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A RIGHT TO ARTPlea for an art museum in Indonesia“If art is again to play a more central role in our lives, it means that our lives will have to change...”Edgar Wind

roy voragen

erika ernawan Skelton, 2012

instalation with Stainless Stell and Chemical liquid, neon and video documentation of Performance (10min 03sec)

variable dimension

Yudi YudoYokoDreamy Head, 2011

digital print on cotton paper56 x 43 cm

The arts in Indonesia are

thriving, artistically as well as

commercially. And in recent

years, artists from Indonesia have

entered the limelight of the global art arena

and enjoy a regular participation at events

in Singapore, Hong Kong and far beyond.

They participate in international exhibitions,

biennales and auctions, and their works

are collected by museums abroad (for

example, by the Singapore Art Museum

and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo) and

private collectors. However, these vibrant

developments are not supported by a solid

infrastructure for the arts in Indonesia. Can

the recent artistic and commercial boom

of art from Indonesia be sustained without

such an infrastructure? Thinking about an

art infrastructure requires a starting point,

for which I use an art museum in this essay,

as it could be considered as one element of

such an art infrastructure.

The arts in Indonesia are not strongly

institutionalized due to, among other

reasons, a state with minimal interest in the

arts and a fragmented arts community. As a

consequence, art journals and magazines,

libraries and archives are struggling (in

Jakarta, six libraries, though, decided to

collaborate; pustakabersama.net); there are

no government-sponsored contemporary

art research grants; collection and

conservation of art are privatized; etc. As

a result, art practices – including curatorial

practices – come with a fair amount of

improvisation, learning on the job and

resourcefulness. Another result is little

specialization and multi-tasking (many curators have multiple jobs,

they can at the very same time also be artists, teachers, gallery

owners, art critics, etc.).

Moreover, Indonesian universities do not have art history or curatorial

practice study programs. None of the Indonesian curators has an

educational background in art history, curatorial practice or art

criticism (except for the occasional workshop participated in abroad

– curator Alia Swastika, for example, took curatorial training at De

Appel in Amsterdam (deappel.nl/cp) – which more often than not will

not be tailored to the Indonesian context and local needs). And still,

the arts in Indonesia are doing extremely. In a laissez-faire style, we

could leave it at that. Or should we?

all images: courtesy of the artists

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Yudi YudoYokoKekasih batu, 2011digital print on cotton paper56 x 43 cm

Yudi YudoYokoLa Suma De Esperanza, 2011digital print on cotton paper

56 x 43 cm

Yudi YudoYokoWhat I Miss the Most, 2011

digital print on cotton paper56 x 43 cm

Indonesia lacks an art museum that collects, preserves and exhibits

artworks accessible for the general public, and by so doing can put

the gamut of extraordinary artworks in a context (visual, art historical

and discursive), so we can learn to experience and appreciate modern

and contemporary art from Indonesia. Biennales, art fairs and other

impermanent exhibitions offer now this context and serve as temporary

museums for contemporary art in Indonesia. However, more is needed.

And an art museum could be one element for this purpose (I am, thus,

not arguing that the establishment of an art museum would suffice).

Indonesia does not have an art museum and different arguments can

be offered why Indonesia needs one. I begin with the most common

arguments heard why Indonesia needs a proper art museum (beyond the

question whether it is public or private funded, as long as it is open for the

public, which does not necessarily mean free admission). These arguments

focus on artists, curators, the (art) market and the nation. However, there is

another argument, this argument focuses on the audience.

The most common argument heard in Indonesian is the one made

by some curators: such a museum could function as an institute that

supports processes of validation of contemporary art practices and its

developments in Indonesia. This argument focuses on the question what

artists and artworks should be included in the collective visual memory

(art history and theory obviously play a role as well). Some curators

claim that in Indonesia only the art market performs this role. And some

curators would go so far to claim that currently their main job is to put

artists and their works into the market, in this role the curator can be

considered a consultant to gallery owners and art collectors.

To be clear, the (art) market is very complex; it is not clear, for example,

how the art market and art practices intersect. And while huge sums

of money are circulating in this market today, perhaps even for the

purpose of spectacular speculation, we have to acknowledge that

individual collectors can speak passionately about art they collect and

artists they support (Dr. Oei Hong Djien certainly comes to mind).

A much older argument is that such a museum could be one element

in the process of nation building and its visual culture (Benedict

Anderson’s imagined community comes to mind). Many (art) museums

in Europe were established for this purpose during the nineteenth

century; Indonesians, though, have good reasons to distrust this

argument after their experiences during Suharto's New Order regime

(1966-1998), which only allowed for one way to tell and show the story

of the nation. In a democracy, on the other hand, a museum could be a

civic place where there is space for dissent and polyphony.

Another argument is that such a museum could provide artists

additional financial support outside the regular art market. The

Singapore Art Museum (singaporeartmuseum.sg), for example,

focuses on artworks, such as installations, that are often not

interesting for most private collectors. It is also in the interest of artists

that their oeuvre and the oeuvres of their fellow artists remain visible

and accessible (and not merely through personal websites).

