Five artists 'intervene' in CCF's public spaces

Five artists 'intervene' in CCF's public spaces

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Five young artists experimenting with sound, lighting and other
installations have turned the library, toilet, cafe and gallery
at the Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) building into fun places,
providing a new experience for visitors.

Opened on April 14, the exhibition, titled cARTe blanche #5:
Passage, presents Aditya Satria, Andry Mochamad, Jompet, Paul
Kadarisman and Sulasmoro, each of whom has installed his own
creation to convey more or less the same message.

Curator Agung Hujatnikajennong says that the exhibition wants
to "intervene" in public spaces.

"Objects in this exhibition are present in a simple form, such
that they appear disguised from the objects that usually sneak
unobtrusively into CCF's rooms," he said.

Therefore, to see the exhibition, visitors should obtain a map
provided in the gallery's lobby because, unusually, the
exhibition not only uses the gallery but also other places.

For example, employing a sensor, Jompet from Yogyakarta has
set up in the CCF library a box containing a large portrait of
himself carrying a pistol. Every time a person walks past the
box, it says "Je suis pareseu, je suis idiot" ("I'm lazy, I'm
stupid").

Titled Me and Samin, the creation was inspired by the Samin
community in Central Java during the colonial period when they
resisted the Dutch by pretending to be stupid.

The pistol held by the portrait wants to say that in public
spaces around us, ideological and political interests develop in
the background.

Agung, who work as curator at Selasar Sunaryo Gallery,
Bandung, notes that Me and Samin is the only object of the
exhibition that contains a political message.

Also in the library, Andry Mochamad, with his Liberte Songs,
has put two old electronic pianos on the second floor. He wants
to test visitors on whether they are brave enough to play the
piano in a library, where silence usually rules.

Near the piano, Paul Kadarisman has displayed some photographs
he took years ago at a zoo. He calls his attempt Zoo Memorabilia.

A few meters further inside the building, Sulasmoro from
Bandung has wired venues like a classroom, the male rest room and
the library with microphones linked to speakers placed below
tables in the CCF cafe.

Therefore, cafe patrons can listen to conversations and noises
from other parts of the building while sipping beer or espresso,
thanks to Sound Surveillance.

With his installation 1000 Watt, Aditya Satria from Jakarta
offers a new experience in entering a gallery space. Instead of
being presented by art objects, visitors are exposed to a bright
flash from a 1000-watt light bulb.

However, to really relish the sensation of the high-powered
flash, visitors should enter the gallery some time after the
previous visitor has been there.

Due to its high power, the light responds quite slowly to the
sensor installed at the doorway.

cARTe blanche # 5" Passage
Centre Culturel Francais
Jl. Salemba Raya No. 25
Central Jakarta
Open through May 7
11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.