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Can you see us?

Can you see us?

Can you hear us?

Can you hear us?

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Do you know what we are talking about?

This is a 20 minutes presentation that wants us to speak about three things:

(1)The artist’s work in theKuandu Biennale 2014;

(2)the biennale’s theme, System Recognition, and their topic for this session, the micro-

perceptions in the organic world;

(3)and my curatorial practice or my national observation on contemporary arts in Asia

Wait! That’s 3 items with 2 ands.So it’s actually 5 items!

Wow!This is going to be a very difficult 20

minutes.

I am now speaking in Indonesian language.

I am now speaking in Terhah language.

What you see in this screen is English.

What you hear in your earphones is Chinese.

Tepu can add more language as he also speaks Sundanese—the language used in

West Java, Indonesia

Grace can add more language as she also speaks Jogja-styled Javanese—the

language used in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The presentation will even be much more difficult if we try to speak in this all these

languages all throughout.

FIRST.

It is always problematicto talk about an artwork.

Especially Tepu’s workin Kuandu Biennale 2014.

Not because it is a ‘difficult work’.

Simply becausealmost all of you haven’t seen it.

And if you see it later this afternoon,the work is not yet completed.

It is not because we haven’t done our jobs. Haha. But it depends on the oysters when

they would want to be done.

Or maybe it depends on the museum, when they would want to uninstall the work, how will they uninstall the work, would they kill

the oysters, etc…

Ah, sorry for the spoiler…

Let us show you this image anyway…

>> 01 IndoArtNow_Tepu.mp4(Click to watch)

After seeing that,do you now ‘get’ Tepu’s works?

An artwork is made to be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, felt. Or simply experienced.

An Indonesian philosopher ST Sunardionce said that, “At its heart, an artwork

demand to be seen.”

An artwork demand to be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, felt. Or simply experienced.

Simply experienced…

First of all, simple never meant easy peasy.

And, second, to create simplicity, people go through a whole lot of trouble.

Seriously.

Go ask Archimedes!

His “Eureka!” shout is so unbelievably famous yet people often associate it with the

‘wrong’ invention.

Many people think that it is related to the Archimedes principle about the up thrust of body immersed in fluids—that then become

the fundamentals of fluid mechanics.

Yet, that was actually a shout because he realized that volumes of irregular objects

CAN be measured with precision.

Experiences are complex.

Often neglected or ignored,but, seriously, it is complex.

It is complex because it is based on each and every human being’s memory. And by

memory, we do not mean it as ‘just’…

I am amazed whenever anyone say that they don’t understand an artwork.

Sometimes they even excuse themselves as ‘general public’, ‘general audience’,

whatever… or even worse, some say that they are ‘normal people’.

What does that mean, by the way?Are artists abnormal people?Or is the art public abnormal?

Art is experienced.

Artwork is experienced.

Artist creates ‘things’—be it object-based or not—

that generate experience or experiences.  

In the arts, if it sends you ONE SHARP message, probably it is commissioned.

Haha. I’m kidding.

Because art is experienced,anyone CAN understand art.

Another joke,a philosophical one if you may:

Even when you think that you don’t understand it, it is still a form of

understanding the art.

Anyone CAN stand in front of, behind, in the middle of, above, below, or whatever, an

artwork.

Their senses will feelthe presence of the work.

Their brain will process their senses into a kind of information regarding their

references—or simply stuff they have on what is called the memory.

This is when the philosophical joke becomes true. So, even when one decided that they

do not understand the work, they have experienced it.

Statements like “I don’t get it” or“I am ‘normal people’” is around us

because of the existence of art institutions.

Not just institution, institution but also person as institution

and people as institutions.

Places like this,institutions like galleries,

museums etc.People like me,people like you,people like us.

Back to the premise:ART IS EXPERIENCED.

SECOND.

Recognition as a verb.Gestalt of art.

Asian contemporary art.

That’s as much as I can remember of the biennale’s premise.

Micro-perceptions.Organic.World.

That’s as much as I can remember of the talk’s topic.

Memory is tricky.Yet experience(s) depend on memory(ies)…

Those are words, concepts, ideas imposed on artworks or projects. So, maybe it is

better to hear what the biennale thinks about these ideas…

As for us…Let us talk about what we know andwhat we would like you to know from

the part of the world where we come from.

We have a cool friend.His name is Fajar Abadi.

He is cool becausewhen you Google-translate

his name to English,it says Eternal Dawn.

Haha.

Sorry, we are just trying to keep this as informal as we can. We are nervous

This is the kind of stuff that he does.

>> 02 Fajar Abadi_Kueh Senyum.mp4(Click to watch)

Yes, he is an artist.

No, he is not a performance artist.At least he doesn’t call himself that way.

His work deals withtaste and human interactions.

His work deals withtaste/flavor/sense*

and human interactions.

Had to * that, since in Indonesian language we have the word ‘rasa’ that means all four of those words: Taste, flavor, sense, feel.

His works starts withthe equal position of human being.

Be it himthe producer,

artist orwhatever you call him;

…

…the audience,

the spectator or—again—whatever you call them;

…

…and us,

the second-rate audience,the observers,the art public,

or—again—whatever you consider us.

His works are impossible withoutmany people’s involvement.

