BEYOND THE EAST: Indonesian Contemporary Art
Date: November 16th 2011 – January 15st, 2012
Location: MACRO – Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4 – 00153 Roma
Curator: Dominique Lora
Indonesian Contemporary Art has recently caught the attention of the International artistic scene together with other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Indonesia is experiencing a time of great social and cultural changes that challenge the established balance, provoking an analysis on opposed forces such as modernity and tradition, local and global, rational and unrational etc.. Such oppositions lately became the fundaments of the visual expression of older and younger generations of artists who are attempting to negotiate a new glocal identity, exploring differences and singularities that can be opposed to the standardization processes of consumerism.
In the past, the phenomenons issued from Postcolonial ideology have generated hibridization and economic growth, simultaneously provoking a loss if not an obliteration of the values inherent to the authenticity of the patrimony and the memory of sites and inhabitants. The exhibition “Beyond the East: Indonesian Contemporary Art” proposes a visual experience of the “other” and the “elsewhere”, a place where the European public can access the logics and the dynamics that are today transforming the features of contemporary South East Asia, generally, and Indonesia, specifically.
The exhibition will feature a selection of Indonesian artists that focus on exploring the mechanisms of collective consumerism, dissecting the relations and the values that bound modern society to the fetish idolatry of the brand, therefore enacting a both cultural and human short-circuit.
“Beyond the East” will be presented at MACRO (Rome Museum of Contemporary Art) in the context of the 2010-2011 festival The Silks Roads, dedicated to Asia and South East Asia. The initiative will involve several important Roman and Italian museums, galleries and private institutions.
Selected Artists:
Agus Suwage, F.X. Harsono, Yuli Praytno, Melati Suryodarmo, Heri Dono, Made Wianta, Eko Nugroho, Entang Wiharso, Ugo Untoro, Mella Jaarsma, Titarubi, Astari Rasyid, Arya Pandjalu, S. Teddy Darmawan, Budi Kustarto.
Event Greeter at the Embassy of Indonesia and presentation of exhibition
Making Of “Beyond the East”