Ruangrupa for unusual, edgy art forms

Ruangrupa for unusual, edgy art forms

John Badalu, Contributor, Jakarta

There is an ongoing art exhibition at Ruangrupa in Tebet, South
Jakarta, called the Short Message System. Don't get the wrong
idea. This is a rare wall painting exhibition where three
Jakarta-based artists and one from Luxembourg are exploring their
ideas about urban life.

Each artist tried to get their message across to the others.
After 10 days of exchanging ideas, it became one big painting
that covers all four walls in the main room, but it can also be
viewed as four individual paintings on their own.

The painting is quite wacky in the way where some of the
artists painted multilevel highways about to be destroyed by a
Godzilla-like robot. On another wall, there is a skyscraper with
a big "massage" sign hanging below it. All artists seem to be
concerned about the future and reflect it in their own
interpretations.

The Short Message System is the fifth project from this
hyperactive bunch of art geeks this year alone, and we are only
halfway through the year.

The exhibiting artists are Ade Darmawan, Jimi Multhazam,
Oscart de Firdaus and Tina Gillen.

Ade is a graduate from the Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) in
Yogyakarta who continued his studies in Amsterdam. He is one of
the founders of Ruangrupa. His first exhibition started in 1995
in Yogyakarta. Since then, he has had both solo and group
exhibitions in Jakarta, Belgium and The Netherlands.

Jimi has a lot of different art experiences under his belt. He
has spent some years in the glitzy advertising world as a CD
cover designer and on the artistic team for the famous Teater
Koma. If you happen to be sipping coffee in Cafe Wien, you'll see
a mural on the wall, which is his creation.

Oscart is new to the art scene. He is more popular as an
artistic director for some TV programs and commercials. Since
last year, after doing some workshops on video art, Oscart has
had four exhibitions.

Gillen, the artist in residence at Ruangrupa, is enjoying her
experience as an artist. She grew up in Luxembourg but now lives
in Belgium. She has exhibited her work throughout Europe since
1994. She studied art in, among other places, Vienna, Budapest
and Amsterdam.

Ruangrupa came about from some conversations over beer among
six young people from different backgrounds. These chosen people
continued their concern about the art environment by exchanging
e-mails as they all lived in different towns. They saw a lot of
frustrated young artists trying to express themselves in a
prejudiced art environment, especially in Jakarta. In January
2000, Ruangrupa was founded. The idea behind it was to provide an
intimate and autonomous art environment for artists to live and
work intensively within a period of time.

Furthermore, Ruangrupa is always looking for and exploring new
ideas in any kind of art form. This objective can be reached by
having artists in residence. It is becoming a dialog and idea
exchange for both local and international artists. They have
hosted some workshops on video art, which have involved artists
from, among other places, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, South
Africa, France, Belgium and India.

Within two years of its existence, Ruangrupa has successfully
positioned itself at a respectable level in the art scene. They
have done collaborations with some important foreign cultural
centers, such as The British Council, The Japan Foundation, The
Goethe-Institut and The French Cultural Centre.

Not that they have to convince the local partners of how
professional they can be, but Ruangrupa is also one of the
international partners in the RAIN Artists Initiatives Network.
One of the most respected partners in RAIN is the Rijksakademie
van Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Considering Ruangrupa's age -- most of the organizers in
Ruangrupa are only in their 20s -- it has gone far beyond
anyone's expectations. Some of the artists' work has even been
exhibited in Gwangju Biennale in Korea early this year.

Ruangrupa also publishes a monthly journal to update people on
what their next ideas will be or even just to communicate to the
community. Most of the artists' work, despite what form it takes,
talks about urban life, urbanites and repressed situations.

This does not mean that the works are always tragically grim
and dark, but you can always feel an edginess to them. The works
make you question things that you have taken for granted.

Ruangrupa opens its door to any visual artists, groups or
individuals, Indonesian or foreign, who are willing to work in a
cooperation and are enthusiastic about sharing different opinions
and exploring and experimenting with the artist's interaction
with Jakarta's urban life.

Short Message System wall painting exhibition runs until Aug. 15
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ruangrupa, Jl. Tebet Barat Dalam I No.
26, South Jakarta. Tel. 829-4238.