artatak news

Public talk: The last three decades of artistic production in Indonesia: 25 years of Cemeti Art House and the status of curating contemporary art.

archipel-berlin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:53:00 +0200

A review by Mella Jaarsma and Enin Supriyanto

Introduction and moderation: Katerina Valdivia Bruch

April 27th, 4.00 pm at ARNDT Berlin

Indonesian contemporary art is in vogue: exhibitions in London, Paris, Rome and now Venice - this year’s Venice Biennale will have its Indonesian Pavillion - confirm the trend of Indonesian contemporary art in the European art circuit. Apart from the international market boom, Indonesia’s arts scene has an interesting development that is noteworthy to talk about.

Following the exhibition on view at the gallery, the talk will give a short review on the status of arts production in Indonesia in the last three decades. At that time, Indonesia was living under a dictatorship that lasted for more than three decades (1967-1998). Under this regime, art was influenced not only by the sociopolitical environment, but also by the entrance of the neoliberal economy opened and promoted by Suharto’s government. In this regard, conceptual artists started to flourish, such as FX Harsono, a member of the GSRB (Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru: New Arts Movement) and one of the pioneers who traced the path for the younger generations. In the 90s, Indonesian contemporary artists gained international attention, mainly in the Southeast Asian region, Japan and Australia, participating for instance in exhibitions at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum or the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane. Back then, artists were strongly committed to the sociopolitical situation of the country.

In this context, Cemeti Art House played a major role in the internationalisation of Indonesian contemporary art. Founded in 1988 by Mella Jaarsma and Nindityo Adipurnomo, it was one of the first artist initiatives dedicated to foster the discourse about art and society, organising art exhibitions and encouraging arts production, but also establishing an international network through their artist in residency programmes. Since its beginning, it has collaborated with a number of institutions generating echoes beyond Indonesia’s boundaries.

This year, Cemeti is celebrating its 25 years of existence, a reason to celebrate and to review about the past and present of contemporary art in Indonesia. During the talk, Mella Jaarsma will speak about Cemeti and its role in shaping Indonesia’s art scene.

With the beginning of the new democracy, Indonesia had a painting boom particularly popular at auction houses. Nowadays, the arts scene is more involved in a global art discourse highly influenced by social networks and the internet, but also by art fairs and other art market oriented forces. In the absence of public funding for contemporary arts, private initiatives, galleries and artist-run spaces supply this gap. Under these circumstances, curators generally work for galleries supporting their commercial intentions. Hence, curators usually move across art journalism or were former artists working as exhibition makers.

Enin Supriyanto is one of the few established curators dedicated to publish texts about contemporary art, giving talks and editing catalogues for a local and an international audience. During the talk, he will give us a glimpse about the state of curating in Indonesia and the development of contemporary art discourse despite the current trend of the art market.

About the speakers:

Mella Jaarsma (1960, the Netherlands) is a visual artist and co-director of Cemeti Art House, one of the major artist initiatives in Indonesia. She has participated in a number of local and international exhibitions, including the Yokohama Triennale, the Gwangju Biennale and the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Her work has been exhibited in international art institutions, such as Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton in Paris, MACRO in Rome, SAM (Singapore Art Museum) in Singapore, KIASMA Museum in Helsinki, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei and The Royal Academy of Arts in London. Together with Nindityo Adipurnomo, she received the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award, New York, USA (2006), the Academic Art Award #2 from Jogja Gallery/Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta (2008) and the Yogyakarta Biennale Art Award (2010). Her work is part of international collections, such as the Queensland Art Gallery and the Singapore Art Museum. Mella is board member of the Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA) and of the Jogja Biennale Foundation. The artist lives and works in Yogyakarta.

