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Change of guard: Indonesia's young art collectors look beyond money
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A gallery attendant turns a page in Indonesian artist Agan Harahap’s The Border Line, an artwork featuring a massive photo book containing fictional depictions of a village in Sumatra that challenges photography’s often overlooked place in art, during the S.E.A. Focus 2025 contemporary art showcase in Singapore. (JP/Radhiyya Indra)
T
he country’s burgeoning art market is giving rise to a younger generation of collectors who are not only motivated by investment returns but also by a desire to express personal tastes.
Speaking with The Jakarta Post on Feb. 3, curator and art historian Bianca Winataputri said senior art collectors tended to look at artworks’ market value as an investment, “whereas the younger generation is interested in the narrative, the visual aesthetics [and] what connects them to the artwork”.
Artist FX Harsono shares this sentiment. He told the Post on Jan. 31 that “most of these collectors are 40 years [old] and younger”, and that they appeared to be “better educated” in fine arts than the preceding generation of collectors.
Harsono led the New Art Movement in the 1970s to 1980s that introduced new experimental mediums to Indonesia, including installations, performance art and video work.
Digital art has grown in popularity with the emergence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which allow artists to present authentic, digital versions of their works to a global audience without worrying about intellectual property theft.
It also simplifies sales and purchases through online transactions rather than through traditional channels or in person.
Both Bianca and Harsono observed that younger art collectors tended to be more interested in digital mediums and were moving away from physical paintings and sculptures.
