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.