Enin Supriyanto is an independent curator and writer. He curates exhibitions and contributes with essays for various art publications in Indonesia and abroad. Among his publications are Indonesian Contemporary Art Now, edited by Marc Bollansee and Enin Supriyanto (Singapore: SNP Editions, 2007), Agus Suwage: Still Crazy After All These Years, edited by Enin Supriyanto, Adeline Ooi, Beverly Yong (Yogyakarta: Studio Biru, 2010). He has curated a number of exhibitions with Indonesian contemporary artists, such as the solo exhibition Agus Suwage: Still Crazy After All These Years (Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, and Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, 2009), Beyond The Dutch (co-curated with Meta Knol, Centraal Museum Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2009) and Handiwirman Saputra: No Roots, No Shoots (co-curated with Agung Hujatnikajennong, National Gallery, Jakarta, 2011). Currently, he is working as Project Officer of the Equator International Symposium, a parallel event of the upcoming Jogja Biennale, and is part of the editorial board of a book publication about the GSRB. He lives and works in Jakarta.

Katerina Valdivia Bruch is a Berlin-based independent curator and art critic. She has curated exhibitions for a number of institutions, including ZKM-Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Bielefelder Kunstverein (Bielefeld), CCCB (Barcelona), Instituto Cervantes (Berlin and Munich), Instituto Cultural de Leon (Mexico), Para/Site Art Space (Hong Kong), and the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE College of the Arts. In 2008, she was co-curator of the Prague Triennale at the National Gallery in Prague. Besides her work as a curator, she contributes with essays and articles for art publications and magazines. Since 2009, she has organised a number of talks and exhibitions on Indonesian contemporary art.

The talk is organised and conceptualised by Katerina Valdivia Bruch with the support of ARNDT Berlin.

Address:

ARNDT Berlin
Potsdamer Str. 96
10785 Berlin

Photo: Masa Lalu, Masa Lupa (exhibition view), courtesy Cemeti Art House

Turning Targets: 25 Years of Cemeti Art House Interview with Nindityo Adipurnomo and Mella Jaarsma

archipel-berlin — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:31:14 +0100

culture360.org Writer Katerina Valdivia Bruch shares her artistic experiences in Indonesia and interviews the artists and founders of the Cemeti Art House: Mella Jaarsma (MJ) and Nindityo Adipurnomo (NA).

In December 2008, I came to Indonesia for the first time. Once there, I did not know much about what I would find in terms of artistic practice. During three months, I was living in the artist run space MES56, composed by a group of photographers, in the city of Yogyakarta. At that time, the arts scene in Jogja (another word to say Yogyakarta) was vibrant with artist run initiatives that were presenting exhibitions, artist talks, organising workshops, offering music gigs or concerts of electronic music and performances. The majority of the events were organised by artists and arts practitioners, due to the lack of public infrastructure for contemporary arts.» click here to continue

Katerina Valdivia Bruch. Focus-on Indonesia: L'Intervista By Naima Morelli for art a part of cult(ure)

archipel-berlin — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 03:18:00 +0100

Le attività da curatrice e danzatrice di Katerina sono tutte monitorate dal suo sito artatak.net, eppure non ho capito fino all’ultimo come mai lei, peruviana d’origine e con base a Berlino, si fosse interessata all’arcipelago indonesiano. Una ragione in più per conoscerla di persona. Oltretutto, la proposta di vedersi e chiacchierare di arte contemporanea indonesiana al Café Goldberg alla Reuterstraße, seppur io non abbia avuto idea di dove fosse la Reuterstraße, suonava terribilmente bene, quasi cinematografica (ecco il solito romanticismo sempre in agguato). Quindi, nonostante a Berlino facesse un freddo di pazzi, quel caffè alla fine ce lo siamo prese. Nel parlare con intelligenza e puntualità, Katerina gesticolava, rideva forte e scherzava. Insomma, in un turbine di vitalità non era praticamente d’accordo con nessuna delle categorie con le quali interpretavo le varie istanze del contesto indonesiano.

» click here to read the whole interview

Lotus Story, a video dance piece by Krisna Murti performed by...

archipel-berlin — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:48:00 +0100

Lotus Story, a video dance piece by Krisna Murti performed by Katerina Valdivia Bruch, wins the Octubre Abierto prize at the Video Dance Festival F.I.V.E.R in Spain.

