Works of installation art provoked mixed emotions

Text and photos by R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Piles of garbage tied into plastic sacks lie in the form of a large rectangle. In the middle the plastic bags are scattered. On the outer side is a row of kerosene lamps and garbage baskets, in various forms, all lined up close by.

This was not the scene of a garbage dump or one of our docks blessed with imported waste. It was the work of two artists, Bonyong Munni Ardhie and FX Harsono, and their "Various Art Forms 1994" (Rupa-rupa Seni Rupa 1994) on display at the Yogyakarta Cultural Park from Dec.14 to 21.

The art exhibition covered three areas: the National Display of Outdoor Sculpture, the Fourth Painting Exhibition and the National Contemporary Arts Exhibition.

No less than 124 artists with 192 artworks participated. Like the Jakarta Biennial earlier this year, the shows of installation work and outdoor sculpture were conducted at the same time.

The response in Yogyakarta was enormous. Reactions ranged from puzzled feelings toward what the installations meant to realizations of the fact that the things on display were no different than everyday objects.

Installation art is relatively new in Indonesia's history of contemporary art. The spirit of defiance against modern art concepts underlies its budding growth among artists and the audience.

Conventional art standards of form, volume, color and composition are deliberately or unconsciously guided by the spirit to seek an alternative medium of expression, which tends to result in experimental works.

This is clear in the works of Bonyong and Harsono. Any translation may come forth from their works, but what seems most important to them is the creative process.

"I consider the process of creation as art," said Harsono, already notable in the new artistic movement here.

Harsono provides an opportunity for people who have not seen his process by writing notes on how, where and when he obtained the garbage containers.

A graduate of the Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Academy for Fine Arts (ASRI), Harsono goes further and does not identify his work as "installation" or under any name. "Identifying contemporary art as a form is identical to returning such art to the modernist view," he says.

Harsono acquired 26 garbage containers from meatball sellers, satay vendors, a shop on the famed Jl. Malioboro and a supermarket.

The containers are rusty cans, plastic and torn bamboo-woven baskets.

Harsono's work could be more interesting if he not only displayed empty garbage containers but also the garbage they oncee contained. A woman's garbage could be different from a man's. Or the waste from a meatball vendor might be interestingly different from that of a business executive.

But when a garbage can is empty, it doesn't look like much more than that; despite knowing the owner's identity they all look similar.

The stronger works of social protest were the ones which drew more attention from the audience.

"Freezing" by Andar Manik, a graduate from the fine arts department of the Bandung Technology Institute, featured an open, white refrigerator elevated slightly above a pool of floating ice blocks contained by a low wall of river stones. The fridge, which contained a gas mask and a red light, was contrasted against a black background.

Andar seems to show us how power manipulates history by freezing past facts, and then writes a new history in line with its own interests.

In a clearer mode of expression, Agus Suwage steps forth with his work entitled "I See, I Hear, I Feel."

Three sheets of canvas are each covered in grayish acrylic, each featuring a negative photographic image in the form of a bust. The first depicts a person with his face covered by both hands. The lower part shows an animal with a human head and its whole body covered in arrows, and above is written, aku melihat (I see).

Suwage seems to shout out against a topsy-turvy society which blinds, silences and deafens humanity against itself.

The second canvas pictures a person with a wide open mouth, as if screaming. Across the middle, "I feel" is written in Bahasa Indonesia.

The last one features a person with both hands against his ears and the words aku mendengar.

The sculptor Anusapati communicates in a more subtle way.

One of his works is titled "Preserve versus Exploit." Here, nine 4.8-meter-sized boxes covered with bark contain seeds of hard crop and are supported by a larger, 1.5-meter-high box. On top glows a light of 5 watts, as Anusapati seems to remind us quietly to preserve our rich surroundings.

Mostly young artists were featured in this display. The jury and curators of Jim Supangkat, Soedarso SP, Sudarmaji and Far Sidik decided on three paintings which received awards: "Brown Face" by Aming Prayitno, "Clouds like Dirty Goats" (Awan Wedus Gembel, a local phrase referring to the clouds seen after the eruptions of Mount Merapi) by Teguh Suwarto and "Latest News" by Sigit Santoso.

Finally it must be noted that this event reminds us of the reaction of younger artists to 1992's Biennial III, from which most were excluded. Participation that year was limited to two- dimensional works.

This reaction took form in the several "Binal" (wild, derived from Biennial) displays at Yogyakarta's Seni Sono Art Gallery, the Tugu train station and the North Park (alun-alun) next to the homes of several artists.

It is unclear why these critics did not participate in the recent exhibition. Only two of 24 artists were from Yogyakarta. The rest were from Solo, Bandung, Jakarta, Medan and Ujung Pandang.