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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Thanks to the amazing CoBo, little by little I’m getting to interview all my favorite contemporary artists! This time I chatted with Arahmaiani, a legend and a model of badassery in contemporary art and in life. The piece is called: “The Superheroine of Indonesian Contemporary Art”.
I have interviewed her for her new show at Tyler Rollins in New York, from September 15 to October 29. We talked about many different subjects, but the aspect I decided to focus on for the piece was her shift from criticism to activism in her work.
Since I first started researching Indonesian art, the political and social aspect of the art was the one that struck me the most. Over time I have asked artists if it is really possible to have an impact on society with contemporary art alone. Overall, Indonesian artists seemed to me much less romantic and much more hands-on compared to some of their European counterparts.
My new piece “Five Indonesian artists that help us rethink nature” has just been published on Cobo. In recent years I came to feel very strongly about environmental issues and I’m a big believer that art can really help people connect with our planet on a deep level. Channelling the spirit of the times, contemporary Indonesian artists are tackling the theme of nature in a unique way.
ps: Cobo has new flashin’ fb page, check it out!
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Hong-Kong webmagazine Cobo has just published my interview with Indonesian artist Sri Astari Rasjid. Astari’s art is a great take on Javanese traditions and is highly empowering, a true elevation of the gutsy girl and the strong woman. I have admired the artist for a long time and it was great to get to talk with her.
Here is the link to the interview
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I’m happy to announce my new collaboration with CoBo as a writer on Indonesian contemporary art. Cobo is an Hong Kong-based webmagazine and dynamic community platform – bilingual English and Chinese – with the image of the collector at its core and a focus on contemporary art, especially from Asia-Pacific area.
My first piece for CoBo is an interview with the Basel-based Indonesian artist Eddie Hara, a great friend and a badass artist, who was represented by two galleries at Art Stage Singapore. Eddie Hara is known in the art world for his irreverence and playfulness and his painting style is extremely popular among the younger generation of Indonesian artists. Thus I decided to title the piece “the Punk Uncle of Indonesian Contemporary Art”.
In the interview Eddie Hara opens up about the decision that compelled him to move to Switzerland. He also recalls his decision – radical at the time – to study art, consequentially facing his family’s opposition. He talks about the comrades from the early days, who are now big names in the art world. From Heri Dono “he knows everything about my life”, to Mella Jaarsma and Nindityo Adipurnomo.
Here’s the link to the piece
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Thursday, June 25 at 5pm the Library of Oriental Studies at Sapienza University of Rome will host the presentation of the book “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia, un’introduzione” by Naima Morelli. The presentation will be introduced by Filippo Salviati, professor of Eastern Asia archeology, art history and philosophies, with the partecipation of Michela Becchis, art critic and art historian, Francesca Gallo, professor of contemporary art, and Claudio Cozzolino, Press Office at Embassy of Indonesia to the Holy See.
The book is an introduction to Indonesian contemporary art, which now occupies a prominent place in the international art scene, from both a market and cultural standpoint. Placing itself in the dialectic between the global and the local, the book analyzes how in Indonesia the cultural, artistic, political and social context have influenced four generations of artists. The author guides the reader in the contemporary art places in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bandung and Bali, looking for the answer to the question: is there really something called Indonesian contemporary art?
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In 2012 I interviewed artist Angki Purbandono for my reportage about contemporary art in Indonesia for Art a Part of Cult(ure). That time I had the chance to snap some pictures around his studio/house filled with the weirdest objects. That was not surprising, considering that Angki is well know for his scannographies, namely giant scans of everyday objects unusually associated, defamiliarized by the size and the black background. Even if his photographs look as if they would have been taken with a complex set of lights, Angki revealed me that his only tool was a normal scanner – which of course, I didn’t fail to photograph. As for Angki himself, you could guess his personality from his body language and shirt. He is a great chap!
Oky Rey Montha is an interesting pop-surrealist artist from Indonesia.
