The press was placed next to a prison at Art Jakarta this year (4-6 October). This was not an allegory for free speech and upheaval in Southeast Asia, but rather a serendipitous placement of a pair of conceptual booths at the fair, respectively by ShanghArt and A+ Works of Art.
ShanghArt sold daily “papers” by Robert Zhao Renhui at its newsstand booth, along with corresponding photographic and video work from the artist’s series documenting wildlife around the art district Gillman Barracks in Singapore (Zhao is representing the country at this year’s Venice Biennale with a related project).
Meanwhile, A+ Works of Art, which is based in Kuala Lumpur, installed prison bars with gaps that progressively narrow from the accessible to the confining outside its rotating booth, showing, on the opening day, works by the Singaporean collective Vertical Submarine, followed by a lineup of established Asian talents such as Ahmad Fuad Osman and Melati Suryodarmo on day two, with an emerging artist group on the closing day of the fair.
Justin Loke, a founding member of Vertical Submarine, said the concept was inspired by a Stephen Chow movie: “that comedic scene where the prison bar was wide enough for the prisoner to walk out,” illustrating that “sometimes barriers can be psychological.” In a fair setting, Loke says, the bars provoke “a reverse psychology” as a “’beckoning threshold, which captures the idea of a boundary that seems to invite or seduce people into crossing it.” As they did: “People were intrigued and enjoyed it. All the ‘prisoners’ were happy, laughing and drinking behind bars.”
Although concept booths were not a general trend at this year’s edition of Art Jakarta, they attest to the freewheeling nature of Indonesia’s art scene and market, where ideas come before sales.
In recent months, ahead of the 20 October inauguration of Prabowo Subianto as president, thousands took to the streets to protest against changes to Indonesia’s election law. The demonstrations were partly fueled by the outgoing president Joko Widodo’s efforts to install his adult children into positions of power. Widodo’s son, 37-year-old Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was elected as Prabowo’s vice president after age limits for the position were waived. Now Widodo is seeking—if thus far failing—to amend another age limit so his youngest son Kaesang Pangarep (29) can run for deputy governor of Central Java in November.
“The protests and the political situation don’t seem to have had any impact on the art market here,” Tom Tandio, the director of Art Jakarta tells The Art Newspaper. Overall, the market has held steady, he says. “It is interesting that when the international art market boomed [soon after] the pandemic, the Southeast Asian market, especially in Indonesia, didn’t quite follow suit. Now, as the international market has dropped, the regional market, in fact, keeps growing. It has maintained a stable trajectory, although it’s also slowing down slightly.”
Tandio describes this year’s edition of the fair as “fantastic”, particularly highlighting the Spot section of large-scale installations by the Indonesian artists Tisna Sanjaya, Iwan Yusuf, Timoteus Anggawan Kusno and Syaiful Garibaldi. “Each, with their strong reputations and impressive career histories, brought powerful works to the space,” he says.
The Spot section was due to include a work by another artist, the Berlin-based Indonesian Bandu Darmawan, but it was removed in late September after accusations of domestic abuse were made against him on social media.
Following the removal of the work, Art Jakarta posted a statement on Instagram in Bahasa Indonesian that said: “Responding to complaints circulating on social media, Art Jakarta feels the need to act immediately. We are committed to creating safe spaces throughout our activities.” The post said the fair was “researching all the facts” and collaborating with concerned parties to “take the best possible steps.”
On 24 September, the fair posted a follow-up statement, also in Indonesian and on Instagram, stating that the fair “does not tolerate any form of violence” and has “stopped all forms of cooperation with Bandu Darmawan.”
According to the post, the fair had conducted an independent investigation and found evidence supporting the allegations against Bandu. “The victims and affected parties request that the details not be released to the public.” The fair pledged to continue looking into the matter, and to be more vigilant in its future selections; it apologised for its negligence in selecting Bandu.
After the opening, the fair posted another statement, in English and Indonesian, on Instagram and in bathrooms on-site during the fair, which read: “Art Jakarta is committed to providing a safe zone for everyone regardless of gender, race, and culture—violence of any kind, verbal or physical, is not tolerated.” It also provided a hotline for anyone experiencing discomfort at the fair.
A spokesperson for Jakarta’s Isa Art and Design, which represented Bandu, said they had no additional information about the allegations. Bandu’s page has been removed from the gallery’s website. The artist did not respond to a request for comment.
Back at the fair, Deborah Iskandar, the founder, president and director of Isa Art and Design, said on the opening day there was good “interest and intent” for their roster of mostly young Indonesian and Indonesian-diaspora artists, including Alexander Sebastianus, who makes painting-like weavings on his grandmother’s loom, and Jumaadi, who creates modern scenarios using the traditional buffalo hide of Indonesian shadow puppets. “Sales are moderate, with a few pre-sale reserves, but overall the buzz is good,” Iskandar said. Many of the offerings in new media were in the US$500-2,000 range. “We see really young collectors. People look at everything first, to see what is here,” before buying.
This year, Art Jakarta featured 73 galleries, of which 39 hailed from Indonesia. In 2023, the fair attracted 68 participants, by comparison, and 62 the year before—although the heavy-weight regional gallery Arario did not take part this year. It is also the second time that the fair is held at the Jakarta International Expo (JIExpo), a 1940-built facility in northern Jakarta located 7km from downtown Jakarta.
“People are definitely getting used to coming to JIExpo,” Tandio said. He clarified that the converted airport is privately owned, and that there are no government plans to revitalise the relatively derelict Kemayoran area of the city, but two hotels and an apartment block are being developed nearby.
“Once these facilities are completed, visitors to JIExpo will benefit significantly from them. We appreciate this location for its larger space and its distance from the crowded events in southern Jakarta—people can truly focus on viewing the artworks without distractions”—unlike in the previous Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) venue in south Jakarta, he said. “The JCC was located in the same complex as the GBK stadium, which often led to heavy traffic jams.”