Curtain call: CP Biennale
The CP Biennale-2, in line with its vision, included a hodgepodge of elements rooted in traditions of agricultural village life, elitist modernity, habits of non-Indonesians, avant-garde techniques and many more. Hundreds of participants were involved, encompassing 312 artists from Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines and Pakistan.
Interestingly, these included collaborative art groups, architects, graphic designers and cartoonists. Led by Supangkat, who was assisted by Asmudjo Jono Irianto, Rizki A Zaelani, Marco Kusumawijaya and visiting curator Shin Yi Yang from New York, the biennale was basically a plight for equality and justice. The exhibition, which many rated as excellent, could well match international standards, though some placement of works could have been more prominent.
Particularly standing out in terms of innovative creation and technique, finishing and accessibility to public sensing, was Indonesian artist Titarubi's Body Scape installation. Motionless, genderless figures using a man's cast with female lace, and a light shining from within the bodies floating in the dark space, the installation reverberated to everybody's senses, to a level where words and understanding are irrelevant. Similarly, was the work by Indonesian artist Tisna Sanjaya, who created a piece out of the remains of a work that was burned down by officials from the Bandung City Public Works agency. Cycle of Ash consisted of neatly installed bottles filled with the ashes of his work that would find new value and relevance.
Another interesting one was Pakistani Adeela Suleman's Salma, Sitara and Sister -- Motor Cycle Workshop, sculptures and video which radiated the spirit of women's innovative art using kitchen utensils and everyday items. Singapore resident Parvathi Nayar's In/Roads installation of paintings showing blurred pictures of people on the move and, in contrast, the little things that lie unnoticed on the street, a single frangipangi flower blown by the wind, an artistically crafted raster on a ditch, the clouds mirrored in a splash of waste water.
There were also the telling pictures by Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara, aptly called Urban Horizons, the urban scenes of Bangkok, Hongkong, Shanghai and Shenzhen in color prints by Peter Bialobrzeski, digital print images of Arroyo Parkway Design by Dutch Landscape Architects West-8, photographer Yudhi Soerjoatmodjo's Digital Photographic Daydreaming Pimlico, and the finely crafted sculptured apartment that Indonesian architect Aditya Novali transformed into a blissful living space, titled Happy Land, a playful, ironic carousel of smiling goat heads, entitled Don't worry, be happy by Metromini group.
A prominent presence was shown by young artists with cartoon art from Daging Tumbuh, the foodstall and comics installation by Akademi Samali led by Beng Rahardian, the funny little sculptures habitual de la ritual by the indieguerillas group of freelance graphic designers, video art from Ruang Rupa, Yang Zehnzhong (Light and Easy), and paintings and sculptures by The Jendela group, known for bringing back the form of landscape and aesthetics, Ong Hari Wahyu and Nitipryan Art Community, the Pinkswing Park by Agus Suwage and Davey Linggar, who wanted to visualize the private sphere amidst communal life in the big city.
Renowned Chinese painters Fang Lijun and Yue Mingjun represented their own local realities on canvas and there were the folding tents called Jumbo Origami Arch by Atelier Bow Wow Architect and Tokyo Institutes of Technology group, and the makeshift tents by Mella Jaarsma.
Paintings, sculptures, installations, drawings, videos, comics or replicas of stalls or small shops the nature of which lie between the hamlet, small town and the city; photographs, prints and digital prints -- in short everything that makes up a city -- they comprised the CP Biennale-2, which hundreds of visitors were lucky enough to have witnessed. -- Carla Bianpoen