Urban arts as critical commentary acts of pandemic in Indonesia: Multimodal critical discourse analysis

Abstract

The present study examines the practice of urban arts as critical commentary acts of pandemic issues in Indonesia’s public spaces based on the viral news on July–August 2021. There are 11 viral arts as examples which are evaluated by three approaches, i.e. Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) approach, Systemic Functional Linguistic and Ideological square. This study aims to critically examine the meaning-making process of different semiotic resources, reveal the ideas and values, and how the in-group and out-group representation in the underlying discourse. The findings reveal that the urban arts are powerful mediums of voicing and criticism publicly about social, political, and humanity issues during pandemic. Since the urban artists may position themselves as the representative of the public, they are depicted in the miserable states as the victims of the unresponsiveness and incapability of the government in handling the pandemic. The choices of verbal and visual modes purposely signal the public’s despair state and emphasize the government’s shortcomings. However, the presence of urban arts is not entirely accepted as social form of communication. Lack of appreciation and official public spaces always put the urban arts on the edge of vandalism. Power and political elements even come into play to restrain the freedom of speech.

Keywords:

• multimodal critical discourse analysis
• ideological square
• urban arts

Public Interest Statement

The interest of this article is to reveal the meaning-making process of controversial urban arts released during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia through the analysis of verbal and visual resources. This article provides useful description and interpretation to understanding the meanings of urban arts from the approach of multimodal critical discourse analysis and supported by how the artists represent themselves and the authorities in the arts using the theory of ideological square. The result confirms that the artists employ certain strategies in the choice of verbal and visual resources that can depict their pandemic resentment toward the authorities and position them negatively due to their restriction of speech freedom and their shortcoming in handling the pandemic. However, urban arts mostly are still perceived as vandalism and lack of recognition as critical commentary acts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP/The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education) and Pusat Layanan Pembiayaan Pendidikan (Puslapdik) for granting the scholarship and supporting this research.

Notes on contributors

Astri Dwi Floranti

Astri Dwi Floranti is a Ph.D. candidate at Indonesia University of Education, Bandung, Indonesia. She is also a lecturer at Invada Institute of Education and Language. Her research interests are within critical discourse analysis, multimodality and gender issues.

Yasir Mubarok

Yasir Mubarok is a Ph.D. candidate at Indonesia University of Education, Bandung, Indonesia. He is a lecturer at Pamulang University. His research interests are critical discourse analysis, multimodality and gender issues.

Aceng Ruhendi Saifullah

Aceng Ruhendi Saifullah is a Professor of Forensic Linguistic at Indonesia University of Education, Bandung, Indonesia. His research interests are focused on forensic linguistics, semiotics and pragmatics.

Wawan Gunawan

Wawan Gunawan is a lecturer at Indonesia University of Education, Bandung, Indonesia. His research interests are focused on systemic functional linguistics, educational linguistics, critical discourse analysis and multimodality.