Traffic (2008), a bamboo blind and hemp knitting piece by Japanese artist Shoai Ou (JP/P.J. Leo)

An expanse of silk fabric stretched across the wall behind artist John Martono at the Bentara Budaya cultural center in Palmerah, South Jakarta.

Martono had spent four months on the art work, embroidering a fine, gold thread onto its surface, weaving pebbles brought from Kalimantan and crushing salt onto its fibers to create a complex pattern.

The result, said Martono, is an imagining of the meaning behind his one-year-old son's wordless cries as the infant learns to speak.

"For me, it's a kind of never-ending painting," said Martono, who is based in Bandung. "This composition is very free."

The piece, titled My Son's Song, is just one of the many works of art brought together for the 6th Asia Fiber Art Exhibition, now showing until Sept. 14 at Bentara Budaya.

The show features more than 70 artists from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Biranul Anas, chairman of the event's steering committee, said the artwork, which incorporates materials as varied as bamboo, newspaper, aluminum wire, gauze and gold, marks a new direction for art in Indonesia.

"It's new and avant-garde and not many people understand it," Anas said. "They know the traditional fibers, of course -- batik, weavings, etcetera -- but not this contemporary approach."

When the idea for Indonesia to host the annual exhibit -- a first for the country -- came up at last year's gathering in Okinawa, Anas jumped at the chance.

He attended a fiber-art show 25 years ago at the National Museum, which featured primarily American artists. Since then, Indonesia, for all its rich tradition of textiles and three-dimensional art, has been slow to pursue fiber art.

But that may be about to change, said Anas.

"I hope that this exhibition, and with many exhibitions to come, fiber art will grow more rapidly into a more popular direction."

This growth could translate into a new art market for Indonesia, where the popularity of paintings has experienced a recent rise on the world art scene.

One key to fiber art's appeal could be its variety. The theme of this year's exhibit, "Tradition Into Modernity", saw artists from across Asia bring a dynamic approach to the topic. Many pieces addressed contemporary issues, such as globalization, climate change, gender equality and democracy.

Kim Jong-Un's Konubis featured a bright blue Egyptian figure overlaid on vertical rows of sand-colored hieroglyphs. The Korean artist's use of ancient African icons with a digital printing technique brought history and modernity face to face.

Haslin Bin Ismail, a Malaysian artist, created a mixed-media handmade book called The Houses, with each page opening into a fascinating world of shapes and colors -- a new kind of pictorial language in a traditional format.

Not every participant in the exhibit was able to attend the opening, but Japanese artist Ishii Kakuko was relishing her first visit to Indonesia.

She stood by her piece titled From One String where a thick column of white bands twisted together and knotted at the bottom. The concept, explained Kakuko, was to take traditional Japanese paper -- commonly used for ceremonies such as weddings or funerals -- and present it in a new way.

"I was looking forward to this exhibition," she said in halting but excited English. She said she had traveled throughout East Asia and Europe to exhibit her work, but that the climate and culture of Indonesia gave its artists a distinct style.

"It gives it a strong energy," she said.

Throughout the gallery, Indonesian artists demonstrated that energy with a vibrant diversity. Often, the proximity of the art pieces revealed an interesting contrast.

On the second floor, a near-transparent golden batik hung in the center of the room. The artist, Josephine Werratie Komara, began collecting vintage cloth pieces in the mid-1970s and later created new designs of her own. The batik at the current show, called Legend of the Piece, uses traditional methods while experimenting with new techniques.

From just a few feet away came a pulsing sound from two speakers on the floor. The 1996 hit, "Lovefool" by Swedish rock band, The Cardigans, filled the room. The music was part of Tiarma Dame Sirait's artwork called Love Me. A thick, hand-woven rug covered the floor and another hung from the wall. Before the rug, two mannequin torsos, one male and the other female, stood with bright, flashing lights across their chests.

For Anas, this is precisely the beauty in fiber art, with all its diversity and possibilities.

"The main thing is to exhibit their potential," he said.

The writer is an intern with The Jakarta Post.

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