Berlin Amateurs about What is it to be Chinese?

archipel-berlin — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 21:56:00 +0100

Berlin Amateurs about What is it to be Chinese?

Article about What is it to be Chinese? by Stefanie Ippendorf for Perisphere

archipel-berlin — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 21:54:41 +0100

Article about What is it to be Chinese? by Stefanie Ippendorf for Perisphere

Article about What is it to be Chinese? by Kim Bos for Unst (NL)

archipel-berlin — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 21:46:23 +0100

Article about What is it to be Chinese? by Kim Bos for Unst (NL)

Video Art and Video Initiatives in Indonesia: Sharing Audiovisual Culture between Activism and Artistic Practice*

archipel-berlin — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 11:52:00 +0200

Video Art and Video Initiatives in Indonesia: Sharing Audiovisual Culture between Activism and Artistic Practice*:

Text by Katerina Valdivia Bruch for Culture360.org

In Indonesia, video art was not the result of an artistic movement or a particular development in contemporary arts, such as it was the case in USA and Europe with the Fluxus movement and its recorded performances, or Nam June Paik’s videos reflecting on television and media culture. » more

Tagesspiegel and Zitty recommend the exhibition "What is it to be Chinese?"

archipel-berlin — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:40:00 +0200

Tagesspiegel and Zitty recommend the exhibition "What is it to be Chinese?":

Zeitung Heute Ausstellung

11.10.2012 00:00 Uhr

What is it to be Chinese?

Wer sich Zeit nimmt, kann in dieser Ausstellung viel über die chinesische Kultur lernen, vor allem über das Ablagern verschiedener Kulturen in ein und derselben Person. Die jungen Künstler Kyungwoo Chun, FX Harsono, Truong Ngu, Tintin Wulia und David Zink Yi – allesamt mit chinesischen Wurzeln – beschäftigen sich mit Aspekten des Chinesischseins, die ihren Vorfahren in der Fremde teils zum Verhängnis wurden.

Grimmuseum, Sa 13.10. bis

So 18.11., Mi-So 14-19 Uhr

Zitty

Link: http://www.zitty.de/what-is-it-to-be-chinese-2.html

Looking at the past to understand the present. On Natee...

archipel-berlin — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 17:15:00 +0200

Looking at the past to understand the present. On Natee Utarit’s Illustration of the Crisis.

By Katerina Valdivia Bruch

ARNDT Berlin is proud to present Illustration of the Crisis, the first solo exhibition of Thai artist Natee Utarit in Berlin.

Initially influenced by German Expressionism and abstract art in his early body of work, Utarit has undergone an exploration on the medium of painting connecting it with photography and classical Western art. Light and perspective are some of the elements the artist choses to work with, focusing on painting as a means to explore image making. In the last decade, his paintings have been inspired by old masters of Western art history from the Italian Renaissance - such as Fra Angelico (1395-1455) or Paolo Uccello (1397-1475) - and the Baroque era, approaching in a critical way Thai social subject matters.

Between 2009 and 2011, Thailand was living a series of political contradictions that were affecting public life in the country. It was more a crisis connected to power relations and Buddhist belief rather than just an economical crisis related to the country’s development. For the artist, Thai’s current crisis is intangible and therefore complex to understand as it is happening in Thai’s soul: “It is a crisis that strikes at the heart of some of our most treasured illusions, those which have sustained us for centuries and that only we Thais can understand in the context of our own society and our own cultural beliefs.” ^¹

But, how can we illustrate this crisis on canvas? Thus, the complexity of the picture language allows him to speak about these sensitive issues. The artist considers that the symbolism of the 15 - 17th centuries Western painting techniques, such as landscape and still life, are capable to show multiple layers of reality. For him, “This language relied heavily on metaphors and hidden symbols to communicate”^². In the series Illustration of the Crisis, the artist uses “the language and grammar of painting of the past”^³ to portray current social concerns.

