Yahoo – AFP,
Harry PEARL, November 3, 2017
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| Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of more than 250 million people, is home to a vibrant art scene but lacks high-quality museums (AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO) |
Jakarta
(AFP) - Indonesia's first international gallery of contemporary art opens
Saturday, bringing together works by Ai Weiwei, Mark Rothko and Indonesian
masters in a freeflowing modern space overlooking the Jakarta skyline.
The Museum
of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN) holds nearly 800
paintings and sculptures, and aims to provide a world-class gallery to a
country starved of quality museum infrastructure.
The
collection, mostly acquired by businessman Haryanto Adikoesoemo over the past
25 years, is showcased in an airy 4,000 square metre space on the fifth floor
of a city tower.
Indonesia,
a sprawling archipelago nation of more than 250 million people, is home to a
vibrant art scene but lacks high-quality museums.
"What
we are offering is something very different to what already exists in
Indonesia. We are one of kind in a sense of our international and national
focus," museum director Aaron Seeto told AFP.
The opening
underlines growing interest in Southeast Asian art and comes amid a number of
high-profile gallery launches this year outside of Europe and North America.
Cape Town’s
Zeitz MOCAA opened in September and the Louvre Abu Dhabi is set to open this
month.
Seeto said
Museum MACAN is uniquely positioned to boost the profile of Southeast Asian
art.
"We
really want to encourage cultural exchange, but also working relationships with
other museums around the world."
Around half
the museum's collection is Indonesian, and the remainder takes in international
works including paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Willem de Kooning, and
sculptures by Yayoi Kusama and Damien Hirst.
Designed by
London’s MET Studio, the museum will also feature conservation and education
spaces, which Seeto hopes will help boost the appreciation of art within
Indonesia.
 |
The museum
occupies an airy 4,000 square metre space on the fifth floor of
a city tower
(AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO)
|
Civic
role
The
gallery's inaugural exhibition "Art Turns. World Turns" features 90
pieces from Indonesian and international artists.
Works by
Raden Saleh, the founder of modern Indonesian painting, hang alongside pop
artist Andy Warhol and Chinese realist Luo Zhongli.
Several
pieces tackle issues pertinent to current political debate in Indonesia.
FX Harsono
weighs in on the treatment of ethnic-Chinese minorities in his painting
"Wipe Out #1", while Balinese artist Dewa Ngakan Made Ardana
addresses Indonesia’s 1960s anti-communist massacres in "A Father is
Trying to Collect the Memories of His Family".
Arahmaiani
Feisal’s painting "Lingga-Yoni", meanwhile, is being displayed for
the first time since she was forced to flee Indonesia in the 1990s.
The
painting, which overlays Hindu iconography of male and female genitalia on
Arabic script, infuriated Islamic hardliners who threatened to kill her.
Seeto said
the piece was an important acquisition for the museum and highlights the future
role it can play in fostering discussion.
"Even
though we are a private museum we very much consider that what we do occurs
within the public sphere," he said.
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