Macabre Art Installation: A Space for Dialogue on Violence and Environmental Crisis

JAKARTA, Jakartaweekly.com — Come and See Pictures has launched an art exhibition titled Macabre Art Installation, inspired by the horror-comedy film Ghost in the Cell. Held at Nirmana Falatehan from May 16 to 22, 2026, the exhibition serves as a space for dialogue on violence, the human body, consumerism, and environmental crisis.

Through the exhibition, six “macabre art” pieces previously seen only in the film are transformed into life-sized physical installations. The works — The Fan, Shower Head, The Stove, The Dancer, Flood Light, and Lady Justice — were created through cross-disciplinary collaboration involving filmmakers, illustrators, prosthetic artists, make-up artists, costume designers, sound artists, and the film’s art department.

In Ghost in the Cell, the artworks function both as elements of horror and as social criticism. The story follows an entity from the forests of Kalimantan that loses its habitat due to deforestation and nickel mining activities. The entity then kills humans with the “most negative aura” and turns their bodies into grotesque art objects.

That atmosphere is translated into the exhibition space through carefully designed spatial arrangements, textures, lighting, and soundscapes for each installation. Visitors are not only presented with horror visuals, but are also invited to experience the atmosphere that previously existed only within cinema.

Director Joko Anwar said films allow audiences to observe the issues presented in a story, while exhibition spaces enable visitors to confront those issues directly. “An exhibition space allows visitors to confront the issues inside the film directly,” Joko Anwar said in a press statement on Saturday, May 16, 2026.

Beyond expanding the cinematic universe of Ghost in the Cell, the exhibition is also part of Come and See Pictures’ effort to introduce installation art and contemporary art to younger generations through film and popular culture. The production house views film not merely as a single medium, but as a meeting point for various artistic disciplines and creative professions.

Each installation began with visual interpretations by Indonesian concept artists before being transformed into physical objects through sculpting, molding, prosthetics, art direction, costume design, and the creation of custom ambient sound.

The concept artists involved include Anwita Citriya, Benediktus Budi, Benny Kusnoto, Coki Greenway, Hafidzjudin, and Rudy Ao.

The physical realization of the installations involved Dennis Sutanto as art director, Novie Ariyanti for make-up effects, Ical Tanjung for lighting design, Monika Paska as costume designer, M. Anwar as prosthetic artist, and Aghi Narottama together with Tony Merle for music and sound design.

The Macabre Art Installation exhibition is open free to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. WIB.