The change in power has made people afraid of an unpredictable future. There has been a construction of an image of happiness founded on the basis of fear and anxiety. In order to express these contradictions, the artist includes symbols of Thai society and politics in a dreamlike atmosphere. Although this possible world is based on his personal imagination, for him “There is no irony. There are no optical illusions. Everything is meant to tell a story in the same direct manner that characterised paintings for centuries.”^⁴In general, the artist refers to his work as dealing with social issues rather than considering it political art, confronting local subjects with universal human themes.

Before starting to work, Utarit composes an artificial scenery created with objects chosen from antique markets or accumulation shops (similar to flea markets). During his search, he tries to find items that are suitable to be painted, in order to later create a dialogue between the found objects and the ideas he wants to transmit with them.

The artist’s studio reminds us of a sort of medical laboratory or a room for experiments, in which all objects are closely observed, organised and separated. Later, he will put some objects together in a particular arrangement meaningful for him. After this process of composition, he photographs the dialogic setup of the items. While painting, he chooses the proper colours to create the atmosphere he wants to achieve. This artificiality creates some distance between the hidden reality he is addressing and leaves the viewer the option to decipher the questions he is posing to the audience. To reach a more abstract environment, the artist deliberately does not take nature as an example to create the settings of his canvases. And, right after setting up this artificial scenario, he starts to paint.

In the series Illustration of the Crisis, the symbolic language and the dialogue of the objects portrayed by the artist mix elements of reality and fiction, combining found objects such as bones, brushes, scissors, spoons, old chandeliers, a head of a Buddha or busts of military characters with plastic toys, anatomy models and plastic animal figures. In fact, these animals are not intended to correspond to real animals. More likely, they are metaphors of different human behaviours, thoughts and emotions, as if we would be speaking of characters taken from fairytales.

Symptoms of the crisis are visible in the use of animal jaws, such as in Inward Looking (2012), in which the mouth of a shark skeleton, containing an old megaphone, seems to be shouting at the figure of an European woman wearing 19th century clothes, or in The Bridge (2012), where a rabbit lies on an animal jaw behind some toy soldiers facing the front, but also in Crocodile Tears (2011), in which the title itself stands for hypocrisy. It seems as if you open your mouth you might get into trouble, as in Saying the truth is a suicide (2012) with a false human teeth. According to the artist, his works “are telling things that are beyond speaking and most people in our society are not willing to hear or talk to”.^⁵

Utarit’s canvases are famous for questioning the nature of images and how these are made: either influenced by photography, or combined with elements from landscape painting or still lifes, or taking ideas from antique markets, the language of painting in Illustration of the Crisis is challenging the audience to reflect on the multifarious possibilities to understand contemporary painting, but also to take a look at ways to address contemporary issues.

The current series, on view at the gallery, is a continuation of his previous explorations on the pictorial language of Western painting techniques. Earlier series, such as Pictorial Statement (2000), connected reproductions of old masters with Thai landscapes, or The Last Description of the Old Romantic (2005) used copies of floral still lifes. For him, the multiple facets of reality are best depicted through these means.

Natee Utarit was born in 1970 in Bangkok, where he lives. He studied at the College of Fine Art, and graduated in Graphic Arts at the Painting and Sculpture Faculty at Silpakorn University, both in Bangkok. During his art studies at Silpakorn University, he was influenced by classical art, but also by theories of postmodernism that deconstruct classicism connecting it to modern concerns.

His international career dates back to the late 1980’s, participating in group exhibitions such as the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art Brisbane (1999), Next Move: Contemporary Art from Thailand at La Salle College of the Arts (2003) or Traces of Siamese Smile: Art, Faith, Politics and Love at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (2008). Recent solo exhibitions include The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Perfection at the Art Center of Chulalongkorn University (2007) and Natee Utarit: After Painting at the Singapore Art Museum (2010). His work is part of renowned collections, such the Bangkok University, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Singapore Art Museum, as well as private collections in Europe and Asia.

1Artist statement on Illustration of the Crisis.

2Ibidem.

3Ibidem.

4Personal communication with the artist.

