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few years ago the Japan Embassy held a very interesting exhibition of vintage, luxurious kimonos in Plaza Senayan.

Displayed grandly in tall, strategically-lit, glass showcases, accompanied with sufficient captions, the kimonos captured the attention of mall visitors across gender, age brackets and levels of affinity for fashion, history and Japanese culture.

Some people at that time, including some within the diplomatic community, frowned upon what was seen as degradation of a museum-worthy presentation to have been folded out on the slick floor of a, gasp, shopping mall.

But I thought the Japanese were brilliant. They have a respectable cultural center, and surely could afford to rent out a gallery or a museum, but they knew that not only most of the city museums were outdated, Jakartans also tended to flock to malls.

Their smart scheme to attract hordes of visitors worked its charm like cherry blossoms in springtime.

And I guess that'€™s what art must do to stay prevalent and relevant in cities like Jakarta, where the rising income levels and propagation of urban lifestyles have not given as much boost to proper museums as they have to fancy malls.

Art must scheme its way into this messy metropolitan populated by often jaded urbanites.

How apt that Jakarta Biennnale committee decided to pick siasat (plot) as its theme.

Opening earlier this month in the basement parking area of Taman Ismail Marzuki'€™s newest theatre, the Jakarta Biennale will run until the month'€™s end in the city'€™s many nooks and crannies.

Fully-funded by the local government, 52 artists from 18 countries worked with various communities to create art installations and projects in multiple mediums all over Jakarta, depicting how residents often must plot creative ways to navigate the frequently choppy waters of urban living.

Beyond the main venue there are satellite exhibits held in various establishments '€” the Ceramics Museum and Teater Salihara, to name a few '€” city murals, park and market performances, children-friendly programs such as cartoon workshop or picnic and, even, the actual building of a futsal court for slum dwe¯llers in one of Jakarta'€™s least fortunate corners to use as the community'€™s meeting point even beyond the Biennale.

So hats off for these efforts to bring art closer to the Jakartans.

A surprising omission, though, is Jakarta'€™s ubiquitous malls.

Which is curious, as I remember catchy fashion-related art installations at Senayan City a few years back as a part of a previous Jakarta Biennale.

It was missed momentum, as the fashion world has been holding fabulous exhibitions on prominent museums overseas in recent years.

Perhaps this year'€™s committee somehow thinks that Jakarta mall rats have already been exposed to all the art they could handle.

Sadly, that'€™s not the case.

Apart from the usual commercial events, there have been very few noteworthy exhibitions at Jakarta malls.

Nods are reserved for the charity Leica exhibit in Plaza Senayan earlier this year and the on-going display in Gandaria City to commemorate 125th anniversary of National Geographic (NatGeo).

However, it really saddened me to see how inadequately presented the NatGeo pictures were, a far cry from how their much larger collection was recently featured at the museum inside Marina Bay Sands, Singapore'€™s most luxurious mall complex.

The irony in this may just warrant its own photo exhibit, and it only underlines the fact that art has to scheme its way into the Jakarta urban jungle.

And some of those schemes are actually working to lure Jakartans back into the museums.

Thumbs up for the mini-shows staged by Indonesia'€™s most popular theatre company, Teater Koma, using the National Museum'€™s permanent collections '€” which have led some families to forgo weekend retail therapy, toting their kids instead for art therapy.

Since recent exhibitions of historical traditional fabrics in both the National Museum and National Gallery were noticeably successful in luring different crowds, I'€™d say a proper fashion museum exhibition should be in the scheme somewhere.

Another great exhibition in town that'€™s unfortunately so under-promoted is the first SEA+ Triennale, where dozens of Southeast Asian artists filled all wings of the National Gallery with engaging, fun, yet thought-provoking creations.

I'€™m neither collector, nor curator '€” let alone art critic. But I enjoy art as I, too, must regularly scheme a balancing dose of mental tonic into the humdrum of my urban life.

While the road to MOMA or a Prado level of presence is still very long, steep and rocky, I salute the initiatives paved by Jakarta artist communities to bring the art scene closer to the city daily life.

One easy way to move these initiatives forward is by us Jakartans to spare some time to swing by the venues to enjoy the works.

Now if only I can scheme a way out of my tight schedule into the newly-opened Jogja Biennale. Hmm.

Lynda Ibrahim is a Jakarta-based writer and consultant, with a penchant for purple, pussycats and pop culture.