HALLO JUDY!!!! I am back. On July 1, my group, [5 artists] made a public art exhibition. We hung cardboard on the wall around the city of Yogyakarta, and people can put from the wall to collect after 3 day. After that, Ade make archives of art exhibition and I help her. We collect catalogues, posters, flyes, tickets, photos from 1960-1990's era. We collect from door to door from the artists homes.

In September, the Curator from the gallery in jogja wants my group to join the tour exhibition. I and my group make collaboration work. The exhibition will go to three country. Starting in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, and then going to Australia, Japan and Germany.

I have copied the letter from the curator.

TITLE : AWAS! RECENT ART FROM INDONESIA

The curatorial team consists of Mella Jaarsma and Dr. M Dwi Marianto (Indonesia), Damon Moon (Australia) and Alexandra Kuss (Germany) working in conjunction with the Cemeti Art Foundation based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Project Outline: A survey of recent developments in Indonesian art around the 21st of May 1998, the day Suharto resigned after more than thirty years as president of Indonesia. In this time a new found freedom of expression went hand in hand with a severe economic crisis. How was the art made during this time affected by these factors?

Exhibition: Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country with a profusion of languages and ethnicities reflected in a complex layering within society. Contemporary Indonesian art reacts to international trends as well as utilizing the idioms of local culture, both modern and traditional. Any exhibition of art made in this environment must work within these layers to unfold their meanings. In a similar way the importance of a date like the 21st of May does not only reflect a political discourse, but a point around which the use of language within a society underwent radical change. Art is one of these languages.

Although there are many established and emerging artists working in Indonesia at this time who participate in international exhibitions, Indonesian art is most often seen in the context of the larger "Asian" region, and exhibitions with a more specific focus are less common.

The artworks included in this exhibition, both as objects and documentation of performance and other more ephemeral work, will come from a group of fifteen artists who employ a wide range of media and styles to reflect upon the changing circumstances of Indonesian society. Significantly many of these artists were working with these themes in the time proceeding the 21st of May.

In considering the local context of the production of the art work there must also be an awareness of the location of the spectator. A curatorial reflection on this would encompass the use of documentation (wall text, video) and exhibition design to contextualise art through a process of translation and juxtaposition. This aspect of the exhibition would flow through into publications and a series of forums, floor talks and workshops, with the artists, curators and academics who work with an Indonesian focus.

Recent Art from Indonesia

Proposed schedule:

Personnel: The curatorial team consists of Mella Jaarsma, Dr. Dwi Marianto (Indonesia), Damon Moon (Australia) and Alexandra Kuss (Germany) working in conjunction with the Cemeti Art Foundation based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Dates: Indonesia: 10 October - 17 October 1999 
Museum Benteng Vredeburg, Yogyakarta Australia: 27 November 1999 - January 2000
Australian Center for Contemporary Art, Melbourne 19 February - 18 March 2000 
Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra. End March - mid April 2000 
Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney 5 May - 18 June 2000 
Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns Japan : mid July - end August 2000 
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima mid September - end October 2000
Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, Asahikawa Germany: mid January - end February 2001 Asian Fine Arts Factory, Berlin

Catalogue : The catalogue will be published by the Indonesian Arts Society, Australia.