Asmudjo Jona trianto

Curator's Text

ASIA NOW: Under Construction?
Asmudjo Jone lrianto

The theme "Under Construction " was chosen as a means of entering a discussion of what
"Asianness" is today. Although the term "identity" is perhaps too strong and carries with it"suspicion" concerning the .desire to chase after the "other" ·and seeking out "difference," the search
for Asianness is an effort to build and construct an identity. On the other hand, the reality ofAsianness is represented by diverse realities that may not relate, and may even conflict. In addition,
Asian identity is certainly not free from the shadow of classic sentiments regarding East-Westrelations.
The Asia of today is not necessarily identical with the East. Today Asia is a world ofcontinuous change, but also is demonstrated by tendencies of self-destruction, through intra-nationalconflicts and internal conflicts enflamed by religious and ethnic differences, or in different terms, adifference of identities. The theme Under Construction certainly can be read as something that wishes
to see Asia as something in the process of creation, something that is truly happening in many Asiancountries today. Development can be translated as an attempt to create an urban cosmopolitan
society supported by industry and information-technology. Under Construction , a group exhibition
between Asian countries in Tokyo is clearly not free from the institutions and physical infrastructure ofits supporters. This source of support can be seen as a sign of public desire for such organizations.
This program was carried out in such a situation. These ideas about identity, has given rise to theexistence of the aforementioned supporting institutions, including events such as exhibitions which also
are a characteristic of cosmopolitan society's, and we can see this especially in developed countries.
Regularly organized exhibitions are not just the property of developed countries, but interms of quantity and quality, public interest and support may be something that takes place moresmoothly in developed countries. However, it does not work in this way in developing countries likeIndonesia. Here it is still hard to say if there is a public need for contemporary art exhibitions. The
artists included in this exhibition, and the organizing of local exhibitions is still somewhat of ananomaly, or at best, a vague aspect of society in Indonesia's large cities. Therefore, if we try to see
the practice and mediation of art as a possible site for that identity itself, then the exhibition "UnderConstruction" faces a dilemma.

The Practiceof Contemporary

Art as Identity

How can we hope to locate Asianness and how far can a comprehension of Asianness beconstructed , if what is called Asia is a geopolitical region among many nations? In other words, how
far can an understanding of Asianness as a possible site of identity go beyond the awareness ofnationality? Connected with "Under Construction" is the question of how far Contemporary art canat this point reflect this understanding? This in turn concerns the artist's comprehension regarding theissue of Asianness. Employing the principle of.cultural determination, whatever the symbolic culturalpractice, contemporary art for example, that occurs within this cultural environment automaticallybecomes a legitimate representation of the dominating culture that produced it. If this is so, thenwhatever an artist from an Asian country produces underscores the work's potential as arepresentation of Asianness. This of course includes risking the difficulty of trying to find common
characteristics associated with Asianness, due to the diversity of simultaneous social, political andcultural conditions in the region called Asia.
What aspects of culture that reflect a shared Asian characteristic can encompass as manynations as possible? Would not the answer to this question point to the essentializing of culturalstereotypes, and maybe also to aspects of culture not found just in Asia? This is one of the risks thatcannot be avoided.
The theme Under Construction

