Agustinus Wibowo and The Haunted House Convo
“Welcome to the haunted house!” I greeted Agustinus Wibowo.
The man baffled, as he was stepping in my office’s studio. He looked like he was trying to remember my face for a moment before he finally let out a little, “Kak Nada…”
Agustinus Wibowo is a celebrated travel writer of our era — my era, to be exact. Earlier this year, he published the 667 pages long Kita dan Mereka, after previously being famous of his works such as Selimut Debu, Garis Batas, Titik Nol, and Jalan Panjang untuk Pulang.
More than two decades ago (damn, why does it sound ancient!) he traveled across Central Asia all in for the search of his own identity. In the end, Agustinus finally found an answer: there’s no such thing as a singular identity. Everything, everything is truly interconnected. Culture, geopolitics, history, religion — all these layers overlap to shape who we are.
For Agustinus, often caught between dual identities as an Indonesian of Chinese descent under President Soeharto’s rule, he realized he didn’t have to choose one over the other.
Sitting across from me in the studio, he spent the next one hour to chat about how he came up with such conclusion.
“Identity conflicts are actually unnecessary,” he explained. “We have the power to decide whether we want to stay entangled in these conflicts and be controlled by those fueling them, or to exercise our independence and define our identity for ourselves.”
It was September 26th when I texted him for the first time. I was going to propose an interview with him for Sosok, a video series of inspiring figures that I’ve been working on for the last 2,5 years.
Agustinus is inspiring, so he’s the right person to approach. Besides, I’m a fan! How could I miss this opportunity?
He responded quickly, accepting my offer and asking what’s the plan for the interview. A week later, there we were, in my office’s studio that looks exactly like a haunted house.
“Yeah… it does look like a haunted house from the outside. How did you come up with this idea?” said Agustinus as he made himself comfortable inside the studio, getting ready for the interview.
As he listened to my response, he continued observing the elements inside the studio. He looked like he was mesmerized, while also being confused at the same time.
His reaction made sense. The studio, with its dim lighting, dark drapes, and spots of strong blue light, did look like a haunted house. A large black drape stretched across the room, blocking light from other spaces. Outside, it was a jumble of chairs, tables, stacked boxes, and random filming props.
The ‘studio’ setup was impromptu-built by my team and I solely for the purpose of this interview with him. Initially, it was an open green screen corner, which people in my office used to film various content.
We couldn’t do the interview in Agustinus’ apartment like I firstly suggested. So I thought, let’s just do it in my office. But what are the shot lists? Well, he’s a writer, so there must be footage of him typing on his laptop, reading his own books… but what else?
If there’s one takeaway I got from his books is that Agustinus is very contemplative. He questions everything.
His journey across national borders is one thing, but what is more important is how he crossed the invisible border — the border of identity. To make this journey, Agustinus certainly had to ask a lot and search a lot, especially, searching within himself.
I wanted to convey the contemplative nuance in the interview. So I thought, why not visualize his inner turmoil through scenes of nature and project them onto his face using a projector?
To bring this idea to life, we had to darken the studio. A wide black drape was stretched across the room in order to enclose the space and I sealed the windows using duck tapes.
Ta-da! Welcome to the haunted house!
Agustinus was kind enough to spend around four hours for the shoot; one hour for the interview, and the rest to film the stock shoots.
In between takes, we once again talk about the creative thinking behind this filming setup. He responded warmly, saying, “It actually looks quite artsy. I didn’t expect it to look like this.”
He then went about me being an ISFP might be a good guess why this job suits me. “ISFPs are known for their strength in art and attention to detail. Unlike me as an INFP, I’m not very detail-oriented,” he said. “By the way, can I take a few of these printed pictures home? They’re really cute!”
Despite his huge success of literary works, he’s very humble. Talking with him doesn’t make me feel small nor dumb, given the outstanding life experience that he has. He seemed genuinely engaged throughout the shoot, making me believe that we’re doing the right thing.
When I finally texted him this morning that our interview is out, he replied, “Thank you for all the hard work you put into creating this piece.”
Maybe it’s true what they say: “The ripest grain bends the lowest.” True wisdom reveals itself in humility, and I’m grateful I got to see that firsthand with my favorite author.
If you’re interested in watching the interview, it’s here.
