The responses of six artists to research done by historians of Yogyakarta‘s Gadjah Mada University (UGM) make for a small but powerful exhibition of artwork transcending the borders of sectoral preoccupations and several pivotal eras in Indonesian history, as well as traditional and contemporary media.
The exhibition titled Masa Lalu-Masa Lupa (The Past-The Forgotten Time), organized by the Yogyakarta-based Cemeti Art House, is the truncated touring version and final segment of a series of five art events initially presented during the May-October 2006 period at various venues across Central Java.
These shows were all designed to involve several generations of Indonesian artists in taking a look back in time -- from the final decades of the Dutch colonial period, through the turbulence of the independence struggle, and on through the oftentimes fragmented, abortive attempts at building Indonesia into a nation -- to discover where the Indonesia of today came from and, perhaps, to induce viewers to meditate on where it might be going.
"We did several exhibitions last year. This is the last segment," Cemeti‘s Mella Jaarsma explained while setting up the ongoing exhibition at the Erasmus Huis, Dutch Cultural Centre, in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
Since January, this exhibit has been shown at Artoteek Den Hague in The Hague, the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation in Amsterdam, and Cemeti Art House. Following the current showing through Sept. 7, the display will go on to Rumah Seni Yaitu in Semarang in October and to Bizart in Shanghai, China, in November.
"The idea of artists taking what is actually a rare look back at our own history had existed previously, but then we heard about the UGM project and based the fifth segment on their findings," said Alia Swastika, who jointly managed the curation of the five exhibitions with Jaarsma.
"We enlisted six artists for this last project to take a look at and respond to 15 research efforts made for the UGM project called Indonesia Across Orders: The Reorganization of Indonesian Society, 1930-1960," Jaarsma added.
Agus Suwage, Eko Nugroho, Irwan Ahmet, Prilla Tania, Wimo Ambala Bayang and Yuli Prayitno are the artists now showing their works in media as diverse as paper and paint, canvas, fabric, plaster, plastic and video, which delve, in part, into an exploration of Indonesian history in today‘s context.
The effort is reminiscent of 19th century writer Lewis Carroll‘s epiphany: "It‘s a poor sort of memory that only works backward."
Agus Suwage used paint and ink on heavy paper to respond to research by Asti Kurniawati and Ratna Harjani on Yogyakarta at a Crossroad of Three Faces: Colonial Tradition and the Republic of Indonesia.
His large mural-like piece focuses on the position of the former Sultan of Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono IX, who set a precedent for balancing the diverse tendencies of tradition, colonization and modernization, to produce a unique model of leadership accommodating the interests of various societal elements.
Eko Nugroho used media such as cardboard, ink, canvas, fabric and thread, as well as plastic, in pieces that seem to echo the sentiments of philosopher George Santayana, who wrote that, "Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it."
Eko looked at the research on Kotabaru Fortress: Between its Existence and Rejection in the Post-colonial Period by Farabi Fakih.
Kotabaru is a district in Yogyakarta initially established as an exclusive enclave for Europeans, which was taken over during the post-independence period by Indonesian professionals who rapidly adapted and maintained a modern lifestyle that mirrored the lifestyle of its previous occupants.
He notes carefully in his work that the same fear of difference -- whether racial, cultural, religious or class -- which motivated the initial placement of this community as separate from areas of Yogyakarta occupied by the indigenous populace and other ethnic groups, remains alive and well in the tall walls, iron gates and guard dogs characteristic of present-day Kotabaru.
Eko expresses his sentiments and thoughts on how people continue to tend to isolate themselves from others they do not understand, while also refusing to share more than a narrow view of mankind‘s communal history -- if they even bother to reflect on their pasts and origins at all -- through a rich and esthetic visual layering of media and meaning.
Wimo Ambala Bayang took up a similar, but no less critical, theme in his response to the research by Johny Alfian Khusyairi: From Concordia to Sarinah: The Dynamics of Changing Symbols in the City of Malang between 1930-1960.
His digital video reflects on the role of the original building that housed the exclusive Societeit Concordia recreation center, which catered to the colonial Dutch and other Europeans in Malang, and the current structure housing the Sarinah shopping center, which now serves the middle to upper classes in the East Java city.
In his video, Wimo uses bread as a symbol for the societal attitudes and government policies that allow and perhaps even exacerbate the gaps between the various ethnic groups and social classes that exist in contemporary Indonesia. These attitudes and policies continue many of the inequalities and human rights infractions inherent in colonial and other systems in which a dominant elite dictates the paradigms and conditions under which all must exist.
Irwan Ahmet created a photo essay on Chinese Food and Restaurants: Symbolism of Ethnic Chinese in the Reality of Urban Cirebon Between 1930 and 1960, as researched by Ubed Abdilla Syarif.
Meanwhile Prilla Tania explored The Loss of Glamour in North Bandung: The Changing Symbolism of Jaarbeurs Complex to a Military Headquarters, 1941-1962, and Yuli Prayitno created a three-dimensional visual commentary on the research done by Mutiah Amini into Fashion Contests as a Symbol of the New Woman in Yogyakarta Between 1930 and 1960.
Masa Lalu-Masa Lupa: Six Indonesian Artists Interpret Indonesian History, 1930-1960
Erasmus Huis
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3 Kuningan, South Jakarta
Open Mon-Fri 9 a.m.-2p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Phone: (021) 5241069
Source: www.thejakartapost.com (29 Agustus 2007)
