[not for publication talk at Studio Bibliothque, Singapore, 13 March 2012]

A RIGHT TO ART
state of the arts in Indonesia: plea for an art museum
Roy Voragen

Yudi Yudoyoko What I miss the most digital print on cotton paper (56x43cm), 2011

The Netherlands, where I am from, and Amsterdam in particular have an abundance of good art museums. In Amsterdam a city smaller than a suburb of Jakarta one can see works by Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondrian within less than a square kilometer. While I argue 1

that Indonesia needs an art museum, I fully realize that the Dutch situation cannot be used as a benchmark here. I mention this, though, to illustrate how I learned to appreciate artworks: by frequently going to art museums and look and look and look again. And I learned to appreciate certain artworks and not others through comparison. 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 billing at events in Singapore and Hong Kong. They participate in international exhibitions and biennales, and their works have been collected by museums (for example the Singapore Art Museum and Mori Art Museum in Tokyo). However, these vibrant developments are not supported by a solid infrastructure for the arts in Indonesia. 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; there are no 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 (one curator calls this practice free-floating), learning on the job and resourcefulness on the practitioners part. Another result is little specialization (many curators have multiple jobs, they can at the very same time also be artists, teachers, gallery owners, art critics, etc.). 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 which more often than not will not be tailored to the Indonesian context and local needs). Indonesia lacks an art museum that collects, preserves and exhibits artworks accessible for the general public, and by so doing can put these artworks in a context (visual, art historical and discursive), so we can learn to 2

experience and appreciate modern and contemporary art from Indonesia. Biennales 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 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 then the ones commonly used, and 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 play also a role in such a canonization). The curator Asmudjo Jono Irianto claims that in Indonesia only the art market performs this role (it seems that curators in Indonesia often downplay the significance of their job). And curator Rifky Effendy goes so far to claim that his 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 (an additional role is that of talent scout). A much older argument is that such a museum could be one element in the process of nation building and its visual culture (Benedict Andersons imagined community comes to mind, such a community is not imaginary). 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 (19661998), which only allowed for one way to tell and show the story of the nation.

Another argument is that such a museum could provide artists additional financial support outside the regular art market. The Singapore Art Museum (http://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/), for example, focuses on artworks, such as installations, that are not interesting for most private collectors. It is also in the interest of artists that their oeuvre and the oeuvres of other artists remains visible and accessible (and not merely through a personal websites). And some other (instrumental) arguments have been put forward: it could improve Indonesias 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 clichs, Indonesias power could increase (this is Joseph Samuel Nyes soft power argument); and, in turn, it could bolster Indonesias GDP (this is Richard Floridas creative industry argument), for example through tourism. These above arguments have, in different degrees, validity; however, they leave out the audience as above arguments focus on artists, curators, the market and the nation. And this seems to be a general problem in Indonesia. Even when an exhibition can be considered an artistic (and/or commercial) success, too little effort is made to grab the attention of a public outside the usual suspects: fellow artists, curators, art critics and collectors, which is a relatively small (but vibrant) community. The 2011 Yogyakarta Biennale, for example, was artistically very successful, however, no one in the city I spoke with knew about this event or the location of one of the venues (the National Museum of Yogyakarta; museum is too big of a name as it does not collect art, and it is odd that its name is in English, the lingua franca of contemporary art, which leads to obvious problems of translation in Indonesia and elsewhere). An art museum should function as a collective visual memory and by showing its collection, we can return time after time to those collected 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 4

developments in the arts, we become able to experience art more fully. Moreover, we become able to appreciate art. And experiencing art requires time. 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 (27 january 19 February 2012,

http://selasarsunaryo.com/) and then the works are gone (very possible forever, only to surface again at an auction house to disappear again from sight). Now private museums, exhibition catalogs, magazines, websites, libraries (for example the library of Ruang Depan/S.14 in Bandung; http://ruangdepans14.blogspot.com/) and the Indonesian Visual Art Archive in Yogyakarta (http://www.ivaa-online.org/) fill parts of the void, but, again, more is needed. Some argue that a virtual art museum could be a feasible alternative (see, for example, www.googleartproject.com, which shows art from several museums around the world). 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 instead of art history, is because texts are easier to come by compared to the actual artworks. 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 could thus very well support the first argument, and vice versa. 5

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 a few decades 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 fleeting 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 (perhaps even amnesiac). During the 2011 Singapore Biennale

(http://www.singaporebiennale.org/), the Singapore Art Museum organized two parallel exhibitions: Its 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 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 Indonesias socio-cultural life, the arts are in a Catch-22 situation: the ambition to found an art museum requires 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; 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. 6

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 in Yogyakarta (http://www.cemetiarthouse.com/), Common Room Networks Foundation in Bandung (http://commonroom.info/) and ruangrupa in Jakarta

(http://ruangrupa.org/) 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 (these three organizations depend on foreign donors, which might be a cause of concern if these donors have to cut their budgets due to the global financial crisis). However, fragmentation needs to be overcome to be a partner to 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. The curator Rizky Zaelani, for example, wrote: When the states 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); http://biennale.cp-foundation.org/2003/essays02.html). A good

exhibition is indeed no guarantee for the future. The 2009 Jakarta Biennale was a, artistic success, while the 2011 Jakarta Biennale was too disorganized to appreciate the artworks (for example, there was no catalog available, artworks and wall texts were chaotically displayed). 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 7

Yogyakarta Biennale came from the (local) state. 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 corruption, collusion and nepotism (better-known as KKN). 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; now, too often art spaces can only be reached by private car), or, if they are finished, are not well maintained (TIM is a good example). And in many public projects, parts of the budget are siphoned off. Bandung-based artist R.E. Hartanto recently financed the renovation of Soemardja Art Gallery, a gallery at the campus of the oldest state university in Indonesia of which Hartanto is an alumnus: ITB (the university only pays the electricity bills, Aminudin Th. Siregar, the manager of the gallery, is also a lecturer at the art school; Tan Li-Jen called Soemardja a university art museum, but it is a gallery and it is therefore not odd, as Tan Li-Jen claims it is, that it does not have its own collection; see http://edoc.hu-

berlin.de/docviews/abstract.php?lang=ger&id=39071). Partnerships between artists and art spaces could be an interesting step forward. 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;

http://infoplatform3.wordpress.com), and between art spaces could be a way to institutionalize an arts infrastructure from the bottom-up (I admit, this could be a Sisyphus project). Founding an art museum could then become the 8

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 like a Kafkaesque wait for Godot. Without question, art in Indonesia is thriving; there are many interesting artists and art spaces 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.

Roy Voragen, from the Netherlands, resides in Indonesia since 2003; he is a writer.

drawing by R.E. Hartanto (undated and untitled)