A visitor listens to documentation at a corner presented by Indonesian Visual Art Archive during Embrio last week.

In an effort to promote art along with its history, the National Gallery, recently held a week-long exhibition: Embrio (Embryo).

The gallery worked with prominent art communities in Indonesia, such as Dewan Kesenian Jakarta; Forum Lenteng, the Indonesian Street Art Database (ISAD); RuangRupa; the Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA) Yogyakarta; Komunitas Belanak of Padang, West Sumatra; Galeri Kita of Bandung; and the Bali Art Archive.

Having limited time with a mountain of archives and documents covering the country's visual art milestones, the exhibition's curator Asikin Hasan narrowed the angle of the exhibition into the three most important eras, which were the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s

He said the 1970s were the most significant era because it was the time when Indonesian contemporary arts were born. At that time, the country staged its first major painting exhibition, which was the initial form of the Jakarta Biennale visual art exhibition. The event runs to this day.

'It was also the era when Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia [Indonesian New Visual Art Movement] was born. The movement also symbolized an important transition from modern to contemporary art in Indonesia,' explained Asikin.

He added that modernists believed that art had to be universal. Meanwhile, contemporary artists widened the parameters by believing that art should not just be universal, but also pluralist.

'If people used to relate visual art to painting and sculpture, with the emergence of contemporary art, the public started to learn about installation art, video and performing arts in the 1970s,' said Asikin.

The 1990s marked the celebration of pluralism in art, as was displayed by artists from the 1980s generation. In 1993, for example, the essential Biennale Seni Rupa (Biennale Fine Arts) was held for the first time.

If the 1990s saw the celebration of contemporary art, the 2000s era finds a new level in art development as more art communities, such as the Jakarta-based RuangRupa, Forum Lenteng, and the latest, ISAD settled in.

'An aspect of contemporary art in the 2000s is public involvement. The coverage [of contemporary art] reaches down to the streets as we see murals,' said Asikin.

Entering the gallery, visitors of Embrio were welcomed by the memorabilia of various art exhibitions since the 1980s.

In another section of the gallery, Forum Lenteng displayed archives of the country's audio visual works ' including the history of the Palapa satellite and the beginning of TVRI, the country's first television station.

IVAA showed documents relating to Indonesian visual art from various sources. The IVAA's collection is accessible at archive.ivaa-online.org.

The Bali Art Archive is a small community with various artists from many countries.

Komunitas Belanak brought a similar ambiance from its base camp back in Padang to represent its struggle in living the arts, which was completed with interesting artifacts such as lists of its agenda and donations toward running the community. Meanwhile, RuangRupa and Komunitas Kita displayed printed documents on visual arts, including posters and readings.

Among all participants, ISAD, which brought a strong ambiance from the 2000s generation, wowed visitors by its detailed facts and information about street art in Indonesia in a laudable display.

Right in its display area, the community presented copies of the street art objects to the exhibition.

A slogan which read 'Jujur, Adil, Tegas' (Honest, Fair, Firm) by veteran actor Pong Harjatmo, for example, was originally scrawled on top of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) building in 2010.

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