Expo raises questions of art's role in politics

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.