Exhibit underlines distrust toward politicians

I Wayan Juniartha , The Jakarta Post , Denpasar | Thu, 06/05/2008 10:12 AM | Surfing Bali

The notion that politics is dirty -- and the only thing dirtier is a bunch of power-hungry, poker-faced, lying politicians -- finds its most esthetic manifestation in an ongoing exhibition titled "Entitas Nurani (Conscience Entity)", which is being held at Denpasar's Werddhi Budaya Art Center.

"The exhibit is our urgent message to the local politicians to return to the innocence of their own consciousness," Wayan Redika, one of the exhibition organizers, said.

Redika is also one of the 42 participating artists in the exhibit, which opened on May 31 and will run until June 7. Co-organized by the Bali General Election Commission, Paros Gallery and 4D Communications, the exhibit features paintings, sculptures and caricatures created by Bali's emerging artists as well as its celebrated ones, including Gunarsa, Wianta, Erawan, Budhiana and Mandra.

"But, at the same time it is also our acknowledgement that given the present setting, a politician with a conscience is something next to impossible to find," he said.

Such a pessimistic view toward the accuracy of politicians' moral compasses is widely-held among the local artists, particularly those who explore contemporary themes and esthetics.

Contemporary art is synonymous with freedom of expression, democratic values, a struggle between individual and community, rage against tyrannical establishment, and sympathetic interpretation toward a modern society's curses, such as poverty and social injustices.

In the eyes of the authorities, particularly those still in the process of learning the basic principles of democracy, these themes are more than enough to place the artists on a list of social dissidents.

In Bali, the condition is further aggravated by the local administration's paranoia toward different cultures. This paranoia, which is born out of either a genuine concern to protect traditional culture, or a pragmatic paradigm to "refrigerate" the island's culture for the interests of the tourism industry, has resulted in the contemporary arts being treated as a second priority to traditional arts in the island's cultural strategy.

Kami Butuh Pemimpin, Bukan Pemimpi (We Need A Leader, Not A Dreamer, 2008, 150x150 cm, oil on canvas), by Rudy Sri Handoko. (JP/I Wayan Juniartha)

"The politicians are the power behind the unfair cultural policies. Yet, we also must admit that we need the government, we need politicians," said Made Kaek, the exhibit's organizing committee head.

Such a realization is the primary reason behind the exhibit, which is being held just one month before the island holds its first direct gubernatorial election.

"We want this exhibition to serve as a bridge of understanding between the island's artists and its future leaders," he added.

To serve that purpose, the committee invited to the exhibition all three pairs of candidates that will compete in the upcoming election.

On the exhibit's opening night, the candidates were asked to deliver their cultural agenda before hundreds of the island's artists and writers.

Governor hopeful from the Golkar party, Cok Budi Suryawan, promised to establish a Bali Arts Council, which would be tasked with drafting the island's new cultural strategy.

Vice Governor candidate from the Bali Awakening Coalition (KKB), Alit Putra, expressed his concerns over the low remuneration rates paid to Balinese artists who performed in the island's hotels and restaurants.

Governor candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Made Mangku Pastika spoke about his friendship with some of the country's most prominent artists before pledging a bottom-up cultural strategy that would not interfere with the artists' freedom of expression.

Overall, all three candidates attempted to show that they were men of culture, and that their future administrations would be based on a cultural platform.

"Smooth and silky (their talks), but I know that most of those promises are nothing but lies. However, those are lies made in front of the public and are written down so in the future we could demand the realization of those promises from the candidates," Redika said.

Redika's distrust toward the candidates is clearly reflected in his displayed work. His painting is of a rooster killed in the popular cock fighting game of tajen. The painting's title Siap Jadi Pecundang, shows Redika's cunning power play: The word siap means "ready", in Indonesian, and "chicken" in Balinese language. The title, thus, could mean "Ready to be a Loser" or "A Chicken Sacrificed to do its Master's Bidding".

"When politicians do their biddings, competing with each other for a coveted position, it is always the pawn, the small people or the grassroots supporters, who will be sacrificed. Past election violence in the country has claimed the lives of supporters, never the candidates," Redika said.

Redika is alone in his distrust toward politicians. The works of several other artists showed similar sentiments. Some didn't event bother to mask their strong messages with intricate symbolism or subtlety of color. Such an attitude suggests that the artists not only question a politician's conscience but also their intelligence.

It's as if the artists believe the politicians wouldn't be able to grasp the meaning of a certain piece if the meaning was cloaked with several layers of symbolism.

Rudy Sri Handoko's work clearly depicted this straightforward, no-holds-barred approach: His painting shows an angry-looking bald man standing up and grabbing his own testicles while mouthing the sentence "we need a leader, not a dreamer ... Don't give too many (empty) promises". The sentences is written in red and ends in not one, but four exclamation marks.

Sang Pemimpin Dengan Tekor Buburnya (The Leader With His Tekor of Rice Porridge, 2008, 130x130 cm, mixed media), by Polenk Rediasa. (JP/I Wayan Juniartha)

Meanwhile, one of Bali's most promising artist, Polenk Rediasa, attempted to draw a stark comparison between the life of those in power with the life of commoners. His painting featured a bare-breasted man gritting his teeth in an expression of irritated disappointment, holding an empty tekor (traditional serving dish made of banana leaf). Titled Sang Pemimpin Dengan Tekor Buburnya (The Leader with His Tekor of Rice Porridge), Polenk hinted that a large number of the country's villagers still live on a portion of chicken porridge a day, while its political elite live on wanton gluttony, consuming portion upon portion of expensive delicacies on a daily basis.

Esthetically-speaking, Entitas Nurani is not a must-see exhibit. It doesn't reflect the level of symbolic expression nor the technical sophistication of the participating artists.

Yet, as an effort to construct a creative and alternative medium of dialogue between artists and politicians, the exhibit will certainly earn a respected place in the historical narration of the island's fine arts development.

Entitas Nurani Fine Arts Exhibition May 31-June 7 Gedung Kriya, Werddhi Budaya Art Center Jalan Nusa Indah, Denpasar

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