Baca PDF (OCR): Winds Of Contention Blow Through Jakarta Art World

ByUmricicc Post

SATURDAY, JUNE 27,. 1987 .

Winds of contention blow through Jakarta/ art world

JAKARTA (WP): What seemed to be tempest in a teacup” is threatening to develop into .-a. huricane in Jakarta’s§ art circles. ; ; The clouds actually began gathering on.the' fine arts

+horizon, around |0 years ago with of the Cikini, Centra], Jakarta, that the.storm really began to take

henagh June June 30 30. The Seni Rupa Baru movement has, been; glow in developing. After controversial

sarge laced disro ' words ,side, the exhibition halt that r : lease) the; art” they are inscribed A peoadvocgting is: based on their ple outside the hall. Inside awareness thati‘a redefinition the exhibition site finds :ofj thé. fine art, is required.” out that the colored ‘They. announce their. main cutout is based on a sticker

principle as being “the arts are a plurality that pre based In a py of frames of re ferences.” They: further maintain that

use: today allows for only sculp graphics." They: ane of the on that this view. needs ng, and that ''the artists, as well as the critics, involved in Indonesia's modern art movement in all truth, become blind and conceive that the modern arts — painting, scul and phics — are the only possible art. Whatever is outside

‘inthinking on the fi of that is not art.” Their... anifesto then PR cay t ‘The arts in Indonesia has gdne bankrupt.” ore demand that a new definition of art be sought to incjude what they term as “d art,” or the objects that the general

presentations ‘in the late public surround themselves 1970s the group seemed todie with, such as stickers, T- away, Not much: was heard rs and jcomics. from them at all, except The exhibitioh,: both outa dubious report that the side and inside R Pamegroup had dissolved in the ran Utama, at the arf center is early: 1980s; Apparently there ¢ based on assumpwas just a julljin the;storm as tion these are invenue el tek desea po are deed art? owing at now. . A several-meter-high cut oy group “ proclaims 2 out Selly female

‘(Gittinitwune is. city. oe The huge hall is filled with and displays of stickers, posters

and huge reproductions of comic strips; and stacked high with empty soft-drink cans, dummy boxes of laundry detergent and cro with ‘rows of mannequins swathed in gsrishly ored textiles, or garbed in radical styled clothing.. The ° l effect is the feeling one Is having a bad dream in a derranged department store.

Confrontive

“Oh I agree that this is art, in the sense that a beautiful woman, or a building have aesthetic points,” Adi Munardi, a painter who viewed the show said. “Fine art is not. a nerrow concept, but that doesn’t mean that we can do just any old thing and call it art. What we do has got to be g has ‘

Adi was of the opinion that, “A work of art is i if you can interact with it. It

“a

The current Pasar Raya Dunia Fantasi multi-media exhibitionyat the Toman Ismail Marzuki art center also involves “ video doctiféntation. (JP/Erik Sumarauw) |

tionyjust’ doesn't work: It hasnt :been well'done.”

. Arsond; 'a . noted: ‘sculptor dnd.a member of the Jakarta Arts Council agreed .somewhat* He! felt that,the Seni, Rupa Baru:'movemenvt’s latest exhibition “is disappointing. They didn't . deal ‘effectively. with the space. The' lighting isn’t effective: The stickers lost their artistic element at

their hands.” “I had hoped to see a creation as a-creation. Their concept is clearly, going to become a boomerang for them,”

he said. Adi: Munardi then said, Empty cans make the most -acket.” And'Arsono replied, Yeah, they say a lot, but, didn't do much‘at all:” Leon Agusta, secretary for the’ Jakarta Arts “Council commented; “They talk about freeing art, but they are

actually limiting it.”

In fact it appears that. in their attempt to redefine what should be considered art the Seni Rupa Baru movement has said very little about how the form of art currently dubbed the “high arts,” which encompasses all the works of some of the world’s finest artists should be dealt with.

Accusation

Their accusation. that: the current Indonesian ‘art scene is elitist end caters ta, a

specific segment: of. societ rather than communicatin with the general public i perhaps valid, but definitel overstated. The Seni Rup Baru movement doesn't see to leave much room for thd | Their exhib manifesto convey a pictur that is far too black and whi There are lots of shades o grey and a rainbow of othe colors in sesthetic and artisti concepts.

Their «accusation that th current generation of art cri tics'in Indonesia is imposin too narrow an aesthetic view on artists and the general public has some foundation, but on the other and, there must be some criteria for determining what has aesthetic and conceptual v y self and the Work of art. They ' have yet'to touch on this issue in either their manifesto or their exhibition, particularly Wot inthe exhibition

Aesthetics

If one starts with the very basic aesthetic concepts butlined by Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Judgement (1790), the ‘basis for much modern thinkihg about the arts, then

@ Seni Rupa Baru movement's declaration that the everyday objects people use to brighten their environment - are:‘art” seems vatid. Kant. at a very basic level described aesthetic judgements a8," ofa different class from cognitive judgement and do not merely differ in degree of clarity. . They are therefore subjective judgements by definition. They are defined as the class of judgements whith refer to our satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the perception of things."”’ aa

On this very basic level the exhibition now con at the Taman Ismail Marzuki art center can be defined as presenting art. There is lots of color and form. although the space, particularly the ceiling and four space. is inadequately used and the lighting is very poor. with the slide show apparently only operative a small pari of the time.

There are posters parodying advertisements and government slogans. There are all kinds of packagirg designs and indeed fashions and textiles. everything one would expect to find in a supermarket or department store or a small roadside xiosk. And yet in terms of art and aesthetics as not merely a pleasant experience. but eiso as an expanding one, there definitely seems to be something lacking