Exhibition and Symposium on Indonesian Modern Art

Debate on Indonesian modern art
From about 1935 until 1950, artists, writers and politicians debated the idea of Indonesian modern art. The emergence of ideas around this subject in Indonesia went hand in hand with its struggles for independence from its colonisers. In the symposium, international cultural experts will approach the viewpoints of the central figures in this debate from a contemporary perspective. Special attention will be given to the places where these ideas were being discussed, and the years of the Indonesian National Revolution (1945 - 1949), which were characterised by a desire to break away from the aesthetics of the Dutch colonisers.

Speakers
Confirmed speakers include: Antariksa (researcher and co-founder of Kunci, Cultural Studies Centre, Yogyakarta), Amir Sidharta(*) (art historian and curator at Museum Universitas Pelita Harapan, Tangeran), Kerstin Winking (curator of the exhibition The Djaya Brothers: Revolusi at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), Harm Stevens (curator at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), Remco Raben (Professor of the Colonial and Postcolonial History of Culture and Literature, University of Amsterdam), and Mikke Susanto (curator, art critic, lecturer at the Indonesian Institute of Art, Yogyakarta and curatorial consultant for the Republic of Indonesia Presidential Palace).

Joint research and exhibition
The symposium will take place on 21 June at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and is being organised in close cooperation with the Rijksmuseum and in conjunction with the exhibition The Djaya Brothers: Revolusi (9 June – 2 September 2018). It forms the starting point of a cooperative research and exhibition project between the two museums and various Indonesian partners.

*The contribution from Amir Sidharta is enabled by DutchCulture’s International Visitors’ Programme.