All is good: Bandung-based contemporary artist Tisna Sanjaya explores the visual elements of New Order propaganda.

Ten renowned artists reflect on their experience prior to and during the Reform Era in the Dunia Dalam Berita exhibition at Museum MACAN.

Bandung-based artist Tisna Sanjaya’s installation brings oddly familiar imagery from the New Order.

The installation includes two self-portraits — one in military uniform, and the other clad in a yellow shirt bearing the logo of Golkar, which was then-president Soeharto’s political vehicle from 1971 until the end of his regime in 1998.

Tisna is among 10 renowned contemporary artists featured in Dunia Dalam Berita (World in News), an exhibition in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN).

The exhibition takes its name from the daily news program run by state-owned television network TVRI and that had to be broadcast by all Indonesian television networks from 1988 to 2000.

In talks: Speaking during a press conference are (from left) Museum MACAN director Aaron Seeto, curator Asep Topan, artist Meela Jaarsma, Hestu of Taring Padi and Tisna Sanjaya.

Running from May 1 to July 21, Dunia Dalam Berita explores the development of contemporary art in Indonesia during the political transition in the 1990s and in the early 2000s.

“The early 90s was an important period for Indonesian art with the wave of globalization that affected artists’ practices with increased access to global culture,” curator Asep Topan says.

Museum MACAN director Aaron Seeto said the exhibition’s theme, while different from the museum’s popular exhibitions by the likes of Yayoi Kusama, was important because it highlighted the story of contemporary Indonesian artists.

“Things you will see in this exhibition include performances, installation art, references to freedom of expression, democracy, social justice, identity politics and conversations around feminism,” Seeto explained.

An intriguing perspective on feminism and the Reform Era is offered by Dutch-born Mella Jaarsma.

Shameless Gold IV by Meela Jaarsma

In Shameless Gold IV, Jaarsma has created a burqa-esque garment from the raw cocoons of Cricula trifenestrata, a species of caterpillar that produces gold-colored silk. The golden color and conspicuous holes in the front contrasts with the cultural value of the garment, where the wearer is cocooned from the outside world or vice versa.

Jaarsma said that after living in Indonesia for decades, she could feel the intensity of the racial, religious, and ethnic tensions in the days leading up to the Reform Era.

“On the other hand, I also feel that I’m part of the social structure during the colonial era in Indonesia,” the Yogyakarta-based artist said.

“In this context, I feel that I’m part of the minority. I always feel like both an insider and outsider in this country, and this dualism has become the base of many key concepts in my works.”

Military power, an inseparable part of the repressive New Order, is manifested in S. Teddy D.’s Viva La Muerte, which utilizes steel toolboxes and oil barrels. Agus Suwage, meanwhile, has set up a military tent with its inside lined with Indonesian softcore pornography cinema banners in Pressure and Pleasure.

Viva La Muerte by S. Teddy D.

Themes of identity politics are present in Krisna Murti’s Makanan Tidak Mengenal Ras (Foodstuffs are Ethnic, Never Racist). Images of 12 Indonesian dishes, many of them the result of cultural exchanges in the country, are presented inside pink toilet bowls alongside a video projection.

Social criticism also abounds, like in I Nyoman Masriadi’s paintings Badanku Kurang Besar (My Body is Not Big Enough) and Masriadi Sang Pemenang (Masriadi the Winner). The former portraying a dark-skinned bodybuilder figure holding a spoon and fork and the latter a self-portrait that pits the artist against African-American boxer Mike Tyson.

Yogyakarta arts collective Taring Padi presents its posters and banners criticizing the era’s social issues. The collective often puts up the banners on public spaces in Jakarta and Yogyakarta as a message of defiance against racially and ethnically motivated violence.

“It’s like a virus that will infect others, and to prevent that, Taring Padi as a socially active actor in the cultural and arts sector, has to contribute something to the situation,” Taring Padi’s cofounder, Hestu A. Nugroho, said.

The exhibition also features the works of FX Harsono, Heri Dono and I GAK Murniasih.

Makanan Tidak Mengenal Ras (Foodstuffs are Ethnic, Never Racist) by Krisna Murti

— Photos Courtesy of Museum MACAN