National Gallery needs private sector involvement<\/p>\n
By Amir Sidharta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): In Mungkid, Central Java, the Museum Widayat
\nstands as the bastion of Widayat's art world and his circle of
\ninfluence. In Yogyakarta, everyone knows of the unique Museum
\nAffandi, which certainly reflects the character of this
\nIndonesian art maestro.<\/p>\n
In Bali, apart from the Puri Lukisan, there are a number of
\nother museums: Museum Neka, the Agung Rai Museum of Art, Museum
\nRudana, all around Ubud, as well as Nyoman Gunarsa's museum in
\nKlungkung. The late Antonio Blanco was preparing for the opening
\nof his museum when he passed away last December.<\/p>\n
In Bandung, there is the Museum Barli and the Selasar Sunaryo.
\nThe museums that have been mentioned above are only a part of the
\nprivate museums that exist in Indonesia today.<\/p>\n
At the Indonesian Museum Congress in Sanur, Bali, last year,
\nsomeone made a defensive argument that the amount of private
\nmuseums that kept sprouting up indicated that the founders did
\nnot perceive museums to have a negative image, in response to my
\nstatement that museums generally had a negative image. True, the
\nidea of museums may not have a negative image, but most museums
\nin Indonesia, especially those state-owned and state-operated
\nones, certainly have a stigma attached to them. They are mostly
\nperceived as dusty, old, static and unexciting repositories of
\nhistory and culture.<\/p>\n
The negative image of museums in Indonesia is reflected in the
\nvisible " onstage" element and the unseen "backstage" one. On the
\n"onstage" side museums generally do not have regularly changing
\nexhibitions and public programs that would make them more
\ndynamic. "Back stage", most museums in Indonesia have minimal, if
\nnot dismal, storage facilities, certainly not adequate for the
\nstorage of the nation's cultural patrimony. The poor state of the
\nstorage facilities was one of the inspirations for the theft of
\nover 20 paintings from the National Museum in 1996.<\/p>\n
Negative image<\/p>\n
It is due to this negative image that artists have been
\nhesitant in giving or loaning their works to state-owned and
\nstate-operated museums. Rather than offering their works of art
\nto state museums, they would rather open their own museums. This
\nis the reason that Indonesia has so many private museums, most of
\nwhich were established by artists, while state museums have been
\nleft neglected.<\/p>\n
The National Gallery is a classic case in point. The
\ninstitution has a very strong collection of early Indonesian art,
\nparticularly dating from the 1950s and 1960s, due to the hard
\nwork of art critic Kusnadi, who carefully selected the paintings
\nthat now appear in the collection for the directorate of arts at
\nthe former ministry of education and culture. In the 1980s, the
\nconcept of the Wisma Seni Nasional (National Gallery) was
\ninitiated, with the idea of combining the collections of the
\ndirectorate of arts and other collections under the ministry of
\neducation and culture. However, when the Indonesian art boom
\nhappened at the end of the 1980s, the government failed to
\nanticipate the development of the art industry, and paid little
\nattention to collecting efforts.<\/p>\n
As a result, the best paintings that appeared on the market,
\nin art galleries as well as Christie's and Sotheby's auctions,
\nfell into the hands of private collectors. The National Museum
\nproject relied heavily on donations from the artists themselves.<\/p>\n
The National Gallery project began to materialize with the
\norganization of exhibitions in the late 1980s. In preparation for
\nthe 1995 art exhibition of the Non-Aligned Movement, the building
\nthat now houses the institution was restored. Since then,
\nalthough not yet formally inaugurated, the institution has became
\nan important venue for Indonesian art programs. It had a
\ncuratorial board consisting of a number of artists and critics,
\nwith the task of selecting proposals for art exhibitions
\nsubmitted by mainly by artists.<\/p>\n
Finally, in 1999, the National Gallery was formally
\ninaugurated. Education and culture ministry staff were appointed
\nto operate the institution. Curators coming from other academic
\ninstitutions were selected into a curatorial team. Their task was
\nbasically a continuation of the former curatorial board's task.<\/p>\n
The curators do not conduct research and develop exhibition
\nprojects, instead they select and determine which submitted
\nexhibition project meet the artistic criteria of the National
\nGallery. As a result, the exhibitions that are shown at the
\nNational Gallery are seldom outstanding; most are merely
\nacceptable as they meet the institution's curatorial criteria.<\/p>\n
However, these exhibitions never manage to bring forth the
\ngallery's vision, as they are usually prepared by exhibition
\norganizers with no direct ties nor relationship to the
\ninstitution.<\/p>\n
Possessing large and growing collections of prominent artists,
\nmany collectors have toyed with the idea of opening their own
\nprivate museums. However, opening a museum does not only involve
\nquite large amounts of money, it also requires qualified
\nprofessional human resources, which are still scarce in this
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
One possible solution that might work, especially with
\nPresident Abdurrahman Wahid's bold idea of trimming the nation's
\noverweight bureaucracy, is for a private-public partnership to
\ntake over the National Gallery's operations.<\/p>\n
The concept is for the National Gallery to open itself to
\nprivate sector involvement. Public collectors would be invited to
\nloan their art collections to the National Gallery and provide
\nannual contributions that would cover the costs of maintenance
\nand the development of public programs.<\/p>\n
In return for a certain amount of funds, they would be given
\nthe position of trustee with the power to determine the direction
\nof the gallery and to vote for that director that seemed most
\nqualified to run the institution.<\/p>\n
Curators<\/p>\n
The director would then select curators based on their
\nqualifications and expertise, to be employed full-time by the
\nmuseum on a tenure-track basis, much like in the academic world.
