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.