done on the internet. If I can pay with my credit card I can do it at home. If I need a voucher, I have to go out. Who can help me? I solved the problem of uploading credit to the phone brilliantly by going to a hut where they sell mobile phones, just around the corner. I specified my phone number and paid. And voilà, I can use the phone again. I tinkered a bit… actually I would like to go out for lunch…

18th September

… yesterday I was too tired to write anything. I now have a hat with “BOROBUDUR” and a Buddhist stupa on it, just like those you can see in real life there. Yesterday I was at Candi Borobudur around noon and buying a ridiculous hat was unavoidable. In front of the temple complex, vendors hawk cheap trinkets, scarves with motifs ranging from Indonesian batik to Bob Marley, small to big carved Buddhist stupa models, T-shirts, kites, stuffed cobras as well as mongoose, sandals… in between, there were stalls offering food, I had a vegetable omelette with rice in order to recharge my mobile phone in the meantime. Mango juice, tomato juice, papaya juice, orange juice, … the phone’s battery lasted exactly as long as I needed it, it was a long distance, but I found my way home all right, towards the end only by asking for directions because the battery still ran down…
The “Chicken Church” is a chapter in itself on which a lot could certainly be said. One of my predecessors here at the Sewon Art Space studied it in greater detail. It’s a church looking like a hen that was built on a hill. On old photos I saw that this church didn’t always see as flourishing days as today. Several people at the Chicken Church as well as at Borobudur had photos taken with me because I’m so tall or because – as a European – I look exotic to them…

19th September

I could continue my work with stones that I started last year in spring in Crete with volcanic rock here: sorting stones, laying them out, scratching them. What I would need would be something for transporting them, preferably a small van to bring the stones to the studio. Before that, I also need to know where to find the most beautiful ones. It shouldn’t be that difficult to get assistance. Even if the project with the outer wall made of volcanic rock doesn’t work out, it’s still a nice project.
The problem is that these stones are very heavy and as a result, the studio’s tiled floor and my spine will suffer. Therefore the stones have to be placed on boards…

20th September

The first thing I did today was to buy green bread. No, I first went to Milas, Milas was still closed, then I went to ViaVia to get insect spray and sunscreen, both natural products for which it’s not quite clear whether they are effective. In the morning I wrote an e-mail back to Viktoria because she had written that everything was all right with the dismantling of the exhibition in Zwickledt. Today I’m going to cook for myself, as on most days. I’ve got the impression that the wart on the lower side of my nose is growing. …Now the wart is gone, obviously it just was a blackhead.
The two things I bought at ViaVia are both against insects and none of them was a sunblock. Realised it too late, doesn’t matter, can use the stuff anyway…

24th September

… went shopping, took a few photos at the studio, translated the exhibition text into English. The morning is over.
… rubber bands come alive … as if they were geckos … or rather “shrekos!“
After my midday nap, I went to the Institut Seni and got myself some food. Actually, I wanted to go to the copy shop and to the paint shop until I noticed that it was Sunday today and the shops would probably be closed. Evening falls. It hasn’t rained today although the forecast said it would. It was a bit dimmer than usual. I don’t feel like writing in my diary anymore.
After drawing a few pictures in my notebook, I lazed about since I had an excuse for doing nothing.
Later on, I cooked – carrot curry with noodles – but I added too much prepared sauce to the curry. Nevertheless, it tasted good…

25th September

It rains for the first time during my stay here. Induced by a mystical view of the rain, I think of ants, their behaviour and their swarm intelligence and precisely the mystical meaning attributed to those behaviours. I’m an ant and quickly take the laundry that I hung out to dry back inside, I think, even though the laundry is hanging under a canopy. I react, I’m part of a whole…

26th September

In front of my window that is now open to let in fresh air there are several hexagonal concrete pavers like the ones laid in our garden and like those I have already seen elsewhere. When the window is open, there is even a gentle breeze coming into the room. Next to it, there is a plant pot that has been concreted over. Part of it is broken off on the side and it has a hole in the middle. It remains open or could even be researched what might have been inside this hole. Maybe a bamboo cane? The window’s aperture is quite close to the ground, animals can enter here easily and the window doesn’t close properly, it’s always slightly ajar. From my window around the corner I can see the kitchen window that doesn’t close tightly either and geckos which are getting in and out. At the perimeter wall opposite the kitchen, the geckos are chasing each other. Everything is tightly roofed up to the terrace. Outside the pest controller is at work spraying his poisons and setting up toxic traps…

27th September

… here in Yogyakarta, the best time of the day is the early morning. Now it’s exactly one month that I started my diary. It must have rained during the night. Everything is moist in the garden and the hexagonal pavers are covered by yellowish moss or some other yellowish film. In a tropical landscape everything flourishes and perishes much faster. Lashita wrote back to ask what the tables for my exhibition should look like. Actually I had thought that I would use the existing tables. But this gives me the opportunity to input my own ideas about the tables. On the other hand, the tables will in fact only stand in the exhibition for three days, and what should be done with them afterwards?
The geckos chase each other again. After all, they look like miniature Formula1 racing cars.
The squealing of a pig…or did it come from chickens…strange sounds from next door. Actually, I hear this noise almost every day, but I didn’t manage to mention it here yet. I will take it easier today. In the small in-house library I found the book “For the birds” by John Cage, and I’m going to read it now…

29th September

Today I slept a bit longer and was relaxed when I got up. I have to call the consul to see whether he is still in Jakarta. It’s a bit tiring to always have a look at the news and Facebook first.
After a brief search on the internet I find that there are no or hardly any tourism resorts here in Jogja. There are hotels, but it’s not clear which kind of people stay there and there aren’t really many tourists here. Java is covered by agricultural land throughout, i.e. there are no virgin forests here. Rice is cultivated, but I also saw maize. Culturally, Jogja is a hotspot.
Funnily enough, as a “Westerner” I sometimes feel like an out-of-place Hugh Hefner in his bathrobe. As if I had risen from the dead as Hefner in a bizarre dream, in an uptight dream world. Hugh Hefner died two days ago as you know. My general condolences…

30th September

Today I drew two pictures in the company of a frog in the studio. It sat in a corner and was irritated by its reflection on the black wall tiles. A nice meeting, I thought to myself.

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