Arts Summit Indonesia: Much lacking in first visual arts exhibition<\/p>\n
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The opening of the fourth Art Summit Indonesia on
\nSept. 11 in the open air of Galeri Nasional Indonesia kindled
\nhigh expectations for the visual arts exhibition, which was
\nincluded for the first time in the international summit.
\nUnfortunately, it failed to deliver.<\/p>\n
As the flickering lighting played on the old Galeri Nasional
\nIndonesia building amid the reverberating music of I Wayan Sadra,
\nthere was the feeling this was something different, yet entirely
\nworthy of the prestigious event.<\/p>\n
Even the failure of the curtain to open on time was taken in
\nstride.<\/p>\n
In hindsight, it could be considered an omen of what was to
\ncome.<\/p>\n
While Masuda Hiromi's glass installation in the main hall
\ninitially seemed to justify high expectations for the visual arts
\nsummit, S. Teddy D.'s Demarcation installation, which has been
\nseen in the Yogya Biennale and elsewhere, was the first sign to
\nalert all was not right.<\/p>\n
For frequent art exhibition visitors, there were too many
\nworks that did not meet the expectations of a summit.<\/p>\n
For example, there was the art installation of Mella Jaarsma
\nwith the same theme of identity, minority, etc., renewed only
\nwith a changing motif on the burkha; Nindityo Adipurnama's
\neternal hairbun in the interactive installation titled Massage a
\nla Hairbun placed in the same space as at CP Biennale, or
\nDolorosa Sinaga's sculptures -- we had all seen them to the point
\nof boredom.<\/p>\n
In addition, the three lone painters represented -- IGK
\nMurniasih, Dikdik Sayahdikumullah and Made Wianta -- made us
\nwonder how these works could possibly reflect the top of the rich
\npainting community.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile. Agus Suwage's controversial installation Air Seni
\n(Urine), consisting of a real urinal and five monitors to show
\nthe act of urinating, with the artist's actual peeing witnessed
\nby the public and his wife, provoked graffiti -- both in support
\nand against the work -- on the surrounding walls.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, there is more to the exhibition, with Nyoman
\nErawan's stirring installation of faces made of stone, spread in
\na "pool" of sand and hung along the walls of the space Ritus
\nWajah di Batu-Batu (The Rite of Face on the Stones); Krisna
\nMurti's impressive multimedia installation (E)Art(h)quake,
\nconsisting of a giant mythological dragon looking over a plot of
\nsand that transforms into the tides brought about by a video and
\nuniting with the sound of thunder.<\/p>\n
There is also Arahmaiani's lyrical video art, I Don't Want to
\nbe Part of Your Legend, using just a leaf and a wayang puppet
\naccompanied by poetic text to question women's status in the
\nburning of Sita in the Ramayana epic story<\/p>\n
Heri Dono's innovative blend of low- and high-tech to portray
\nthe difference in rural peace and urban buzz also helps the
\noverall display. Tisna Sanjaya provides a theatrical illustration
\nof a world that is upside down through the portrayal of a
\nskeleton in the upside-down position, fenced in with quotes from
\nfamous authors like TS Elliot and Wiji Thukul.<\/p>\n
The participation of foreign artists from Australia, France,
\nJapan, Pakistan and Thailand is an asset, but their works would
\nhave been better understood by the public if there had been some
\nkind of explanation on their backgrounds.<\/p>\n
The photo exhibition of Eliza Huchinson's portraits, for
\ninstance, is a series of photographic performance portraits,
\npresented as exaggerated characters in order to capture a range
\nof physical and psychological responses to the action of gravity
\non the body.<\/p>\n
The same goes for the photographs by Darren Siwes, an
\nAboriginal photographer from Australia, which become outspoken
\nand stirring once one knows their context in Aboriginal society
\nin colonial times, evoking questions that are revealed in the
\ntitle Just is, which can also be read as "justice".<\/p>\n
Naoko Majima's large canvases Heaven and Paradise, filled with
\nlittle charcoal points or lines, would be even more interesting
\nwith the knowledge that the act of drawing leads her in a kind of
\ntrance in which visions of the distant past are revealed.<\/p>\n
Masuda Hiromi's material of glass alone attracts attention,
\nbut understanding her Requiem installation that goes beyond a
\nmere condolence wreath would come with the information that the
\ngreen palms on bare dry branches, and the addition of small
\nyellow coconuts, substantiate her belief that there is life after
\ndeath.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the video works of Bruno Samper and Pierre Giner
\nfrom France would be an enlightening example of groundbreaking
\ndigital video art if there had been some information on their
\nbackgrounds.<\/p>\n
Samper is a highly skilled designer and founder of the Net
\nrevue Panoplie whose work in this exhibition, Society, was
\ncreated for the first New Media Art Biennale in France. Keep the
\nDistance by Giner experiments with the complexity of space
\noccupation inside virtual worlds and our relationship with
\nreality, thus revealing the stigmata of a new way of perceiving
\nthe world.<\/p>\n
The lack of attention to thorough selection of works, and the
\napparent dearth of even minimal communication efforts, is
\ncompounded by a website with inadequate information (sad to say,
\nmost of it is from an article written by me for this paper,
\nwithout any attribution).<\/p>\n
It is hardly surprising that the visual arts part of the Art
\nSummit Indonesia, unlike Wayan Sadra's music on opening night,
\nfailed to cause any reverberations.<\/p>\n
One would be inclined to agree with artist F.X. Harsono's
\ncomment in a discussion held on Tuesday at Galeri Nasional
\nIndonesia: "Let's be professional, and if we can't, then it's
\nbetter not to have a summit than having one that doesn't deserve
\nits title".<\/p>\n
i-box:<\/p>\n
Galeri Nasional Indonesia
\nJl. Medan Merdeka Timur No. 14,
\nJakarta 10110
\nTel: 34833954<\/p>",
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