Spirituality Through the Broken Machine

A Rite of Passage in the Digital Age

In the dimly lit experimental space of WORM in Rotterdam, Philemon Mukarno stood naked before an audience, holding a hammer. Before him lay a computer—his first computer, the vessel of his earliest electronic compositions. With a series of deliberate, forceful blows, he smashed it. This was not an act of vandalism, nor was it a piece of shock art for the sake of sensation. It was IMACO Episode #6: The Art of Letting Go.

For Mukarno, this performance was a profound spiritual statement. It was a visual and sonic manifestation of his core philosophy: “In my life I’m a believer. Objects are only a tool.”

In an era obsessed with digital preservation and material accumulation, Mukarno’s act of destruction was a radical affirmation of the spirit over the object. It was a “rite of passage” that declared that the music does not live in the hard drive; it lives in the soul.​

The Composer as Believer

Philemon Mukarno is a unique figure in contemporary music. Born in Jakarta and trained at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and Codarts, he possesses the highest academic credentials, including the Prize for Composition.

Yet, his approach to his art is deeply rooted in his personal faith. He explicitly positions his work as being led by “Spirituality and belief in God.”​

This spirituality is not a vague, new-age concept. It is a rigorous discipline of non-attachment. Mukarno views his tools—the computers, the synthesizers, even the musical scores—as transient matter. They are merely the physical shells for an internal truth. “Art in all its forms remains above all in the interior of people,” he asserts. This belief liberates him from the anxiety of preservation. He is willing to sacrifice the object to prove the immortality of the art.​

The Computer as a Spiritual Tool

For an electronic composer, the computer is an extension of the mind. It holds years of labor, ideas, and “digital memory.” To destroy it is to destroy a part of oneself. But Mukarno flips this narrative. He sees the computer as a tool that he “skillfully harnesses to create a blend of spirituality and technicality.”​

By destroying it, he is not rejecting technology, but rather mastering it. He is refusing to be enslaved by the tool. He is asserting that his creativity is not dependent on a specific machine. This act transforms the computer from a piece of hardware into a sacrificial object. The “fragments of a life-long partner” become the seeds of a new beginning.[Spirituality Page] It is a powerful metaphor for the creative process itself: we must constantly destroy our old selves to make way for the new.

The Naked Body as Sacred Architecture

In his performances, such as Air Shadow and Easter Christmas, Mukarno often appears naked. This nudity is central to his spiritual aesthetic. It is not erotic; it is “raw” and “vulnerable.” He uses the naked body as a “sacred conduit”—a vessel for truth that is stripped of all social masks and defenses.​

Drawing on the philosophy of Japanese Butoh (the “Dance of Darkness”) and his own Asian heritage, Mukarno presents the body as a “microcosm” of the universe. The exposed flesh becomes a “truth-telling instrument.” In the WORM performance, the contrast between the soft, vulnerable human skin and the hard, breaking plastic of the computer created a powerful visual tension. It highlighted the fragility of the human condition and the enduring strength of the spirit.​

Uncompromising Aesthetics: Control and Chaos

Mukarno’s music and performance art are characterized by a tension between “strict control of Form” and “chaos.” As a composer, he is known for his “remarkable economy of means.”

He builds sonic structures that are rigorous, precise, and “monolithic.”​

However, in his performances, he introduces the element of the unpredictable. The act of smashing a computer is violent and chaotic. The movements of the Butoh-inspired body are often “grotesque” and erratic. This synthesis of Apollonian control (the composition) and Dionysian chaos (the performance) allows him to access a “high level of excitement.” It is a spiritual ecstasy born from the friction between discipline and surrender.​

The Shadowbody: Embracing the Darkness

A key concept in Mukarno’s work is the “Shadowbody.” This refers to the subconscious, darker aspects of the self—fear, grief, and trauma. In his performances, he does not hide these elements; he exposes them.​

Nudity allows him to access this “Shadowbody.” It strips away the civilized veneer and reveals the “repressed or hidden aspects” of the psyche. By integrating these darker elements into his art, Mukarno achieves a form of “spiritual repair.” He suggests that true spirituality is not about denying the darkness, but about moving through it. The destruction of the computer is a way of externalizing this internal struggle, breaking the chains of the past to find freedom.​

A Ritual of Letting Go

The IMACO collective, which hosted the performance, is dedicated to the theme of “The Art of Letting Go.” Mukarno’s contribution was the ultimate expression of this theme. In a “performative estafette” (relay race) where artists passed objects to one another, Mukarno chose to end the cycle by destroying his object.​

This act challenges the “digital dependency” of our culture. In an age where we are terrified of losing our data, Mukarno shows us that loss can be a form of liberation. He argues for an art that is “rooted not in storage but in memory”—an art that lives in the moment of its creation and then vanishes, leaving only a spiritual residue in the consciousness of the witness.​

Conclusion: The Immortality of the Spirit

Philemon Mukarno is more than a composer; he is a spiritual provocateur. His work challenges us to question our relationship with the material world. Through his uncompromising music and his fearless performance art, he reminds us that “exceptional achievements and skills” are ultimately spiritual acts.​

When the hammer came down on the computer, it was not an end, but a beginning. It was the sound of a spirit breaking free from its shell. Mukarno teaches us that to truly create, we must be willing to let go of everything we have made, trusting that the source of our creativity—the spirit itself—is inexhaustible.

Discover Philemon Mukarno’s spiritual approach to art. From smashing computers to naked Butoh, explore how he values the spirit over the object.​