By Alia Swastika
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The Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Twenty-five years ago, one of the most important moments in the history of contemporary art in Indonesia occurred in a small living room in a simple house in the middle of a kampong (village) in Yogyakarta. Nindityo Adipurnomo, an artist who had just graduated from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta and went to school at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, and Mella Jaarsma, who had just moved to Yogyakarta from Holland, established an independent art space called Cemeti Modern Art Gallery. Cemeti literally means whip, a symbol they chose to represent a new spirit to encourage a new generation of artists in Indonesia.
But starting an independent art initiative was not easy during the authoritarian political regime of the late 1980s. Many political issues needed to be dealt with: censorship, security permits and controlled regulation. At the same time, in terms of the economic situation, there was no government support for arts organizations. Not to mention that the market for contemporary art at the time was dominated by big patrons, who rarely supported younger artists.
Exhibition spaces in the city during 1980s were very limited; though there was an Art Center in every city that was initiated and managed by the government, they were mostly rented out for commercial exhibitions. But there were no professional commercial galleries that operated under the model that Cemeti established. At the same time, more and more varied artistic practices were emerging in the wake of a previous generation of artists like The New Art Movement and Art of What kind of Identity in the late 1970s. Adipurnomo and Jaarsma had seen the importance of providing a new platform for a younger generation of artists where they could show their work, and more importantly, reflect a criticism of the surrounding political situation.
In the last decade of Suharto’s regime, Cemeti hosted numerous exhibitions, which showed the important role artists played in spreading critical thought and opinions against the government. While censorship was common, artists found their own ways to create new metaphors to be shared with a wider audience. At the same time, it also encouraged artists to fight for more freedom of artistic expression. Many experimental projects and different forms of art were exhibited at Cemeti: paintings, installations, photography, performance, video arts or even craft.
During that time, we could sense the dynamic spirit of an aesthetic breakthrough being realized at the Cemeti Art House, as it displayed the wittiest and most cutting edge work of that particular period. Just as importantly, this art space was instrumental in fostering the earlier stages of Indonesian artists’ careers and their participation in international art events. All the famous biennale curators’ had stepped into this hub to research, find artists, give talks, and build new connections with this new generation of artists. All the Indonesian ‘superstars’ who actively joined the global art circuit at the time had started their artistic careers here, from Agus Suwage and Heri Dono to Eko Nugroho and Jompet Kuswidananto.
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An exhibition at the Cemeti Art House
Over the past 25 years, the Cemeti Art House has regularly played host to meetings of different art forms: from traditional to contemporary, from political to conceptual, from Eastern to Western, from lowbrow to fine art, from heavy historical subjects to subtle daily experiences, all mixed together to create different discourses and make a strong impact on the artistic community in its surroundings. But it does not only exhibit art works, they also do workshops, talks, residency programmes, publications, exchanges, touring exhibitions and community programmes, and in doing so they have been a fundamental element of the development of contemporary art in Indonesia.
Opening nights at Cemeti Art House are typically not formal: they have a very special intimacy, with small finger foods and coffee and tea. It’s amazing to think that this simple ceremony has taken place more than 300 times. It is interesting to reflect on how the space has survived for over 20 years without permanent funding and without big collectors. I worked there for nearly four years, and I still recall how well everything was organized on a tight budget but without compromising a high standard. For example, rather than printing hundreds of promotional posters for events, they customized the posters using a silk-screen technique and printed them in editions of 50 or so, to be delivered in public spaces, and then they sold the remaining 20 posters. Being there I learned a lot about the practical side of curatorial work, as did my other colleagues who worked as managers or designers. Cemeti has provided a valuable alternative education for art managers and curators in Indonesia.
Year after year, the public had witnessed how Cemeti has transformed itself to respond to the continuously changing social and political context of the local, regional and international art scene: from Cemeti Modern Art gallery to Cemeti Art Gallery then to Cemeti Art House. In 1999, they moved to a new building, designed by renowned Indonesian architect Eko Agus Prawoto, who effectively combined his traditional signature of using old Javanese house with the needs of a contemporary exhibition space.
In the midst of the current art market boom, and as a high accumulation of changing post-Suharto era, Cemeti Art House has once again transformed its identity. Observing the new political and economic context these days, rather than underlining the act of promoting they are now focusing more on encouraging artists to value the art-making process as something more research-based and collaborative, and to offer a critical standpoint to the audience.
The party for their 25th anniversary, which took place on 2 February this year, reflected the casualness they have always had. ‘One Night Stand’ invited artists and other collaborators to celebrate these years of survival in a unique way: to perform site-specific works, interactive projects, disc jockey, all in just one night. It is interesting that few collectors attended or joined this party; instead it was mainly crowded with artists, curators, journalists, writers, art workers, artisans, and such. And yes, observing this, I can recall the same spirit after all these years: despite the glamorous attention from the international market toward Indonesian art, in their home town, contemporary art is still celebrated by its core community, within this intimate and fluid platform. Happy anniversary!
Alia Swastika is a curator and writer based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
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