indonews 2010: Dialogues (part 2)

Still with Pak Jim Supangkat, Christine Cocca and Entang at his beautiful home close by to the amazing Prambanan Temple of Yogya (known as the most beautiful Hindu Temple of Java) and I get a phone call: Curator Charles Merewether had just arrived in the Hotel.

Charles and I met in Tbilisi, Georgia, last October, when we both went there for Artisterium'09 (I was there do assist Curator Shaheen Merali, as he had a big exhibition in Vienna on the same dates). As he left, I entered the hospital to remove my appendix (but that story has been told already). He and I talked about our experiences and when I asked him if he knew the Curator Jim Supangkat he said "yes, I do". I was excited; he was the first person I met that in fact knew him personally.

After a great lunch, I had a meeting with Jompet, an artist from Yogya that presented his work in the Lyon Biennial 2009, curated by Hou Hanru. Hou Hanru's wife, Evelyne Jouanot was in Tbilisi too. It's a small world, this one.

So, I went to meet Jompet in Kedai Kebun Forum. Charles Merewether went to IVAA, the biggest archive for contemporary art in Yogya.

After meeting Jompet, I was to meet Charles at Cemeti Art House, one of the most important galleries in Ygoya and the one that has in fact made major impact since its constitution in 1988. It is directed by Meela Jaarsma, from Holland and her Javanese husband, Nindityo Adipurnomo.

As I arrive there with Jompet, we understand that we are both meeting Charles! In his research for the "Archive", Jompet is included. So I let them talk, have a mandi and return to go with Charles to meet Alia Swastika, for a dinner. Jompet is brilliant artist, and we all think the same way.

At this dinner, Alia and Charles that have met in Cemeti Art House reconnect again, after several years. It was indeed a nice dinner. And I ask both to meet me the following day to show them my research topic. So we did.

Charles had invited me to go to his hotel in Yogya, the Phoenix, with this beautiful swimming pool the following day. When I arrived, Pak Jim Supangkat and Charles are finishing their meeting and we go for a swim that felt heavenly. After swimming, I sneaked into the sauna! Oh how nice :)

Later in the afternoon, I met Linda Kaun, an artist whose work I admire, because she makes hiper-realistic batik. Linda represents the reality of life in Java, making compositions of school-girls, mobile warungs, rice-fields, but with an extreme realism. It was somehow interesting that back in 2006 I started doing realistic batik, but as portraits. I can't achieve Linda's result yet, but she is 30 years ahead of me, so I didn't loose the hope!

After meeting with Linda, I go to meet Charles and Alia again and we have a sincere talk about my research. They both are very informed in my subject matter, and it was of great help to have their feed-back.

The following day, Sunday 17th January, is the only day I am 100% free. I was thinking of going to Aguk to make batik, but I felt the need to go around, engage more with the people I have been so lucky to meet, like Alia. So we spent the whole day together. We had a motorcycle adventure (we were fined because I didn't have helmet and she didn't have the license), so we decided to behave and I borrowed a helmet for the rest of the day. She had a meeting in Via-via with 4 curators that are here to choose works for a commercial show to be held in Seoul, Beijing and Singapore. After this, we went to her mother's house, her house and, while Alia had a nap, I went for a massage. Reflexology. Very nice: we had a good talk, had dinner together and I went back home. Alia droped me in a taxi and I got home faster.

Monday I had a meeting with another artist, Eko Nugroho. I had seen his work various times, but live only at the Tropenmuseum, in Amsterdam, in August 2009. I adored the fact that a Tropical Museum, or Ethnographic museum is actually updating its collection buying contemporary art. Very good vision. I hope Portugal starts soon updating its collections, as we need to follow the changes in the world that surrounds us. I believe all these artists would be honoured to have their work shown or in the collections of the museums of Portugal. There is a very strong connection between the Portuguese and the Indonesian. They, like us, they remember our presence in the past and actually they are interested in renovating this dialogue. This is why I call this post "dialogues". It’s a dynamic talk, between two parts.

I like Eko's work more now, after being with him than I did before. Now I see where he wants to go. And how funny, how aware of the world around him he is. Actually I am loving all the work of these artists, it's indeed very good. As Karim Raslan said in his talk in Jogja Biennial: Yogyakarta is the leading city in terms of art practice of South East Asia. In terms of institutions he believes is Manila.

As suggested by Alia, I had a meeting with Agung Kurniawan. His wife Neni gave me the name "noor" back in 2006. They run Kedai Kebun Forum.

Our talk was very good. I am really lucky to have actually met so much people willing to help, criticize and comment on my topic, Memory and Contemporaneity.

The fact that I started my relation with Indonesia through Batik led me to this topic that mixes tradition, collective memory, high and low art, fine art, with contemporaneity. It was a difficult process at first, as I was so engaged with the technique, but through reading the Curators Jim Supangkat, Shaheen Merali, Dwi Marianto (among others), and after meeting in Lisbon with my supervisor, Fernando António Baptista Pereira, Isabel Carlos and Jessica Hallet (thank you Jessica, you were brilliant), I luckily found my way.

It has been very productive, and with an open heart, all comes to us.

Salam, noor