5Personal communication with the artist.

Photo: Natee Utarit The Bridge, 2012, Oil on Linen, 150 x 200 cm, courtesy the artist and ARNDT Berlin

El Correo about "Frame"

archipel-berlin — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 17:14:00 +0200

El Correo about "Frame":

La danza sonora y espacial de Katerina Valdivia

Valdivia explicó que la pieza “Frame” consiste en un espectáculo entre dos marcos, lo sonoro y lo espacial.

Por Mauricio Zapiáin | Septiembre 05, 2012

Foto: Isaac Márquez

LEÓN, Guanajuato.- Dentro del marco del Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo (FIAC) y con el apoyo de la Universidad Iberoamericana, la bailarina peruana Katerina Valdivia realizó la tarde del lunes un espectáculo de danza frente a más de 50 personas en la explanada de la cafetería de la universidad.

Valdivia explicó que la pieza “Frame” consiste en un espectáculo entre dos marcos, lo sonoro y lo espacial.

“Son tres partes, el desarrollo de la primera etapa era un espacio de 2 metros por 2 metros, la idea era limitar el cuerpo al espacio físico; luego ya con los movimientos, marco un poco esa cuestión de limitación, de espacio restringido, cuando empecé a trabajar con Bonic la idea era improvisar con música, lo hacíamos con música en vivo, él tocaba, pero como no pudo venir tuve que grabar. Lo que he bailado es improvisado. La última parte es improvisada, es una cosa que yo uso siempre. Hago una parte coreografía y la otra parte, lo que salga”, dijo.

Katerina, además de hacer esta presentación vino a León para dar un taller de danza durante 3 días, de jueves a sábado en el Centro Integral de Danza y Arte, ubicado en la calle Venecia en la colonia Andrade.

De igual forma también hizo una exposición de videos en la terminal de autobuses y en la librería de la sala “Jesús Gallardo”, donde fueron instalados sus trabajos denominados “Aproximaciones a una poética del espacio”.

Tras su experiencia en esta edición del FIAC, la bailarina dijo estar contenta, ya que “es la segunda vez que vengo a León, en el 2010 estuve aquí exponiendo video y arte, me gusta mucho, la gente es súper linda y me ha tratado muy bien. El festival me ha parecido bien, hay de todo un poco”, finalizó.

Presentan Coreografía en espacio limitado El Sol de León, 8 de...

archipel-berlin — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 17:12:00 +0200

Presentan Coreografía en espacio limitado

El Sol de León, 8 de septiembre de 2012

Gloria Bernal

León, Guanajuato.- Katerina Valdivia presentó “Frame” una pieza coreográfica que nació en la exploración de un espacio limitado de 2 metros por 2 metros.

La pieza nació en Indonesia desde el año 2008 cuando Katerina Valdivia pertenecía a una compañía de danza, quien ensayaba a un grupo de jóvenes mujeres, diferentes piezas musicales y al final del curso el cual tenía la duración de 4 meses, tenía que mostrar un trabajo e hizo una coreografía con las chicas y una pieza que fue interpretada por ella sola.

Katerina Valdivia Bruch comentó que se le ocurrió esta idea ya que ella no podía hablar el idioma y no podía comunicarse en Indonesia y por ese motivo se sentía limitada, es por eso que comenzó a surgir esta idea de la limitación espacial, y la idea por esta pieza, primero surgió la pieza de 2 metros por 2 metros, la cual es la primera parte, y luego la extendió a tres partes, ya que trabajaba con una violinista barroca con la que se hicieron improvisaciones y se extendió a 3 partes.

La segunda de las partes se distingue porque va acompañada de chicharras como las cigarras, además de sonidos de la naturaleza que le hacían recordar Indonesia, y el tercero iba acompañado de Monich la violinista, y esta tercera y última parte es totalmente improvisado desde el comienzo al fin, tanto la música como los pasos utilizados.

Foto: Adrián Muñoz / El Sol de León.

