Theme: Obscure Lucidity

The world grinds to a halt, countries scramble to damage control, business are on the brink and a new way of life is upon us. The future has never been so uncertain, and through these unprecedented times, us, the citizens are left on the sidelines looking for coherency to get us through this disaster.

The british essayist, Erich Heller, describes ‘obscure lucidity’ akin to the poet Kafka’s cryptic writing style where it is lucid in it’s revealment of the truth but also obscure and never straightforward to those reading it.

Like our current state of affairs, what we think at one point is certain to get us through this mess are blurred by the decisions and policies made by those who are supposed to give us lucidity.

Spaces Jakarta, WTC 3
World Trade Centre (WTC) 3 Jakarta, Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 29 - 31
Podium 2nd floor
Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, 12920
Indonesia

Ade Rai

One of Indonesia’s most well-known athletes, Ade Rai initially wanted only to win at arm wrestle during high school. He went on to win numerous international bodybuilding championships, and introduced Indonesia to fitness and bodybuilding. But he realizes the country needs to do more than generating great athletes. In his talk on TEDxJakarta event in 2010, he advocated for a fit and healthy lifestyle, working on public campaigns, and encouraging schools to improve better eating for students. He also founded RAI Institute, a center for fitness motivation, education and research, as well as Indonesia’s first bodybuilding and fitness magazine, Adiraga. Sharing the herculean task we’re facing during this difficult time, Ade Rai continues to remind us that health is the key to high quality of life and longevity.

Ahmad Arif

From 2004 to April 2020, Ahmad Arif had written 5,533 articles in Kompas daily, where the 1,811 of his articles are related to disasters, ranging from earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and also health pandemics. In one of his writings in April 2020 titled "Pagebluk", he tells us about the Spanish flu pandemic disaster that happened in Dutch East Indies era, similar to what we are going through now. His writing emphasizes the importance of our seriousness in handling the current pandemic situation. Currently, Arif along with his colleagues, are developing laporcovid19.org, a platform that provides a forum for fellow citizens to use a citizen reporting or crowdsourcing approach to provide information and data on COVID-19 that may have not yet been detected by official government data reports.

Herawati Sudoyo

Prof. Herawati Sudoyo is the Deputy Director for Fundamental Research at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, a cutting-edge research institute where she has dedicated most of her career. In response to the pandemic, she is currently spearheading the research carried out by the institute, working on virus detection and response. The Habibie Award winner played a notable role in identifying the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing perpetrator by using DNA analysis, which drew local recognition to the role of forensic genetics. She also contributed to numerous research on the genetic diversity of the Indonesian archipelago, particularly on human genetic ancestry and migration as well as the association between population genetics and diseases.