From dirty riverbanks to the shores of Venice, Yogyakarta-based artist Handiwirman Saputra tells us the story of our objects.
My interview to Handiwirman has just been published on CoBo Social.
Here is the link to the interview
Indonesia
For my second collaboration with the magazine Qantara I have interviewed Indonesian writer Feby indirani. I loved her book “Not Virgin Mary”, which has been recently translated in Italian by Prof. Antonia Soriente and published by Add Editore. The book provided a light-hearted and almost zen perspective on Islam in Indonesia.
I met Feby in Rome during her European book tour. I have found out she is not only an excellent writer but also a lovely person; we had a wonderful conversation.
Here is the link to the interview
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Hong-Kong based website and platform for collectors CoBo Social has just published my review of the Southeast Asian Pavilions at the 2019 Venice Biennale. I looked at the different national propositions with interest and a bit of a critical eye as well.
Here is the link to the review
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The 2019 Venice Biennale has asked artists to step into the socio-political realm, in the middle of far-right Matteo Salvini’s Italy. And they have done it, dismantling Orientalism and getting the Mediterranean closer together in the process.
My first article on this 2019 Venice Biennale has just been published by Middle East Monitor.
Here is the link to the article
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Culture360, the webmagazine of the Asia-Europe foundation, has published my interview with videomaker Christopher Basile, who has recently realized a documentary and the art of Kartika Affandi called “9 Ways of Seeing”.
The film tells the story of this visionary artist, daughter of Indonesia‘s most celebrated painter, and a groundbreaking personality and painter in her own right.
Here is the link to the interview
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Culture360 – the webmagazine of the Asia-Europe Foundation – has just published my piece on independent curators bridging Asia and Europe (and also other parts of the world) through contemporary art.
I have met these three incredible women in several occasions; they are doing a very important and necessary work, filling gaps in understanding across cultures. Their practice and professional rigour inspires me greatly.
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Art bars and restaurants come in all shapes and sizes; you can go from contemplating art integrated with the café design, to walking into a conceptual artwork. For CoBo Social I looked at some of the most interesting bars and restaurant around the world founded and operated by artists.
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My fourth piece for Culture360 – the webmagazine of the Asia-Europe Foundation – has just been published. It’s always a joy to see my words out there, also because I get to write about two of my favourite subjects: feminism and Indonesian contemporary art.
For this piece called “Feminism and women artists in Indonesian Contemporary Art” I have interviewed the amazing researcher Wulan Dirgantoro, art historian Farah Wardani and artist Samantha Tio (Mintio).
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For the Hong Kong webmagazine and collectors’ platform CoBo I usually write about Indonesian and Singaporean artists, and the dynamics of their art systems. It goes without saying that the two art environments are highly connected. Sometimes an event or a show happens which remixes the way the two art systems interact, and that’s precisely what happened with the Super/Natural show in Yogyakarta, by Gajah Gallery.
In this piece I look at this pioneering operation, talking with the gallerist Jasdeep Sandhu and the two curators, trying to ponder what this show meant, and if it can have a legacy for the evolution of both the Singaporean and the Indonesian art systems.
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Here is my piece for CoBo on the Southeast Asian Pavilions at the Venice Biennale. This piece wasn’t easy to write and I have been quite critical – something I don’t usually like to be. But this Biennale really called for criticism, the way I see it.
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CoBo has just published my interview with British/Indonesian artist Sinta Tantra, who I visited at her studio at the British School in Rome, where she is doing a residency. As always, every interview is a chance to learn something and often times the words of artists resonate powerfully with my own life.
Here is the link to the interview
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The magazine of the Asia-Europe Foundation Culture360 has just published my interview with Dutch researcher and lecturer in Indonesian Studies at The University of Melbourne Edwin Jurriëns. Edwin has just published a book with Routledge called “Visual Media in Indonesia”, where he analyses how in Indonesia, in the age of digital communication and global capitalism, people’s mental, social and natural environments are interconnected.
Here is the link to the interview
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