And some other (instrumental) arguments have been put forward:

it could improve Indonesia’s image abroad (Indonesia is, for

example, more than an abundant reservoir of cheap labor exported

to Singapore, Hong Kong, the Middle East and elsewhere); and by

improving its image beyond the exotic clichés, Indonesia’s power

could increase (this is Joseph Samuel Nye’s soft power argument);

and, in turn, it could bolster Indonesia’s GDP (this is Richard Florida’s

creative industry argument), for example through tourism.

This latter argument is popular among politicians and policy makers,

because art and its output can to a certain extend be quantified and

thus predicted. However, we are more than homo economicus. We

pursuit more than utilitarian (self-)interests. We want to be inspired

as well. Art has the intrinsic quality to broaden our horizons in

unexpected ways at unanticipated times. However, utilitarianism does

not have the patience for the ethics of wonder (Lee Weng Choy) or

surrender (Jeanette Winterson). From Greek to Javanese philosophy,

there has been a notion of an art of living: for a virtuous life, ethics as

well as aesthetics are essential.

The above arguments have, in different degrees, validity; however,

above arguments focus on artists, curators, the art market and the

nation. And this is problematic. Even when an exhibition can be

considered an artistic (and/or commercial) success, most visitors

to these events are the usual suspects: fellow artists, curators, art

critics and collectors, which is a relatively small (but very vibrant)

community. (Some would argue that most in Indonesia are too poor

to care about art.)

An art museum should function as a collective visual memory and by

showing its collection, we can return time after time to the collected

and exhibited artworks. We can familiarize ourselves with artworks

and we can compare these with other artworks (also from different

periods and styles). And by being able to do so, we not only become

acquainted with artworks and developments in the arts, we become

able to experience art more fully. Moreover, we become able to

appreciate art. And experiencing art requires time and effort.

In Indonesia, we can go to a gallery and see an exhibition – for

example Yudi Yudoyoko's superb solo exhibition at Selasar Sunaryo

Art Space in Bandung earlier this year (selasarsunaryo.com) – and

then the works are out of sight of the public (possibly to surface again

at an auction house).

Now, private museums, exhibition catalogs, magazines, websites,

libraries (for example the library of Ruang Depan/S.14 in Bandung;

ruangdepans14.blogspot.com) and the Indonesian Visual Art Archive

in Yogyakarta (ivaa-online.org) fill parts of the void, but, again, more

is needed. (It is, though, interesting to follow how private museum

are developing in the future. Could some of these – alone or in

collaboration – come to play the role of a public art museum?)

Some argue that a virtual art museum could be a feasible alternative

However, a virtual art museum is no alternative to the physical

experience of art in an actual exhibition space. We should not forget

that all art is physical, and, therefore, we relate to art in a physical

way, which requires a spatial setting.

An art museum might also improve the quality of art writing: perhaps

one reason why so many Indonesian art writers focus on art discourse

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r. e. Hartanto99 faces, 2011, Photography and video

details:r. e. Hartanto, 99 faces, 2011, Photography and video

erika ernawan 350, 2012

instalation elektroplate resin with view of neon ‘Selber’variable dimension

instead of art history, is because theoretical texts are easier to

come by compared to the actual artworks (it is also, of course,

a global trend). And often, an artwork is still in the making

when a curator has to submit her or his curatorial essay for

the exhibition catalog publication. In a discussion with Tony

Godfrey for Broadsheet, Agung Hujatnikajennong, head

curator of Selasar Sunaryo Art Space and the successful 2009

Jakarta Biennale, said that “the notion of curatorial practice

has always been like a free-floating job [in Indonesia].” Art

writing and curatorial practice could improve with a publicly

accessible visual memory in the form of an art museum (which

is not located in Singapore or elsewhere outside Indonesia).

My argument developed here could thus very well support the

first argument concerning validation, and vice versa.

If we are able to return time after time to an art museum with

a permanent collection (but with rotating exhibitions so the

collection does not become static as is the case in Museum

Seni Rupa dan Keramik, i.e. Fine Arts and Ceramics Mueum,

in Jakarta, which seems to have stopped collecting new works

some time ago), we could learn to experience and appreciate

art firsthand, and we might also become able to express better

why we love certain artworks by certain artists and not other

artworks (or artworks from the very same artist).

Such an art museum could provide the much-needed context

to the temporary exhibitions organized at galleries and

independent art spaces, because now contemporaneity (an

awful tongue-twister) in general and contemporary art in

particular are ephemeral and complex. During the 2011 Singapore

Biennale (singaporebiennale.org/), the Singapore Art Museum

organized two parallel exhibitions: ‘It’s Now or never II, New

Contemporary Art Acquisitions from Southeast Asia’ and ‘Negotiating

Home, History and Nation, Two Decades of Contemporary

Art in Southeast Asia 1991-2011’. Many of the big names of the

contemporary art scene in Indonesia were present at these two

parallel events with absolutely fantastic works: Agus Suwage, Eko

Nugroho, Heri Dono, Jompet, Mella Jaarsma, FX Harsono, Titarubi

and many others. And I hope that one day these artworks will be

shown again in Indonesia to the general public.