indicates the desire to be seen as a process, perhaps.& 093

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Curator's Text

Asmudio Jono lrranto------------------------~---

connected to the spirit of construction. Development in the era of globalization has more or lessresulted in a metropolitan society that is also cosmopolitan. Depending on local factors of education andneed, larger cities around the world generally take the infrastructures of more developed cities as theirmodel. One of the signs of a "cultured" city is an infrastructure that can support cultural events. In thistype of system, art museums become an important part of the culture and identity of large cosmopolitan ,cities. Its existence suggests that a city society is a "cultured" society. Therefore, the theme Under
Construction, can be seen as a critical and reflective attitude toward whether its "existence" has reallyalready become part of a common identity with similar features among Asian countries.
Contemporary art, as a field of symbolic cultural practice , is believed to represent a largepart of cultural reality. Hence, the relation between these two arenas mentioned above, and themechanism, as well as capacity for reading it may be an important issue pointing to large differences
between developed and rich countries and poorer and developing countries like Indonesia.
Awareness of this problem makes it difficult to take for granted the important position ofcontemporary art in Indonesia - i.e. as if it were in the same position as that being produced indeveloped countries.
In _a critical attempt to examine Asianness, via contemporary art, we should first question
how far this desire goes in Asian countries. Has the desire to seek Asianness on a transnational level
developed at the same pace or along with the presence and presentation of contemporary art? The
answer points to an asymmetrical situation . At the same time, those countries possessing an art
infrastructure are capable of developing strong contemporary art, as well as being able toaccommodate itself to global trends in organizing art exhibitions.
Changes and developments in contemporary art , like it or not, have already forced shifts inthe patterns and expanded the function of art exhibitions. This is especially apparent in large museum
exhibitions in developed countries. Museums are no longer the sole gatekeepers of values, as ·in thecontexts of modern art. Such thinking has been rendered largely defunct by the diverse and crossborder practices of contemporary art, which in turn results in exhibitions referring to a diverse rangeof presentations well. This more or less is in keeping with the orientation points of an expanding
public for contemporary art. Right now, anything can be offered up as legitimate for contemporary
art exhibitions. This wide range of possibilities makes it feasible to attract public attention andprovide satisfaction and entertainment that differs from what is offered by the entertainment industry
itself. This is because something unexpected can be offered, a mode of exhibiting that is often not inline with public expectations about the presentation of art - because it is interesting to the public.
Within this plurality, there is always a field or pattern that emerges as the dominant trend. This trend
in contemporary art then ties in with the method, or better yet, the strategy behind exhibitions.
Large exhibitions generally explore this trend and attempt to develop a new approach as a means ofcreating yet another overarching trend. Luckily there is always a new trend from which some newtrend will follow. However, this has not surfaced in Indonesia , except in alternative spaces withminimal facilities and cut-off from public awareness.
Its entertainment potential for a wider public is usually accompanied by a "seriousness " indistinguishing and positioning the value of an exhibition. This is certainly linked to the interests of asmaller group or associated with smaller audiences . Every exhibition of contemporary art mustemphasis such values and interests, the justification of which lies in the hands of the exhibition
organizers - specifically those of the curator. In the process of creating discourses around an
exhibition or work of art, discussions about aesthetics are often left behind. Repeatedly works of art
are treated as objects of semiotics that usually approaches its objects employing academic literary
criticism, as well as a cultural studies approach . Hence, works of art become artifacts for cultural
discourse that are often academic and difficult to access . On the other hand, this tendency also
positions art objects as equally valid with other visual expressions, such as advertisements, televisionand film. As a result, works of art become the infrastructure for discussions of conceptual andcultural studies theories. In many cases artists seem content with this possibility. This is evident in
the popularity of electronic media most often used for transmitting entertainment . On the otherhand, this also proves art's potential as text that can be related to the dominant culture that shapes
and influences it. This situation is proven even more clearly in the popular use of everyday objects incontemporary art, not with a Duchampian agenda, but as the artist's commentary concerning
dominant culture . Of course this tendency can be positioned as counter culture, a representation ofsubculture, but it can also be seen as an affirmation of the current dominant culture .
Although the tendency of reading works as texts has also emerged in Indonesia, this has not
given rise to a comprehensive discourse, and has become an important and significant priority to only
a few producers of art . This is because an interdisciplinary and constructive discourse has yet to09 4A

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AsmudJO Jona !rianto Curator'sText

develop in Indonesia, such that contemporary art practice cannot take much benefit from such asporadic and arbitrary discourse.
The recent formation of institutions that can support exhibitions, as well as exhibitions
themselves, is quite significant in formulating the importance of contemporary art practice. As Hans
Belting argues: "Contemporary art would not only be homeless without the museum, it would also bevoiceless and invisible." [ 0]If that is the case, it is easy to gauge the position of contemporary art within the Indonesia
public itself. Art as part of an urban society's identity, in the case of Indonesia, has little effect and isan activity with little significance. The conclusion: Contemporary art is an identity absent from thepublic in the large cities of Indonesia.