Within his works, he does not position other human being as audience, participants,

viewers, spectators, or whatever.

Within his works, he does not position himself as producer, creator, maker, chef, or

whatever.

Within his works, people are people.

He uses rasa to equalize people.taste/flavor/sense/feel

Rasa is his mediumtaste/flavor/sense/feel

His aesthetic is ‘ancient’:ART AS EXPERIENCE.

But we still think that he’s cool!

Still don’t believe us?

Look! Who would have askedones mother to be in his artwork?

Well, Fajar did!

He challenged his mother in a cooking battle. He asked her to cook his comfort

food, chicken soup.

He taught himself to cook a better version of the chicken soup—well, he thinks its better.

He made his mom serve the soupto people by feeding them.

He himself served his soupin a rather classy manner.

He asked the people whose soup is better.

Mom wins! Of course!

Next! Another friend of ours, is based in a rural area, named Jatiwangi. Located in the

middle of West and Central Java. Rural does not immediately translate to village.

So, don’t mistaken this.

A bunch of our friend gathered therein some sort of a collective called

Jatiwangi art Factory.

That was not a misspelled.The ‘art’ in the middle of their name

is spelled with lowercase.

That was not a misspelled.The ‘art’ in the middle of their name

is spelled with lowercase.

And, no, they are not an artists’ collective. They are a collective of citizens, human

beings that care about each other and their surroundings.

Why do we think that they’re cool?

Not all they do is necessary art.Not all they do is art per se.Not all they do is activism.

Not all they do is for the sakeof greater good.

But, …all they do, is

from, with and fortheir surroundings.

>> 03 JaF_Mari Membuang Sampah dengan Baik.mp4(Click to watch)

Unfortunately, there is no English subtitle in the video. So, let’s just turn down the sound.

They are sharing about ways to deal with unused plastic bags and plastic-based

trashes.

This is a very ‘communist’ image. Haha.

Anyway, this is a collaborative project by a Bandung-based artist Prilla Tania, Jatiwangi-

based artist Loranitha Theo and ladies in Jatisura Village. The project is done as a

part of JaF’s annual festival.

In JaF, things, events, activities, exhibition, activism or whatever you want to call it,

happens both naturally (the way the people wanted) and constructively (the way the

artist ‘dreamed’).

By dream, we meant the Dan Graham kind of dream, “All artists are alike. They dream of doing something that’s more social, more

collaborative, and more real than art.”

During their very first Ceramic Music Festival, JaF launched the hymn of the

Jatiwangi district along with the Jatiwangi Pledge.

>> 04 JaF_Jatiwangi Hymn - English version.mp4

>> 05 JaF_Ceramic Music Festival & Jatiwangi Pledge.mp4(Click to watch)

Our friends in JaF do not really care if what they do is considered art or not.

They are open for those who look at them and think that they use art as a tool to

communicate to their surrounding; and those who look at them and say that they are doing—whatever the suitable label is

nowadays—participatory art, community project, public art, relational aesthetic,

yadda, yadda, yadda…

But, to us, they are artists.

The changes that happen within their society are their works.

Their works are not physical in the sense that it can be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, felt.

BUT! —and that’s a big but—Their works can be experienced.

To be more precise, their works only exist if you experience it as locals—themselves or

their surroundings.

And they are conscious about this state.

One of their statements say something like, “When we say ‘the public’, we actually know

where they live—not just their names or profession.”

One say that what makes an object art is the simply consciousness of the creator towards his creation—not the object, not the skill, not

the medium, etc.

When we say ART AS EXPERIENCE, this links back to what is now labeled as

traditional art, some say craft, some say decorative art, whatever…

‘That’ kind of art has always been a part of a larger social constellation back home.

Be it social rituals (giving birth, weddings, death, etc), religious rituals (temple

sculptures, church installations, Kejawen which is Javanese religion practices, etc)…

‘That’ kind of art is considered traditional because of modern art practices are thought through educational system that is Western-

influenced…

Ah! Not going to dwell into this…Parts of my view on this are in my essay.

I brought up because it is then interesting to see the more ‘studio-based’ kind of practices

or ‘object-oriented’ kind of practices…

These kinds of practices are of course the biggest percentage of practice from where

we come from.

Time is chasing us, so we will just go through some works with key statements

from the artist in relation to this ‘experience-making’ that we have been talking about…

Time is chasing us, so we will just go through some works with key statements

from the artist in relation to this ‘experience-making’ that we have been talking about…

Look at Handiwirman Saputra’s works.

Look at Handiwirman Saputra’s works.

Painting

Painting

Object

Painting

Object

How does he make his works?

“I always have set myself in a certain condition to create, to make…

I call it ‘conditioning’.”

“I have never liked it when people say that I have ‘my own language’ or even ‘my own visual language’, because I am not trying communicate especially with words thus

uses language. I am creating stimulations for visual experiences.”

 

Well, we can go on and on about our friends works… But maybe that’s that for now.

We are happy to be speakingwith our own languages.

We are happy that there are all these possibilities—with translation, subtitles, etc—to make you experience our language…

And even that we haven’t mentioned any practices out of Java, the island that we are

based.

Indonesia has 5 big islands (Java, Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian)

and in total 33.000 small islands…

National observation.Uh, forgive us…

Cheers