COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Research School of Humanities and the Arts SCHOOL OF ART GRADUATE PROGRAM DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Ellen Kent Entanglement: Individual and Participatory Art Practice in Indonesia DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PART FULFILMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF THE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY September 2016 1 Dissertation Declaration of originality I, Ellen Kent…………………………………..hereby declare that the thesis here presented is the outcome of the research project undertaken during my candidacy, that I am the sole author unless otherwise indicated, and that I have fully documented the sources of ideas, references, quotations and paraphrases attributable to other authors. 2 Acknowledgements This research was conducted with the generous financial support of a scholarship from the College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University and a Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Postgraduate Award. So many thanks are due to so many people. My komunitas in Indonesia and Australia: IVAA, FSRD ITB, Cemeti, YBY, JAF, Sanggar Bangun Budaya, Joglo Jago, IAM, Arskala, S14, SCP, 4A, ANU SOFA; thank you for accommodating me and my family (often literally) as we took this journey together. The intellectual guidance and support of my supervisors and co-supervisors, Patsy Payne, Michelle Antoinette, Ariel Heryanto and Raquel Ormella has been invaluable, as has been the patient reading, re-reading and critical feedback from Caroline Turner, Virginia Hooker and Chaitanya Sambrani. Much gratitude is also due to the artists who form the basis of this research, for their time and efforts, and for their creativity. This PhD has been shaped by many formal, informal and rigorous conversations with fellow researchers, artists, artworkers and writers, especially Rikrik Kusmara, Fajar Abadi, Pitra Hutomo, Grace Samboh, Brigitta Isabella, Jim Supangkat, Farah Wardani, Rizki Zaelani, Syafiatudina, Nindityo Adipurnomo, Mella Jaarsma, Enin Supriyanto, Agnesia Linda, Yustina Neni, Tisna Sanjaya, Irma Damajanti, Antariksa, Anang Saptoto, Woto Wibowo, Arief Yudi, Yuma Loranita, Tedi En, Ginggi Syar Haysim, Marco Kusumawijaya, Irwan Ahmett, Tita Salina, Ismal Muntaha, Herra Pahlasari, Aminuddin T. Siregar, Willy Himawan, Deden Durahman,Tintin Wulia, Litha Jayadianti, Faiz Fa, Dian Ariyani, Karina Roosvita, Kelsie Prabawa, Nadiah Bamadhaj, Annie Sloman, Kristi Dewi Monfries, Angie Bexley, Rebecca Meckelburg, Christine Clark, Alison Procter, Robert Guth, Robyn Houen, Evi Eliyanah, Maria Myutel and Meg Downes and so many, many more. Your stimulation, encouragement and support is manifest in this project: thank you. To my parents, Sue and Tony, my sisters Anna and Kate, and most importantly my husband Shane, and also his family, I owe you my endless gratitude for tolerating me, spurring me on, and for sharing the care of all of those children we have made. And thanks kids, for being you, and never failing to remind us of how much more important you are than anything else. To our friends and neighbours, who are so much more than that, in Scullin, Bandung and Yogyakarta: without your music, food, love and care none of this would have been worthwhile. Thanks for the joy! The work of these past few years is dedicated to Tasha, Scott, and Tedi, who were there when it began but not when it ended – but who will always inspire persistence, love and kindness in pursuit of the greatest challenge: a life well lived. 3 Abstract This dissertation takes as its subject matter the joint practice of participatory and individual art, and sets out to understand why these practices are so prevalent among contemporary Indonesian artists. It constitutes two-thirds of a body of research towards a doctorate of philosophy, in which the remaining one-third comprises practice-led research into the nexus between individual and participatory modes in my own art practice. The arguments set out in the dissertation are the result of research into primary and secondary written resources, translations, field observations, interviews with artists and with other experts in Indonesia. This is the first body of research to address combined individual and participatory art in Indonesia. Sanento Yuliman described the “artistic ideology” of Indonesian modernism as simultaneously autonomous and independent, and heteronomously tied to tradition and society’s needs. This formed the foundations from which modern art discourse in Indonesia involved artists in the lives of the people (rakyat) while also defending artists’ rights to individual expression: a binding knot of the kind that Jacques Rancière describes as the “aesthetic regime”. I draw attention to the way participation consistently