Metissages dances along line between textile design and contemporary art

Margaret Agusta, Contributor Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An interesting experiment in the melding of diverse sectors, thought frameworks, discourses and cultures called Metissages: A Crossbreeding of Contemporary Art and Textiles is currently on display at the National Museum, more popularly known as Musium Gajah, in Central Jakarta through Nov. 23.

Exhibited in Bandung, the home of the Bandung Institute of Technology with its school of art and design, and numerous textiles factories and outlets, before making its way to Indonesia's capital, this exhibition is being shared with textile and art lovers here through the French Cultural Center and the French National Fund of Contemporary Art and Private Collections.

The exhibition, initiated by Yves Sabourin, of the Fine Art Delegation of the Department of Culture and Communication in France, to provide a forum for a dialogue between contemporary artists and textile designers and practitioners from all around the world, has already been shown in 18 venues in its country of origin and in several other countries worldwide.

This current show in Jakarta features the core exhibition of 52 works from both institutional and private collections, with the added twist of the inclusion of seven tradition-based textile pieces from Indonesia.

According to Yves Sabourin, as quoted in a preface to the exhibition, "The result of the meeting between contemporary artists and textile makers was the enabling of the artists to become involved in the exploration of forgotten or previously unknown techniques, while the textile practitioners got the opportunity to express themselves through personal interpretations of their own techniques."

The results of this ambitious and amazing undertaking now on display are at once diverse, thought-provoking, and certainly interesting; often on several levels at once.

At the very minimum, this exhibition revives and reiterates the age-old debate of what art actually is, and at what point a creatively produced object crosses over the line of the functionality of design into the realm of the purely aesthetic.

There are a number of objects in the show whose beauty and visual (sometimes also textural) attractiveness and ill-defined function land them squarely in the middle of the definition of artwork; others that are clearly created as "art" in the easily accessible form of tapestry or wall-hanging; others that either directly (through clear visual definition of form) or indirectly (through the title and written explanation presented with each piece) define themselves as designed objects; and still others whose function is recognized immediately before the beauty or interesting aspects of their appearance and specific presentation are registered by the mind.

Among the pieces clearly delegating themselves to the "art" category are the small, truly eye pleasing disk titled Vegetal Snow created by Martine Aballea; the tiny perspective piece titled The Rug Room by Frederique Petit; Birth of a Shadow by Johan Creten; and Temptation by Jill Galleni.

Of the tapestry pieces and wall hangings in this display, The Mongrel by Claire Rado captures the eye and intrigues the mind with its play between the positive and negative space of the strings being woven and the illusion of form in the woven segment of the rectangle wall hanging. Like a number of other works in the show (both those having no defined function and those defined by their potential use), this piece speaks volumes about the materials used and the process through which it was created. Like many modern art objects, including abstract paintings, these pieces set forth the issue of how something becomes art or defines itself as art through its material elements and their inherent qualities.

Another tapestry piece, titled Rotten Candies, by Tatiana Trouve, introduces another aspect of presentation in contemporary art; the message bound tightly within the lines, forms and colors of an object. This piece, that at first glance presents itself in the traditional form of a flat, rectangular wall hanging, carries the eye down to the realization that dimensional borders can be crossed, as well as the barrier between technical constraints and creative expression, while at the same time attempting to set out the idea that textiles and designs often function as an extension of the misogynistic treatment of women.

Two other piece, which similarly define themselves by shape as "clothing", but then offer that something extra that makes one think they might actually be appropriately "framed and hung on a wall", are the thoughtfully aesthetic Laos Transformation by Frederic Molenac, and the breathtakingly beautiful Naive by Harry Dharsono from Indonesia.

Among the still other pieces in this surprisingly extensive traveling exhibition, are a few that scream out so loudly what it is that people expect them to function for that the more subtle aspects of the artistic playfulness or thoughtfulness of their creators take a lot more thought and a bit more time to comprehend. Two of these are Custom Bra by Sylvie Fleury of France, and Disposable Gucci by Indonesian artist Wiyoga Muhardanto. The first piece draws immediate attention to the cleverness of efforts to customize the female form into alluring fashionableness, and only secondarily hints at the underlying perception of woman as sex machine. The second piece, although articulate enough in its purpose of pointing out that fashion with all of its brief transitions can become an obsession, if not a true addiction, seems poised on the edge of seriously insightful profundity without actually diving in.

This impressive exhibition, which offers much of interest to artists, artisans, and textile and art lovers alike, is well worth the trip into one of the busiest parts of Jakarta. However, be forewarned, the National Museum's opening hours are short at 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and fall during heavy traffic times.