Art for social criticism benaficial, not destructive

YOGYAKARTA (JP): When most people are unable to speak their mind about the sociopolitical situation, artists express their feelings through their work.

Work by local artists displayed at the Cemeti Gallery here testifies that artists can speak without speaking.

The exhibition, called Slot in the Box, features 22 works of art, including a refrigerator with a sign on its door which says "Open Your Freezer -- Find the Fresh President." Inside the refrigerator, there is bottled water and government officials' uniforms symbolizing candidates available to succeed the president.

The work speaks about politics, especially the general election, in the language of art. Using symbols, such as lips, ears and brains, the artists relay messages about irony and sociopolitical criticism.

Artist Weye Haryanto, the creator of Lip Service Democratization, said: "Indonesia's general election appears like a festival of democracy, and democracy here is just that -- an appearance."

Security guards patrol the gallery and will continue to do so until after the exhibition concludes at the end of this month; a practice which may not be beneficial, as no visitor has been agitated by the works.

A non-governmental organization observer and a local representative of British-based aid organization OXFAM, Mansour Fakih, agreed the that government remains sensitive about art portraying social criticism.

"Cultural and artistic expression of the current climate have become politically risky," Fakih said.

He believes cultural works can restore people's human qualities that have been stripped in the process of adjusting to the great power that be in Indonesia.

He mentioned how literary and art works encounter obstacles, such as government-imposed censorship or bans. Theatrical figure W.S. Rendra, for instance, was not permitted to put on his play Sekda through his theater company Bengkel Teater here in the 1970s because of its strong focus on social criticism of a corrupt bureaucracy.

Rendra, also a poet, at another time failed to obtain permits from local authorities to recite his poems, which are known to carry strong messages of social protest against the establishment.

Hardi, a painter, also experienced problems with security authorities when he tried in the 1970s to display paintings at the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Jakarta due to the sensitive issue of presidential succession.

Twenty years later the situation remains. In 1993, the work of local artist Moeryono was banned because it portrayed the suffering of slain labor leader Marsinah.

The bans are only a small part of what happens when art comes face to face with power. When the media and people's representatives are no longer able to voice people's aspirations, then artists come forward.

"The people need to have some sense of control over (the domination of) power, and artists are the ones that launch this control," according to art and literary critic Bakdi Sumanto of Gadjah Mada University.

"Artists are sensitive. If they sense something is wrong in society, they react in their own unique ways," he said. "They don't have any strategic position in a political community, but they do have spectators, some fanatical, who listen to what they have to say."

Sumanto said artwork which contains social criticism could not be expected to function as a means to "enlighten".

"Social criticism through art serves only as a way to maintain people's common sense," he said.

If the government chooses to impose bans on artistic expressions of the sociopolitical situation, it's more about a conflict of values, he said.

"The government doesn't want to be criticized publicly ... (despite) criticism through art not being a threat.

"Because, no matter how harsh, social criticism through the arts does not target the core of the problems. Artists speak through symbols, and these should be differentiated from speeches that agitate people," he said.

He believed that the power holders' oversensitivity reflects "a sick society" because "criticism is treated as a threat".

Fakih agreed, adding that sometimes those in power go so far as to treat critical artwork as something more dangerous than scientific works.

As for the artists themselves, cultural acts are often nothing more than giving voice to the oppressed. "It's a process to awaken people's awareness that there is a process of dehumanization going on, and which is affecting both the oppressed and the oppressor," he said. (38)