Photo

archipel-berlin — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:21:00 +0200

Aproximaciones a una poética del espacio (Approaches to a Poetics of Space)

archipel-berlin — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:20:00 +0200

Artists: Yoel Díaz Vázquez, Laura F. Gibellini, Simonetta Fadda, Stine Eriksen, Diego Lama, Daniela Lehmann Carrasco, Sara Nuytemans & Arya Pandjalu, Reynold Reynolds
Curated by Katerina Valdivia Bruch

Exhibition: 30 August - 16 September 2012

Aproximaciones a una poética del espacio (Approaches to a Poetics of Space) brings together video works from nine international artists and how they redefine the perception we have of the space we live in.

For the FIAC festival, the exhibition will be presented in a local cinema club and in various public locations, including bancs, bars and public transportation in the city of Leon.

Photo

archipel-berlin — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:17:00 +0200

Frame

archipel-berlin — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:16:00 +0200

Choreography and dance: Katerina Valdivia Bruch
Music: Monique Steffen, metronome, field recordings

Performance: 3 September 2012, 6.30 pm at the Universidad Iberoamericana de León

Frame was first presented at Tembi Rumah Budaya in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2010. For the FIAC festival, the piece has been expanded following the principle of a limited space and using improvisation. This version of Frame has been done in collaboration with the baroque violinist Monique Steffen.

Modern Dance workshop with Katerina Valdivia Bruch: 3-5 September, 2012 10 am - 2 pm at the Universidad Iberoamericana de León

Photo

archipel-berlin — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:15:00 +0200

Lotus Story

archipel-berlin — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:08:00 +0200

As part of the FIAC festival, Krisna Murti’s video Lotus Story will be screened at the cine club Casa de la Cultura Diego Rivera

Screening schedule:
31 August (12 pm), 1 September (5.30 and 7 pm), 2 September at (12 and 7 pm),
3 September (12 and 7 pm), and 4 September (10 am and 8 pm)
Video: Krisna Murti
Dance: Katerina Valdivia Bruch

archipel-berlin — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 18:07:24 +0200

Lotus Story at Pattosofiranje Festival and Art Jog

archipel-berlin — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 18:05:34 +0200

The video Lotus Story by Krisna Murti will be presented during the Pattosofiranje Festival in Smederevo, Serbia, on June 28th, 2012. From 14-18 July, it will be shown during the Art Jog art fair in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

For Krisna Murti, body gestures in the reliefs of Hindu temples are singular or repetitive snapshots of a dance. With this idea in mind, the artist created a video dance piece with the theme of the lotus flower, a sacred flower that is associated with purity, enlightment and beauty in the religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. The video shows that dance is inspiring poetry: it is body expression and movement, but also a poetic language without words.

Video: Krisna Murti
Dance: Katerina Valdivia Bruch

artatak news

Public talk: The last three decades of artistic production in Indonesia: 25 years of Cemeti Art House and the status of curating contemporary art.

Turning Targets: 25 Years of Cemeti Art House Interview with Nindityo Adipurnomo and Mella Jaarsma

Katerina Valdivia Bruch. Focus-on Indonesia: L'Intervista By Naima Morelli for art a part of cult(ure)

Lotus Story, a video dance piece by Krisna Murti performed by...

Berlin Amateurs about What is it to be Chinese?

Article about What is it to be Chinese? by Stefanie Ippendorf for Perisphere

Article about What is it to be Chinese? by Kim Bos for Unst (NL)

Video Art and Video Initiatives in Indonesia: Sharing Audiovisual Culture between Activism and Artistic Practice*

Tagesspiegel and Zitty recommend the exhibition "What is it to be Chinese?"

Looking at the past to understand the present. On Natee...

El Correo about "Frame"

Presentan Coreografía en espacio limitado El Sol de León, 8 de...

Photo

Aproximaciones a una poética del espacio (Approaches to a Poetics of Space)

Photo

Frame

Photo

Lotus Story

Lotus Story, 2012 © Krisna Murti

Lotus Story at Pattosofiranje Festival and Art Jog