Joshua Soenario






MOVING IMAGE
Slimy & Sticky
Big Bellied Snail

BOOK
In Between
Slow or Slower



About

Contact
joshuasoenario@gmail.com
Instagram

Slimy & Sticky / 2026
Dual channel video, writing, 2’41’’





The project originated from a recurring dream that I would experience every time I had a fever.

In the dream, there are images that are difficult to describe—participatory yet difficult to keep under control. The anxiety generated by such situations placed my dream-self on the verge of an overwhelming catastrophe and repeatedly jolted me awake. This state reminded me of the sense of dissolution experienced during meditation.

Through my exploration of psychoanalysis, I encountered Carl Jung’s concept of ‘active imagination’, which offered a way for me to voluntarily enter a similar state and  glimpse deities and symbols emerging from the unconscious. By adapting active imagination as a working methodology—a mechanism for mythical production—I project the unconscious into a miniature theatre, observing its transformations and modes of life. In parallel, the work also incorporates a theatrical construction that arises from pure bodily interaction with PlayDoh—another unconscious state grounded in physical engagement. Combined with Vaseline and soil, this process evokes the fluidity and primal qualities embedded within the unconscious.

The video employs a non-linear editing structure, accompanied by segmented text and fragmented voice-over, in order to reconstruct the randomness and urgency with which images emerge during the process of active imagination. At the same time, the editing functions as a form of unconscious creation: through destructive montage, traces of narrative intention produced during the translation of active imagination into images are dismantled. Logical structures are erased, allowing the images to generate themselves organically.

The selection of sound responds to the anxiety produced by the blurring boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness during fever-induced sleep. The primary symbols appearing in the video—such as pigs and sheep eyeballs—create an uncanny harmony through the juxtaposition of childlike imagery and catastrophic undertones, revealing a coexistence of self-analysis and self-consumption.

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