\nThe curators would continue to work for the museum even though
\nthere may be a change in directorship. They should be specialists
\nin fields of Indonesian art, categorized by chronological periods
\nor regional division.<\/p>\n
So, there may be curators for nineteenth century Indonesian
\nart, for the Mooi Indie era (ca. 1900-1942), early modern
\nIndonesian art (1937 - 1965), art during the New Order (1966-
\n1999) and Contemporary Art (1974 - now). Or curators for Jakarta,
\nBandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, and Western Indonesia (Sumatra and
\nKalimantan) , Eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku,
\nand Irian Jaya) for the regional categories.<\/p>\n
The curators would mainly conduct research that would
\nculminate in an exhibition and the publication of a catalog. The
\nexhibitions that they prepare would be scheduled in the gallery's
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
Based on the curator's exhibition preparations, the director
\nwould then set a five-year program for the National Gallery,
\nalong with an appropriate budget to be approved by the Board of
\nTrustees. When necessary, the director would try to find
\nadditional funds from corporations and individual
\nphilanthropists.<\/p>\n
The curators would work with the collections manager and
\nconservator to select the most appropriate work for their
\nexhibition and make sure the work was ready for display. If a
\ncertain work of art that they would like to include in the show
\nis in the hands of a collector, they would ask the museum
\ndirector to approach the collector and try to get the piece for
\nthe exhibition.<\/p>\n
The exhibition designer would work closely with the curator to
\ndesign a spatial layout and graphic design that would be most
\nconducive to the communication of the curatorial message of the
\nshow. The education department would prepare public programs and
\neducational material that would make visits to the gallery more
\nexciting, entertaining, as well as educational.<\/p>\n
The marketing, promotion and communication divisions of the
\nmuseum would work to ensure that there was adequate publicity
\nabout the museum's programs, whether it be in the form of print,
\nradio, or television advertisements, or news, reviews and
\ncritiques in the mass media, so that museum visitation rates will
\nbe high.<\/p>\n
Under this new system, curators would no longer merely
\ndetermine whether or not an exhibition prepared by an exhibition
\norganizer or by an artist was suitable for representation at the
\ninstitution, but actively conduct research to produce their own
\nshow. This would ensure that the exhibitions held at the National
\nGallery reflect the institution's vision and character.<\/p>\n
Professionalism<\/p>\n
The new system would also mean that the level of
\nprofessionalism of the institution be maintained at a high
\nstandard. The scarce pool of professionals knowledgeable in the
\nart field would not have to be drained by the private museums,
\nbut could be concentrated toward a national effort. Instead of
\nspending excessive amounts of funds to finance their own private
\nmuseums, private collectors could contribute a lower amount of
\nfunds to ensure the accomplishment of a greater effort at the
\nNational Gallery.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, with this new system Indonesia would be able
\nto present a very strong and comprehensive collection in a single
\nlocation, something that private collectors will never be able to
\naccomplish, because their collecting efforts are always limited
\nby their personal tastes.<\/p>\n
The new system would ensure that the National Gallery was
\nprovided with, albeit on loan, the creme de la creme of
\nIndonesian art works. Therefore, instead of having numerous
\nmediocre private museums, we would have at least one strong
\nNational Museum, and be better off for it.<\/p>\n
This is not, however, meant to say that the private museums
\nthat already exist today should be abandoned altogether. Each
\nprivate museum has its own character, and would still contribute
\ngreatly to the diversity of Indonesian arts. However, we have to
\nbe aware that the National Gallery is certainly in need of a
\nnational effort on its behalf.<\/p>\n
Now, the question is whether the government would welcome such
\na drastic change in the management of one of its most precious
\ninstitutions? Will they allow private involvement in the
\ninstitution which they tend to guard so protectively? If, for
\nsome miraculous reason, the government suddenly becomes open to
\nthis possibility, then it will still take quite an effort to
\nconvince the private collectors and as well as individual artists
\nto support this new system. We should remain optimistic, however,
\nthat it can work.<\/p>",
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