DreamProject:

Under

0 Hans Belting. "Art and Art History inthe New Museum: The Search for a New
Identity, " Art & Design,48: Pointingin TheAgeof Artif,dalIntelligence(Ed.DavidMoss),(London:AcademyGroup Ltd, 1996), p. 3

•Construction

As the Indonesian delegation, the theme Under Construction is likely to be a rather ironic
one , if the reality artists face is a condition Under Deconstruction, or Under Rupture. However, it isprobably not necessary to discuss Indonesia's flaws. The problem is how to simultaneously locate
both the importance and problems of Indonesian artists ' connection to international and regionalexhibitions. This issue has been around for a while in Indonesia, concerning the circulation of someIndonesian artists who are better known in international art forums than in their own country .
Certainly we can always find an artist capable of representing Indonesia in regional and internationalart arenas. However, does the existence of this small number of contemporary artists and curators
truly represent a symbolic cultural practice of Indonesia itself?
Question: Do they stand for and represent the reality of art itself in Indonesia if theirpresence is an anomaly and they are not known or understood by their own public in Indonesia? Thismeans that Indonesian artists and their works have failed to find a conte)(t.,in the first place, namely
the important factor of their existence within their own public arenas. An artist's connection in thismarginalized zone is often seen as an opportunity to present artistic developments from countries
that up until now have been marginalized in the international field. Previous exclusion of artists fromdeveloping countries was based on the notion that what they produced was out of date in developing
countries and thus marginalized. The process of internationalization for some third world artists inthe last few years has given rise to the marginal-international artist [f) ], whose works are different
enough from most "marginal" works that are actually better known and supported by the local public.
In other words, the "marginal" is more appropriate to represent local developments. If the artist'sinvolvement involves local curators, then this presents a dilemma for the curator as well, should theychoose marginal-international artists or the marginal? It can be assumed that they will select thoseartists whose work is more in-tune with trends from the center, or new centers. This can happen by
selecting marginal-international artists who already have reputations or search for new talent that fills
the required criteria.
However, presenting marginal-international artists in countries where Indonesian artists areoften exhibited is also a mistake, because it is often the same artists who are circulated. Besides that,
their work is filled with sociopolitical content that perhaps has already become an old hat after ten
years of overexposure in regional/international circuits . At the same time, the theme Under
Construction is an optimistic theme . Enthusiasm or optimism is an attitude that is hard to come by inIndonesia lately. In other words, the understanding of Under Construction is perhaps something thathas become absent from Indonesian artists comprehensions.
Under Construction as a local exhibition in Indonesia was organized as a project with thetitle "Dream Project: Under Construction ." A cynical and critical title about the condition ofcontemporary art, it indicates simultaneously two things: one , that at this moment in time the hopethat the existence and support of contemporary art practice will become an important aspect of theidentity of society in Indonesia's bigger cities is still a dream. Two, that although only a dream, thismust continue to be developed in order to maintain the conviction - for all sides concerned - ofthe continuation of contemporary art practice, and in this, the dream can be translated as hope. In a
pragmatic way, Dream Project, initiated with the building of a gallery space, is a real attempt to create
a mediation space for contemporary art to grow - from the limited activites of alternative spacesthat already exist - with hopes that one day, contemporary art practice will become a necessity forthe public, and become an aspect of cosmopolitan society in large cities in Indonesia.
AsmudjoJono lrianto (Lecturer/ BandungInstitute of Technology,Indonesia.

.& os5f) The term 'marginal.international' used by
Mari Carmen Ramirez. "Brokering Identities,Art Curators and the Politics of Cultural
Representation," Thinkingabout Exhibitions.
(Ed. ReesaGreenberg),(London:Roudedge.
1996), p.33