Yogyakarta Ready to Show Off Its Art Biennale

The Jakarta Globe, Tasa Nugraza Barley

An artist painting a mural on a Yogyakarta street. (Photo courtesy of the Jogja Biennale)

Well known for its vibrant culture and creative art scene, Yogyakarta is a wellspring of talented artists and artistic inspiration.

Jogja Biennale, an art and culture festival organized every two years, aims to strengthen this reputation for the city, which is also known as Jogjakarta. The festival has become one of the city’s most eagerly anticipated events for both local and foreign tourists.

The 10th edition of the monthlong event begins on Thursday, under the name “Jogja Biennale X: Jogja Jamming, An Art Archive Movement.”

Wahyudin, a member of the festival’s curating team, explained the theme: “Just like music jamming, we want people from different kinds of backgrounds to enjoy art through this festival. We want people to see that everybody can enjoy art and everybody can be an artist.”

He added that the focus on an “art archive movement” was because “we don’t have documentation of many things from the past that shaped art in Indonesia and Yogyakarta today. We are asking people, especially artists, to be aware of the importance of the history of art.”

Ong Hari Wahyu, a member of the festival committee, said the first festival took place in 1988. But initially the focus was only on painters. In 1992, a diverse group of artists organized a rival festival, called “Binal” (“Naughty”), as a response to Jogja Biennale and to make the point that art involved more than just painting.

In 1997 in answer, Jogja Biennale diversified its focus to become a festival inclusive of all kinds of art. “We realized that art was not exclusively about paintings and painters,” Ong said.

This year the festival will include indoor exhibitions with works from 130 artists, street art created by at least 150 participating artists and groups, an art archive exhibition and public events such as discussions, lectures and workshops.

The festival will present some of today’s biggest names in art, as well as works by emerging artists. Entang Wiharso, a veteran artist who recently participated in the Prague Biennale, will exhibit his latest creations — huge aluminum statues — at Jogja National Museum during the festival.

“These figures look great — they’re up to five meters wide and three meters in height,” Wahyudin said.

People can also see Indonesian expressionist painter Putu Sutawijaya’s works at the festival. Famous for his depictions of people, this young painter is one of Indonesia’s most in-demand artists. In 2007, his painting “Looking for Wings” sold for Rp 1.3 billion ($138,000) — the highest price paid for the work of an Indonesian artist that year — at a Singapore art auction, Wahyudin said.

Samuel Indratma, from the festival’s curating team, said the main attraction for many visitors would be the unique and unusual artworks on display on the city’s streets.

He said artist Wilman Syahnur plans to take a fiber-glass figure of US President Barack Obama around the city on a becak (a traditional bicycle taxi) to meet the people of Yogyakarta.

“This is Wilman’s way of criticizing the first black US president for sending more troops to Iraq, despite receiving a Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year,” Samuel said.

Samuel also said a group of artists — Farid Vstevi Asta, Bayu Widodo, Tatang Tatsoy and Bob Yudhita — would make over several public toilets in Yogyakarta.

“These artists are going to try to transform dirty, smelly public toilets into artistic ones,” Samuel said.

He said the artists would decorate the toilets with drawings and accessories, and add music to the toilet blocks.

Another artist Samuel mentioned was Joko Sulistiyo, who together with some of his neighbors collected trash and recycled it into statues of people. Joko’s figures will be displayed hanging from a city billboard.

The festival will also include an art archive exhibition featuring works from previous festivals by a number of well-known artists, including Tisna Sanjaya, Nasirun and Edi Prambandono.

Although expectations are high for this year’s event, 2007’s Biennale Jogja IX was criticized in the local media for being disorganized, and art activists protested a proposed auction at the event.

Kusworo Bayu Aji, this year’s operations manager for the festival, was reluctant to discuss the issue, saying there would always be critics of any festival. He added, however, that changes and improvements had been made.

This year there won’t be any sales of artwork, he said. “Unlike our previous events, we just want artists to focus on the quality and creativity of their artworks.”

He said that this year’s festival would be more inclusive, with the people of Yogyakarta invited to participate directly in the festival. Kusworo also emphasized that this year’s festival organizing team consisted of people with both art and management skills.

Wahyudin said he was optimistic about the success of the upcoming festival. “We are going to fill the whole city of Yogyakarta with artworks and we are going to turn it into a nonstop art festival. This is something people won’t want to miss.”

Biennale Jogja X

• Dec. 10 to Jan. 10

Highlights include:

• Dec 11: Percussion performance by artists from Sanggar Dewata Indonesia. At Taman Budaya Yogyakarta.
• Dec. 11: Performance by body artist Arahmaiani. At Taman Budaya Yogyakarta.
• Dec 15: Macanista Project Skool of Rawk, a musical performance by heavy metal comedy band Sangkakala. At Taman Budaya Yogyakarta.
• Dec 16: Fashion show by Tere and Caroline Rika. At Bank Indonesia Building.
• Dec. 16: Exhibition of giant dolls by art group Tangan Reget. At Gadjah Mada University.

For details go to:

• www.biennalejogja.com, or contact Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Jl. Sriwedani No. 1, Yogyakarta, 0274 587 712