In 2018, The National Gallery of Indonesia featured 32 exhibitions, six education programmes, and six publications and partnership activities, all of which showcased the progress in the country’s art world. By expanding its partnership with art communities, the National Gallery is committed to strengthening community ties through art via its 2019 programme.
During the 2019 program announcements in mid December, the Head of the Indonesian National Gallery (GNI), Pustanto reported that the institution has exhibited one permanent exhibition and 27 temporary exhibitions including exhibits outside Jakarta such as in Bandung, Surakarta, Palangka Raya, and Aceh. In 2018, the National Gallery has seen visitor numbers totalling 274,523 people, an increase of 7,9 percent compared to the previous year.
“The entire exhibition featured 1,637 works from 801 Indonesian and foreign artists from places like France, Japan, Korea, Afghanistan, Britain, the Philippines and others. This year, we extend our capability by working and building partnership with art communities as well as holding a public call for exhibitions. In the future, we aim to do more work with communities where people are more engaged with the scene,” Pustanto said.
According to Pustanto, the National Gallery has been promoting the art industry in Indonesia by inviting artists across the region and being more open to public though its education programme. The National Gallery primarily exhibits fine art pieces, and has started to discover new mediums and currently showcases more variant works including sculptures, installations, comics, photography, ceramics, graphics, photography, murals, sketches, and new media art.
As part of its conservation and restoration programme, the National Gallery has restored 12 works this year and the acquired 20 fine art collections from eight Indonesian artists to be classified as state collections. The last State Collection Exhibition “Indonesia Spirit of the World” last August saw 36,570 visitors and was the most popular exhibit which led the team at the National Gallery to contribute to an educational program which highlighted Indonesian Art History.
“This exhibition has proved that students across the country came to know more about state collection and old paintings, as the works from early artists also give us insight into Indonesian art history and historic events,” Pustanto said.
With the mission to create a better art industry, the National Gallery has initiated an extensive collaboration with independent galleries, studios, art communities, art institutions, as well as embassies in Indonesia and foreign cultural centres in Jakarta. The Collaboration between British Embassy and British Council in “Pokok Ambang Batas” Exhibit invited disabled individuals to the national art stage. Contemporary exhibit which showcases interactive art and installation such as Instrumental 2018: Sandbox, 57 x 76, and Channel of Light are among one of the most event that engaged more visitors.
“Next year we will engage more art communities to come to the National Gallery. We also plan to hold a regular workshop for sketching in following year,” Pustanto stated.
The art institution under Ministry of Education and Culture has updated the concept key events based on historical categories, as well as thematic and international cooperation. Four temporary exhibitions will be presented in 2019 as the main programs and ten temporary exhibitions as collaborative programmes. The four main programmes of the temporary exhibition are the Archipelago Fine Arts Exhibition, the Indonesian Children's Art Festival, the Sketch Festival, and the National Collection of Fine Arts Exhibition.
In 2019, there will be a number of temporary exhibits including Baron Basuning "NOOR" Solo Exhibition, Sasya Tranggono's Solo Exhibition "30 Years of Work: Love for Indonesia", Indonesian Women Artists "Into The Future" Exhibition, "POST-IRONY" Exhibition by Pramuhendra's work, and Nus Salomo's "Wing Things" solo exhibition. There are also the other solo and group exhibitions such as Bibiana Lee and Indah Arsyad's "id: Sense of Identity" Exhibition, Priyaris Munandar's solo exhibition "The Way of a Civilization", "Five Passages to the Future" Exhibition (Five Moving Lanes), "20 years Andramatin" exhibition, and Ugo Untoro's solo exhibition "Position".
In addition to the exhibition, in 2019 the GNI will also carry out art educational programmes. The program includes development of infrastructure, discussions, workshops, gallery tours, curatorial tours, and monthly sketch workshops which will be open to the public. Pustanto hopes that the National Gallery will be a center for art information and an archive where people can learn about the world of art.
