The contemporary art fair will feature both local and international artwork from up to 50 participating galleries.

The event's founder and president, Lorenzo Rudolf, said half of the space would be occupied by Indonesian galleries, while the other half would host international galleries, especially those from Southeast Asia.

“I think there are a lot of relations between all the Southeast Asian countries and we have to bring them together to understand and cooperate with each other and step by step grow into a global art world,” Rudolf said on Wednesday.

“Indonesia, as strong as it is, is too small to compete alone. What this means is that we have to put Indonesia in a context. [..] But at the same time, we also have to support Indonesia within the country itself to let it grow," he added.

Read also: 1.5m euros painting 'forgotten' in Paris taxi is returned

 

A post shared by ART STAGE JAKARTA (@artstagejakarta) on Jan 27, 2017 at 3:48am PST

Several Indonesian galleries, including Nadi Gallery, Semarang Gallery, ROH Projects, D Gallerie, Rachel Gallery and CAN’s Gallery, will reportedly exclusively exhibit their artwork at the event. Visitors can also expect to see various items from foreign galleries, such as Japan’s Mizuma Gallery, Singapore’s Gajah Gallery, the Philippines’ The Drawing Room, and Australia’s Sullivan+Strumpf.

Similar to last year, Art Stage Jakarta 2017 will also feature a collector’s show section.

Rudolf hinted that the upcoming event also sought to expand into a larger scale, or more than a three-day fair. “We want to position Jakarta, Indonesia, not as one fair but as a scene. This means you are going to have a lot of events happening in the city around the fair; not only in this venue,” he said, adding that details would be announced at a later time.

Last year, Art Stage Jakarta featured an art market section that showcased artwork from Indonesia and overseas, a collector’s show as well as an exhibition featuring maestro Affandi’s unseen works. (kes)