Expo raises questions of art's role in politics

By R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The July 27 riots in Jakarta have not only driven prodemocracy movements underground, they have also caused two artists to withdraw from the ongoing exhibition of installation art in Yogyakarta.

The original plan was that the exhibition, at the Affandi Museum here from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, would include the works of 10 artists. However, two days before the opening, two participants bowed out of the show. Their reason: exhibitions have developed political undertones.

"I don't like exhibitions with political nuances," commented Alex Lutfi, a graduate of Yogyakarta's Indonesian Institute of Arts and one of the artists who withdrew from the show.

Alex, also a lecturer at the institute, said that the brochure, written by Afnan Malay, an art writer, linked the exhibit called Kemanusiaan Yang Adil dan Beradab (Just and Civilized Human Beings), with the July 27 incident.

"In all honesty, I am afraid of being connected with the riots on July 27," he said.

Judging from the exhibits on show though, his fears appear to be exaggerated. Of the eight works on show, only one suggests a direct tie-up with the incident. The work is by Yustoni Voluntero, a graduate of the institute. Yustoni's work, titled Sembari Kencing Tangan di Tembok dan Lepas Tangan (Peeing on the Wall and Hands Off the Wall), features two bamboo poles used to hang drying clothes, a plastic pail and an ironing board. Eight T-shirts of an uncertain trace of red are drying on the poles -- they look like white T-shirts that been dipped in red dye only moments earlier. The red runs unevenly over the T-shirts. Nearby is a bucket filled with a dark and thick fluid and a red and white T-shirt. The image conveyed is of an unfinished job by someone who has left in a hurry.

Beside this scene, an ironing board can be observed, on which someone has left a white long-sleeved shirt and an iron with a red hand grip. A red shirt is lying casually beside it. The two shirts could symbolize the country's flag. Yustoni captions his creation with these words: "Akhir waktu tragedi dikala itu... Benda-benda ini merupakan saksi sejarah bahwa telah terjadi pengorbanan berdarah demi satu tujuan untuk pembangunan dan stabilitas nasional." (At the end of the tragedy... These objects symbolize witnesses of history whose victims fell for the cause of development and national stability.)

This is the only work that reminds us of the July 27 takeover of the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party office by supporters of Soerjadi, the government-sanction chairman of the party, on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta. It was this action which sparked the riots that day. However, whatever tales the work might evoke, it is and always will be an expression of art, which should be viewed as such. The same applies to the other remaining works.

Take, for instance, the work of Weye Haryanto. A graduate of the same institute in Yogyakarta, his piece depicts three beetlenut palm trunks, each measuring eight meters long, in a triangle. One of the trunks is bandaged in white gauze. All the trunks are spiked with iron staves on the surface, resembling iron thorns. Atop the palm trunks sit a farmer's hat, and on the rim of each hat, twirls of colored paper cascade down.

The work reminds us of the palm race, which is usually held on Independence Day, Aug. 17. Each competitor gives his all to make it to the top, which is a real feat since the palm trunk is covered in grease. Only a few make it to the top, where a number of awards await the successful climbers.

To Weye, his work symbolizes the path to full democracy.

"I have witnessed many struggles and the fall of many victims. Their efforts all amounted to nothing. There are always casualties on the road to attaining full democracy. We all know that the suppression of people is happening everywhere," said Weye. His work is called Fighting for nothing.

The human angle is viewed by Heri Kris from an independent aspect in order to arrive at a sound opinion, free from falsehoods. In his work titled White Opinion Basket, Heri Kris displays six square wooden pillars. Each measures 200 square centimeters and is covered in newspaper articles about restricted freedoms of expression, or political violence endured by the public.

On one of the pillars Heri Kris wrote by hand: "I'm getting more confused, because the electronic media are increasingly broadcasting news about irrational activities... I do not dare to go on, I am scared to be charged with subversion, it is just like in Dutch colonial times..."

Behind the pillars, wooden spears appear to be whipping the poles. The pillars are topped with bamboo baskets packed with newspapers given a whitewash.

Is it a message about sterile information, or information that has been sterilized?

A more violent image can be observed in the verbal expression of Edo Pillu's work Usus dalam karung (Intestines in a bag). The artist, who was jailed for his art commemorating the two-year-old ban of Tempo, Editor and Detik, is presently showing 30 small wall paintings, each measuring 30 x 30 centimeters. All the paintings feature a tank containing a human head and crushed body parts.

In front of the paintings are three bags covered with soil. Two are filled with solid earth, while the other one contains a human mask.

Violence knows no boundaries. All human existence has a potential for violence. Even in culture, which aims to raise the dignity of human beings, violence actually occurs through efforts of human culturization.

German-born Rita Oesters, one of the foreign artists exhibiting work, is drawn to cultural leadership. The message in her work titled Delapan Penjuru Angin (Eight Points of the Compass), speaks of the Javanese culture which dominates the cultural diversity in Indonesia.

"I have come across various cultures in Indonesia, but the Javanese culture is dominant," she said.

Rita Oesters pours out her feelings on eight wooden-framed transparent screens of paper. Each one bears the name of a major Indonesian island. Four of them read: Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bali and Sulawesi. The other four are written up as Java.

The screens, placed in a circle, shield a male statue, dressed in Javanese clothes, which is born by eight women. The work could be interpreted as cultural and gender leadership, both of which carry an innate potential for violence.

Political portrayals in works of art are not taboo, they should not be feared. It would be naive to mark such expressions as practical politics.

Works of art are just work of arts, they rarely ever alter the prevailing political course of events. I have never heard of an artwork that has effected political change. If there should be an audience with a strong tendency for political interpretation instead of looking for the aesthetic elements in a work, their remarks might psychologically work as a purge of opinions kept dormant under the surface.

We should be concerned about the withdrawals of the two artists from this exhibition, which shows that sophisticated social engineering is being quite effective. Censorship of art of a political nature is no longer needed by the government; artists are automatically censoring themselves.