City not taking part in Jakarta's public art

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 09/05/2006 7:27 AM  |  Jakarta

Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A few weeks before Singapore plays host to the annual International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting, the windows of City Hall have turned pink.

Japanese artist Takafumi Hara collected quotes from locals about their city and painted them on pink boards, which he then slotted over the building's windows.

""It is peaceful because the government has strict laws saying that you need to become sensitive to others' beliefs, customs, religions and culture,"" reads one of the 61 windows.

At night, more phrases are projected onto the building's facade, while its front steps, where Lord Mountbatten accepted the Japanese surrender in 1945, are covered in colorful stickers that read ""Singapore Biennale '06"".

While a similar event being held in Jakarta would probably result in official banners and yet more neon plastic palm trees, Singapore has invited an array of international artists to spruce up the city.

The Singapore Biennale 2006 (SB2006), the city-state's first, is being staged as the anchoring cultural event for the IMF-World Bank meeting and is being bankrolled by the Singaporean government and several private companies.

""Creatively employing unusual exhibition venues such as religious sites, public housing and Orchard Road, SB2006 will bring contemporary art into the daily lives of Singaporeans,"" an organizer from the National Arts Council said.

All this is in stark contrast to the fate of contemporary visual art in Jakarta, where mural and graffiti artists are often chased away by public order officers and art installations are gone in a day.

""Our city's administration has its own perspective on what is art,"" said Gallery Tamara 6 curator Rifky Effendi. ""They fail to translate (it into) what culture is.""

So far, official public art in Jakarta has been limited to statues celebrating national heroes or independence.

""For them, art and culture is only about museums,"" Rifky said.

He said governmental bureaucracy had restricted Indonesian artists from getting in closer contact with the public.

""However, such restrictions have turned out to be a bit of blessing in disguise. Many community art initiatives have sprouted in the city,"" he said.

In a city where most people still struggle to survive, art is probably not at the top of most residents' priorities. As a result, there is a wide gap between Jakarta's artists and the public.

Last year, the city's art biennale was closed after the Islam Defenders Front complained to police that one work was pornography.

Artist Agus Suwage and photographer Davy Linggar's Adam and Eve, which showed actor Anjasmara and model Isabelle posing as the biblical couple, was displayed at the Bank Indonesia Museum in Jakarta. The artists and models were arrested by the police for pornography and the case is still in court.

Despite the political motives behind the incident, it illustrates how contemporary art is distance from the public.

""There actually is a demand, a market for art, as we have seen galleries sprouting throughout the city,"" Rifky said. ""It depends on the city administration to respond to it.""

""What the city has now is only traces of art from the past. There is no contemporary work except for several community initiatives,"" he added.

While the city administration may not have the funds to spare for public art, the private sector could certainly help, as it has done in Singapore, bring art into the everyday lives of the city's residents.

As part of the Singapore Biennale, commercial center VivoCity commissioned six international artists to create 13 pieces of outdoor art and street furniture as permanent fixtures.

Several office buildings in Jakarta's business district have started to encourage art, placing works in their public areas, although the pieces are limited to works by conservative, established artists.

""There are several companies that support the youth art movement. This could potentially support contemporary urban art,"" said Rifky.

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