Indonesian art’s annual celebration of creativity, Jogja Art Weeks (JAW), conducted throughout Yogyakarta’s Special Regency and north into Magelang, is a unique and exciting meeting point for Indonesian artists and national and international art lovers. The four-month program of events, which has distinguished Yogyakarta on the global art event calendar, is characterised by the diversity of expression and the inclusivity of art communities from throughout the archipelago.
Internationally renowned, ARTJOG is the contemporary art festival headlining JAW that opened on Friday, 28 June, at the Jogja National Museum (JNM), Yogyakarta. Themed ‘Motif: Ramalan’ (Prediction), the exhibition continues the Motif series from 2023 and presents the works of forty-eight individual and group adult artists from Indonesia and abroad (thirty invited artists and eighteen open-call artists) and thirty-six selected children and youth artists. ARTJOG Motif: Ramalan, which helps anchor Yogyakarta as Indonesia’s leading creative centre, continues until 1 September 2024.
The ARTJOG curatorial team and guest curator Hendro Wiyanto invite the participating artists to investigate historical and possible future events in two- and three-dimensional artworks in an array of media, including digital projection works, across the three floors of the JNM. Invited commissioned artists Agus Suwage and Titarubi collaborate and respond to the theme on the ARTJOG façade via installations throughout the exhibition’s ground level.
This year’s ARTJOG supporting programs include the Young Artist Award (YAA), in which the selection team nominated Dede Cipon (Yogyakarta), Jay Afrisando (California), and Alisa Chuncue (Bangkok) from fourteen other artists under 35 years of age as winners of YAA 2024 based on the suitability of the theme, medium exploration, technical novelty and presentation.
ARTJOG Kids showcases a wonderful children’s presentation, and the performa ARTJOG promises an exhilarating array of over 50 music and performing arts acts.
The curatorial explanation of selected artworks in the Exhibition Tour is a must-see for those wishing to learn more. Meet the Artist grants the audience an opportunity to delve into the artist’s thought processes while a there is a special presentation of affordable artworks by Artcare Indonesia, an art foundation supporting social and environmental initiatives through the sale of artworks and Jogja Art Weeks. The Merchandise Project program includes collaborations with ONXIDEA Studio, KICKYOURBUTT Project, Blasu Studio, and Sweda.co.
ARTJOG 2024 Highlights
Some of the highlights of ARTJOG Motif: Ramalan are Bali-based Indonesian-French artist Innes Katamso’s ‘Post Strata’, a multifaceted scientific-like investigation addressing our civilisation in crisis. Including a mixture of minerals and building debris, the work delves into our current physical infrastructure, constructed primarily from low-quality materials vulnerable to erosion and our modern lifestyles of mass consumption and extensive waste production. Katamso’s fascinating and poetic “fossil” relief artworks are forged from recycled plastic.
Right: ‘Wrong Way #1’ (2024), Wawan Dalbo | Jogja National Museum. Courtesy of Richard Horstman.
The past and the future collide in Wawan Dalbo’s ‘Wrong Way #1’ offering the audience a mesmerising labyrinth of perspectives in the east stairwell of JNM. Fusing architecture and art into a once mundane space, Dalbo utilizes lighting and reflective surfaces with the precision of angular forms. The visual tension created by contrasting black against turquoise and the side profile of a Citroën BX sedan ignites a surreal ambience with experiential WOW!
Humour is a human trait underutilised by contemporary artists. The witty, dystopian banter narrated by digital avatars on mini-screens in the video production of ‘A Small Scale Conversation #1’ by Nurrachmat Widyasena, parodies the promise of a space-age technological future with our everyday reality. Widyasena, born in Canada in 1990 and who lives and works in Bandung, exhibits an installation of paintings and video art, #1-8. His retro-futurism art, which borders on the intersection of reality and fantasy, is thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining.
ARTJOG believes that children are able to offer unique and fresh perspectives in discussing various everyday social and cultural issues, creating deeper emotional connections with the audience, as well as opening up dialogue space for the exchange of ideas and new conversations. ARTJOG Kids is an exhibition of over thirty children and youth artists, including an art community selected through open-call. It offers a contrasting interlude for the imagination while complementing the adults’ presentation. Children’s creativity is derived from purity and freedom, which never fails to warm the heart and delight. This is a must see.
ARTJOG Young Artist Award winner Dede Cipon‘s pencil, coloured pencils, acrylic markers and acrylic paper geometric designs on paper ‘SAKAN AD NRAEKTHISANA: The Rise and Fall of Nraekthi Civilization‘ are technical and imaginative works of excellence. Using the metaphor of the imaginary planet Nraekthi, the theme of the emergence, collapse and revival of a nation 208 light years from Earth is a reminder and a symbol of spiritual learning to humanity not to repeat the same mistakes.
Jogja Art Weeks Programs Beyond ARTJOG
Initiated in 2015 by the founders of ARTJOG, Heri Pemad Art Management, the JAW program was initially supplemented by a hardcopy art tourism guidebook publication listing the art and cultural happenings during ARTJOG, along with supporting infrastructure. This year’s JAW online-only listing includes galleries, museums, studios, collectives, cafes, hotels and general spaces throughout Yogyakarta’s Special Regency and into Magelang, along with the monthly directory of events and exhibition openings. This year’s JAW has organised art tours as well (www.jogjaartweeks.com).
A few of the many noteworthy events during JAW include the three levels of contemporary art by emerging artists on display at R.J Katamsi Gallery at the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Bantul, Yogyakarta. On the ground floor, Lupakan Wianta showcases paintings and archives of Balinese maverick Made Winta (1949-2021). DOXA Pupuk DP 60Th is a monumental exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations by Yogyakarta artist Pupuk DP at the Jogja Art Gallery, in Prawirodirjan, Gondomanan celebrating his sixtieth birthday. Ears to the East at Udeido Studio, Kasihan, Bantul, is a must-see exhibition by artists from Papua and Makassar featuring Abdi Karya, Albertho Wanma Dicky Takndare and Sandroseni.
Right: ‘Tanda Bahaya’ (2023) Joko Avianto at RedBase Art Foundation. Image courtesy of Joko Avianto
What does a sound wave appear like in 3D physical form? ‘Tanda Bahaya’ is a visual representation of a sonic alert for earthquakes from a traditional warning instrument, kentongan bamboo, by Bandung artist Joko Avianto exhibited in EMBODIED: Perception of Objects. Avianto’s presentation of sculptures exploring the versatility of bamboo at Redbase Art Foundation in Sewon, Bantul, opened on 27 June and continues until 1 September 2024. Highlighting the duality of strength and flexibility intrinsic to bamboo, Avinato transforms familiar shaped or mundane objects into fascinating artworks that challenge and refresh our perceptions.
Sangkring Gallery, with its three multi-level exhibition spaces in Kasihan, Bantul, is one of the most prominent venues of the JAW expose. Jogja Art Annual #9 Suara Suara, in Bale Banjar Sangkring, exhibits two- and three-dimensional works by emerging, mid-career, and senior Indonesian artists. The Kama Chitra Art Exhibition by the collective Sanggar Dewata Indonesia Yogyakarta is displayed at Sangkring Artspace. A solo exhibition by Edi Sunaryo is presented in the Sangkring Art Project.
