Indonesia’s first museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art officially opens its doors to the public on Saturday, giving art lovers the chance to view the works by Indonesian and international masters — from Raden Saleh, Walter Spies and Affandi to Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst — right here in Jakarta.

Located in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, the 4,000-square-meter Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN), has been founded by Indonesian businessman and renowned collector Haryanto Adikoesoemo.

His more than 800 artworks — 50 percent of the collection is from Indonesia and the rest from Europe, North America, China and other Asian regions — serve as the backbone of the museum’s collection.

Museum MACAN Foundation chairwoman Fenessa Adikoesoemo said the museum was the culmination of many years of planning. “It opens at a time when there is increasing global interest in the art and culture of Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Greater opportunities for sharing and exchange also abound,” she said.

For its inaugural exhibition, the museum, designed by London-based MET Studio Design, which has worked on a number of museum projects, including the Natural History Museum in London, unveils 90 artworks for public viewing.

Co-curated by Charles Esche and Agung Hujatnika, the exhibition, titled “Art Turns. World Turns. Exploring the Collection of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara,” aims to reflect the change in the landscape of Indonesia’s art scene.

The museum’s director Aaron Seeto praised Haryanto as a unique collector because his collection is of great strength, quality and artistic resource.

“When other [collectors] have been singularly focused on Indonesia, his collection has, from its inception, been both locally and internationally focused,” said Seeto, who was director of the 4A Centre of Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney for eight years, as well as curatorial manager of Asian and Pacific art at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, both in Australia.

“These works, which have been assembled over a 25-year period, will begin to take new meaning not only for the immediate audiences who will see and engage with the art on view but as a greater entity that says something about Indonesia’s cultural history and society, and how it influences, or is influenced by, forces of international and global participation.”

The exhibited works selected by the two curators aim to present a narrative that offers a reading of Indonesian art history in dialogue with global art history.

The works — from Raden Saleh’s Self-Portrait (1835), Henk Ngantung’s Pemandangan Batavia (Batavia Scene, 1939) to Andi Warhol’s Portrait of Madame Smith (1974) and Damien Hirst’s Saint Bartholomew, Exquisite Pain (2008) — are presented in a broad chronical order and divided into four main sections.

“Within each section, visitors can discover both common interests and individual ideas by artists who have made a strong and lasting impact on art history,” said Esche, who is director of the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven and was curator of the Jakarta Biennale in 2015.

Another important part of Museum MACAN’s inaugural exhibition, which runs until March 18 next year, is a section that displays research on exhibition histories in Indonesia.

Led by Agung Hujatnika, the section showcases the networks of power and the social and political forces at play in the presentation and circulation of artwork over a study period of 100 years —reaffirming the great complexity of Indonesia’s history, diversity of its people and the ways in which artists have been central to many of its debates.

In another corner, the museum has also dedicated an area for children, the Children’s Art Space, which, for its inaugural project, presents the Floating Garden installation — which incorporates artworks, mural and education activities — by leading Indonesian artist Entang Wiharso.

“While the collection and exhibitions are a central part of our public activities, education is our core,” Seeto said.

The museum is scheduled to open to the public starting 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, with ticket prices ranging from Rp 30,000 (US$2.22) to Rp 50,000. It closes on Mondays and public holidays.

As part of the grand opening, it is also scheduled to host a series of events, from tours to artists’ talks, at weekends as part of its grand opening. The artists include Entang Wiharso, AD Pirous, Arahmaiani, FX Harsono, Heri Dono, Srihadi Soedarsono and Djoko Pekik.

Esche said the kind of environment found at Museum MACAN did not really exist in Jakarta, or even in Indonesia, at the moment. “If I’m really honest, if over the years Museum MACAN does a really good job, the National Gallery will feel a bit threatened and will try to match with their collection,” he says.

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