Muslim group protests painting exhibition
Muslim group protests painting exhibition
YOGYAKARTA: An exhibition of modern art by young artist Sigit
Pius Kuncoro at Kedai Kebun art gallery here has been disrupted
by a phone threat by a member of the Movement of Ka'ba Defender
(GPK), a Muslim fundamentalist group.
The group claimed that the paintings exhibited at the gallery
were pornographic works, and charged the gallery management with
disturbing the Islamic fasting month, Ramadhan.
The result was that the exhibition, scheduled to last until
Jan. 10, 2001, was abruptly closed just three hours after the
opening ceremony on Tuesday, the artist's manager, Amrizal, told
The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Amrizal said that an agreement between Sigit's manager and the
owner of Kedai Kebun art gallery was reached and the exhibition
was reopened on Wednesday and continued as scheduled, but the
controversial paintings were hung facing the wall.
"We'll hang the paintings properly if there are any visitors
wishing to view them, and we'll return them to face the wall as
soon as the visitors leave the gallery," he said.
"No party has complained so far."
He admitted that eight of Sigit's works displayed at the
gallery depicted images of naked people. "But none of them could
bring viewers to entertain sexual fantasies except for someone
abnormal, for Sigit does not compose realistic paintings."
"It's outrageous. How could they judge Sigit's paintings as
pornographic works?" Amrizal said.
Sigit was born in Semarang in 1974 and graduated from the
department of graphic design at Indonesian Institute of Art
(ISI), Yogyakarta.
He recalled that a man, claiming to be a member of the Muslim
group, called the gallery owner one day before the opening
ceremony to demand the exhibition be canceled or the group would
attack the gallery.
The caller also said that the group had warned the management
about 'improper' art exhibits four times previously.
GPK is one of several fundamentalist groups in Yogyakarta that
was reportedly involved in the recent attack on a dialog
involving prostitutes and homosexuals in Kaliurang tourist
resort. The discussion was sponsored by the Association of
Indonesian Family Planning (PKBI). (44)