As in other parts of Indonesia’s socio-cultural life, the arts are in a

‘Catch-22’ situation: the ambition to found an art museum would require

funding – to purchase or construct a building and make it suitable for

exhibitions; to purchase, catalog and preserve artworks; to hire and train

qualified staff; to install a security system and insurance; to do research

and publish; to design educational programs; etc. – but funding can only

be attracted from the state and private partners (not only in cash, but

also tax exemptions, in kind such as a building and loans of artworks,

etc.) if public interest in the arts increases substantially. And, in turn,

public interest in the arts might probably only increase if Indonesia has

established a well-functioning art museum.

To convince state institutions and private parties (including sponsors

and art collectors) that an art museum is feasible, existing art

organizations will have to cooperate. Art organizations like Cemeti

Art House (cemetiarthouse.com) and LAF (langgengfoundation.org)

in Yogyakarta, Common Room Networks Foundation in Bandung

(commonroom.info), ruangrupa (ruangrupa.org) and Edwin’s Gallery

(edwinsgallery.com) in Jakarta, to name just a few, have proven that

they do more than fill the gap left by the state without the need to

copy strategies that have proven to be successful outside Indonesia.

However, fragmentation needs to be overcome to be a partner to

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erika ernawan solo exhibition at lawangwangi, Bandung, March 3-18, 2012exhibition title: ruhe in Frieden (i.e. rest in Peace)

roy voragen is a Bandung-based writer; he can be contacted at fatumbrutum.blogspot.com. an earlier version of this essay was presented during a talk at Studio Bibliothèque, Singapore, 13 March 2012; the author thanks the organizer, Michael lee, and discussion participants for valuable input

state institutions and private parties and to increase public interest in

the arts to make a more compelling argument that an art museum in

Indonesia is not merely needed but also feasible.

Still, the state is seen as the cause of as well as the solution for the

dire situation of the arts infrastructure in Indonesia. Curator Rizky

Zaelani, for example, wrote: “When the state’s bureaucracy is not

– or, perhaps, not yet – able to organize its wealth so that it can

support and develop infrastructures for the art, the ‘fate’ of the art

development cannot be supported by strong and capable institutions.

As a result, various artistic events are held with neither coordination

nor long-term plans (Rizky Zaelani, “Interpellation: Notes on a

common language of comparison in international art events,”

Interpellation, CP Biennale 2003 catalog (Jakarta: CP Foundation,

2003); biennale.cp-foundation.org/2003/essays02.html).” A good

exhibition is indeed no guarantee for the future. The 2009 Jakarta

Biennale was an artistic success, while the 2011 Jakarta Biennale was

too disorganized to be able to appreciate the artworks. But is the state

to blame for this?

There is an obvious counterargument available for the state: Indonesia

has an abundance of more pressing problems to address, for example

(urban) poverty. Moreover, to speak in terms of the absent state in regard

to the arts is an overstatement: Approximately one third of the budget

of the recent Yogyakarta Biennale came from the (local) government.

The Jakarta Biennale is partly and indirectly state funded as well through

the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ). And all four venues at the two biennales

are state-owned: the National Gallery and the Jakarta Art Center Taman

Ismail Marzuki (TIM) for the Jakarta Biennale, and the National Museum

of Yogyakarta and Taman Budaya for the Yogyakarta Biennale.

It can also be argued, on the other hand, that it might be prudent

for the art community in Indonesia not to rely too much on the state

for building and maintaining an arts infrastructure as the Indonesian

state is notorious for its inefficiency. Public projects never leave the

drawing table, or come to a standstill, such as the monorail project

in Jakarta (public transportation and a public art museum should be

developed in tandem to make such a museum truly accessible), or, if

they are finished, are not well maintained (TIM is an example). And in

many public projects, parts of the budget are siphoned off.

Recently, an artist supported the renovation of Soemardja Art Gallery,

a gallery at the campus of the oldest state university in Indonesia of

which this artist is an alumnus: ITB (his support is covered by the

promise that the gallery will organize an exhibition with his work).

Partnerships between artists and art spaces could be an interesting

move. However, art spaces also need to collaborate more to

tackle the fragmentation in the arts community in Indonesia. Such

collaboration – between artists and art spaces (another example

is Platform3 in Bandung, a collaborative space between artists

and curators; infoplatform3.wordpress.com), and between artist

initiative spaces, galleries and private museums – could be a way to

organize an arts infrastructure from the bottom-up (I admit, this is far

from easy and perhaps even a bit dreamy, but even a hypothetical

argument could open up new avenues). Founding an art museum

could then become the focal point for the further development of

an arts infrastructure. Hoping for the state to step in – and if it does,

that it will do it properly – might very well turn out to be a very long

– Kafkaesque – wait.

Without question, art in Indonesia is thriving; there are many

interesting artists, artist initiative spaces, galleries and private

museums doing wonderful things. However, if this success is

to be prolonged, discussions on the sustainability of ideas and

practices, financial sustainability and infrastructure are vital. And a

(hypothetical) art museum could function then as a starting point for

these discussions.