features alongside individuality in discourses from those early artists; during art’s instrumentalisation in development discourses; and when contemporary artists begin involving the rakyat in participatory art. Case studies addressing the work of five contemporary artists (Arahmaiani Feisal, Made “Bayak” Muliana, I Wayan “Suklu” Sujana, Tisna Sanjaya, and Elia Nurvista) show how contemporary artists have extended this continuum to involve people in the making of art, while still maintaining significant individual practices. I demonstrate how particular contexts and networks of production have continued to engage with those early modernist concepts of autonomy and heteronomy, as well as exogenous and originary endogenous discourses, to create conditions which mandate the joint practice of participatory and individual art for many artists. In responding to these conditions, the work by contemporary artists presented in this research consciously engages with and reconstructs discourses from Indonesian and global art histories. 4 A note to the reader The following work contains material often gathered from Indonesian language sources. All translations herein are my own unless indicated otherwise. As an experienced, qualified and accredited translator of art texts from Indonesian to English, I am confident that my translations reflect the intentions of the original authors as far as possible. In cases where direct translation of the author’s intent is not possible, or where translation fails to denote the correct conceptual or cultural underpinnings of the word, I have elected to use the original word with an accompanying explanation, either in the body of the text or in the accompanying glossary (Appendix A). Other terms of address, titles and frequently occurring abbreviations are also included in this glossary. Over the course of the history of the Indonesian language, spelling conventions have changed. I have elected to use modern spelling as a general rule, except in the case of individuals’ names. In those cases I have used the spelling preferred by the individuals. Hence, for instance, I refer to Sukarno, but Soeharto and Soedjojono. In many cases there are published variations of the spelling and usage of living artists’ names. The names I use are those usually used with an honorific such as Pak (Mr) or Bu (Ma’am) when referring to or addressing the individual in Indonesian. In most cases this means using the artists’ first name, as in Arahmaiani (Feisal), Tisna (Sanjaya), and Elia (Nurvista). In some cases, this means using their surname, such as (FX) Harsono, or a pseudonym, as for I Wayan “Suklu” Sujana, and Made “Bayak” Muliana. I have endeavoured to include web citations that are as up-to-date as possible. However some sites have moved over the course of my research and likely will continue to do so. In some cases I have included references to accessible web-based material that supports my arguments but is not directly cited. In those cases I have not included access dates. The dissertation is divided into an introduction followed by two parts. For the reader’s convenience, footnote numbering and referencing restarts at 1 in the second part. 5 List of illustrations Figure 1: Basuki Abdullah, Pemandangan (Landscape), 1957, oil on canvas, 126 x 78.5 cm (http://archive.ivaa-online.org/pelakuseni/basuki-abdullah-1/page:5) Figure 2: Raden Saleh, Penangkapan Pangeran Diponegoro (The Arrest of Prince Diponegoro), 1857, oil on canvas, 112 × 178 cm. (https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkas:Raden_Saleh_-_Diponegoro_arrest.jpg) Figure 3: Soedjojono, Kawan-kawan Revolusi (Comrades of the Revolution), 1947, oil on canvas, 95 x 150 cm. (http://archive.ivaa-online.org/pelakuseni/s-sudjojono-1) Figure 4: I Nyoman Ngendon, Balinese saying “Goodbye” to M. Mead and G. Bateson and Papuans saying “Welcome”, 1938, ink on paper (size not specified). (http://sydney.edu.au/heurist/balipaintings/11184.html) Figure 5: Members of Persagi, 1940. Standing left to right Tubagus Ateng Rusyian, Soedjojono, Rameli, Damsyik, Agus Djaya, S. Tutur, Sudiardjo, unknown, Sindu Sisworo, Saptarita Latif, Sudiardjo’s wife. Squatting left to right: S. Parman, Herbert Hutagalung. (http://archive.ivaa-online.org/khazanahs/detail/70) Figure 6: Soedjojono, Sanggar Seniman Indonesia Muda (Young Indonesian Artists’ Collective), 1947, ink on paper, 40 x 13 cm. (http://archive.ivaa-online.org/pelakuseni/s-sudjojono-1) Figure 7: Keimin Bunka Shidoso publications featuring member artists Soedjojono (top left), Kartono Yudhokusumo (top right) and Emiria Soenassa (bottom). Published in a slide show by Farah Wardani, (https://www.academia.edu/2919488/Slideshow_THE_JAPAN_FACTOR_Great_Asianism_and_ The_Birth_of_Indonesian_Modern_Art_1942-1945) Figure 8: Lee Man Fong, Praktek Penjiksaan oleh Tentara Jepang (Torture