Curtain call: CP Biennale

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