I already wrote a post about one of his painting “Dark Venice” here.
Oky just had a big solo show in the Galeri Canna in Jakarta. The title of the exhibition “Brigitta Queen” is referred to his new character, a mysterious girl from Moscow with her face constantly hidden behind a mask.
Here you are a gallery of photographs from the exhibition that can give you an idea of Oky Rey Montha’s visionary world:
A Giacarta non si vede un capello biondo nel raggio di miglia, invece, al Ranch Market Cafè, dove mi sono data appuntamento con Fx Harsono, ci sono diversi occidentali.
Il posto, dal look volutamente rustico/chic, si trova nella zona Kemang, una zona dove si potrebbe anche passeggiare, nei limiti che il termine “passeggiare” assume in una città trafficata come Giacarta.
Mi trovo a queste latitudini per realizzare un reportage sull’Arte Contemporanea Indonesiana.
Il giorno prima, fortemente irritata per via del collegamento internet mal funzionante che mi impediva di mandare una mail di conferma all’artista, avevo scaraventato per aria un piatto di riso nel prestigioso centro commerciale “Grand Indonesia”. Fortunatamente il mio compagno di viaggio, il fotoreporter Lucas Catalano, era corso ad interrompere le mie mani mulinanti e a tapparmi la bocca e spingermi con un calcio in bagno, prima che la polizia musulmana mi mettesse al fresco per un’eccessiva espressione di personalità.
Censori.
Alla fine la mail è passata e l’appuntamento è stato fissato.
Mi sembrava giusto cominciare la mia serie di interviste da uno dei pionieri dell’arte contemporanea indonesiana.
Fx Harsono arriva un po’ trafelato, saluta un suo amico musicista al tavolo vicino e ordina da bere.
Comincia a parlare in maniera concitata, spiegandomi con dovizia di dettagli ogni passaggio della storia indonesiana, senza dare nulla per scontato, dimostrandosi sinceramente intenzionato a diffondere la conoscenza di qualcosa che gli sta molto a cuore. Essendo uno dei portabandiera dell’arte contemporanea indonesiana, mi stupisco quando mi racconta di non essere un artista a tempo pieno, e di lavorare come professore e come graphic designer: “Mi dedico all’arte il sabato e la domenica. So che potrebbe sembrare un compromesso, ma proprio per il fatto che l’arte non costituisce il mio sostentamento posso evitare di farla piegare a compromessi.
Tutto è cominciato nel 1965. Mi è capitato di esporre anche prima, nel ’62 e nel ’63, ma ho cominciato a fare seriamente nel 1965. A quei tempi ero uno studente, ed in undici demmo vita a questo movimento chiamato New Art Movement. Quello è stato il primo momento importante nella mia vita artistica.
Within few months I’ve appreciated two artworks that look similar but that are very different in the concept.
The first one is at MACRO Testaccio, Rome, Italy and it’s called Big Bambù, by the American artists Mike e Doug Starn.
The second is site-specific installation covering the pavillion of ART/JOG12, Yogyakarta, Indonesia and it’s by the Indonesian artist Joko Dwi Avianto.
Enjoy the photogallery:
The Italian web magazine Art a Part of Cult(ure) just published my interview to the Indonesian artist Aditya Chandra H. The interview is part of my reportage about Indonesian Contemporary Art.
Here you are the link to the interview
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More pulp than Tarantino, more heavy metal than Judas Priest, more camouflage than a ARH Tiger helicopter. Here you are Punkasila.
Naima Morelli is an arts writer and journalist specialized in contemporary art from Asia-Pacific and the MENA region.
She has written for the Financial Times, Al-Jazeera, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsiaPacific, Internazionale and Il Manifesto, among others, and she is a regular contributor to Plural Art Mag, Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye as well as writing curatorial texts for galleries.
She is the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
Reach out: contact [at] naimamorelli.com
