FX Harsono: Testimonies 4 March to 9 May 2010 About the Artist
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FX Harsono: Testimonies 4 March to 9 May 2010 About the Artist Any discussion of the history of GSRB compatriots — was already profound sense of disillusionment, Driven by his belief that an artist contemporary art in Indonesia experimenting with new modes of as the events of May 1998 revealed needs to constantly engage with would be incomplete without an art-making which incorporated found that the very ‘people’ he had fought society and its issues, Harsono has examination of FX Harsono’s art objects and conceptual approaches. for through his art were just as consistently navigated the shifting and practice. Harsono’s works are By the 1990s, he had established capable of brutality as the political currents of Indonesia’s socio-political remarkable in that they span four himself as a force in Indonesian regime, and worse — these people realities, deftly re-aligning his practice tumultuous decades in Indonesian contemporary art, creating powerful would turn on each other. With the to most effectively address urgent art and history, and have borne installations with strident social veneer of control under Suharto’s issues in Indonesian society and witness to a multitude of changes commentary. These compelling ‘strongman’ regime removed, the culture. As such, Harsono is widely and upheavals in Indonesian politics, works, which critiqued the regime of fractures in Indonesian society respected by the Indonesian art society, and culture. Throughout power and oppression in Indonesia, revealed themselves more painfully community. His pioneering efforts in this time, Harsono has continued gained critical attention and were than ever, particularly along ethnic the early days of contemporary art’s to question his role as an artist and widely exhibited abroad. lines. It was then that Harsono’s art development have paved the way for his position in society, constantly began to look inwards, as the artist a new generation of artists who look pushing his art and practice to reflect The closing years of the 1990s intensively scrutinised his identity up to him as an icon. Besides his and engage with new social and were marked by a series of societal and place in society. art practice, Harsono also lectures cultural contexts. shockwaves which reverberated on Art and Design, and writes throughout the nation, in particular, To date, Harsono has continued regularly about social issues and the The Indonesian art world first the economic meltdown of the 1997 to raise troubling questions about development of contemporary art. He encountered FX Harsono as a Asian Financial Crisis generated a the position of minorities and the continues to nurture and challenge restless young artist in the 1970s. groundswell of public anger. In 1998, disenfranchised in Indonesia. His the next generation of artists, and One of the founding members this culminated in days of brutal street most recent body of work draws on contributes to art discourse and of the Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru violence and the fall of Suharto’s his family history, in an investigative debate in Indonesia. (GSRB) or New Art Movement in New Order. Indonesian-Chinese journey that reveals the intersection 1975, Harsono — together with his artists like Harsono experienced a of the personal with the political. ABOVE: FX Harsono, Cogito Ergo Sum, 2003, Digital print, 60 x 73cm each (6 panels), Artist collection. FRONT COVER: FX Harsono, Rewriting The Erased, 2009, Installation and performance video, Artist collection. 1 About the Exhibition This exhibition pays tribute to FX Harsono and traces the shifts in the artist’s strategies of representation: from the ground-breaking conceptual works that re-defined art making during the Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru (GSRB) or New Art Movement of the 1970s; to the politically-charged installations of the 1990s; concluding with the artist’s recent investigations into issues of self, identity and personal history. Included in this survey are seminal works drawn from the Singapore Art Museum’s permanent collection, as well as from other art institutions and private collections, such as Paling Top (1975) and Voice Without Voice (1994). Through these various ‘testimonies’, the exhibition offers a glimpse of the political, social and cultural changes that have shaped Indonesian society, and the artist’s constant re-evaluation and re-positioning of his role throughout this recent history. BELOW: FX Harsono, Voice Without Voice / Sign, 1993 – 4, Silkscreen on canvas (9 panels), wooden stools and stamps, 143.5 x 95.5 cm each panel, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum collection. Local Political and Cultural Activities Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat (LEKRA, People’s Cultural Organisation) was formed. As the cultural arm of the Indonesian communist party, it insisted on the subordination of art to political aims The first Indonesian Youth Congress of revolutionary ideals. formulated the Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Oath) in 1928 to establish In a response to LEKRA’s dominance unity amongst the people of the in the cultural sphere, the Manifes archipelago, which promoted three Kebudayaan (Cultural Manifesto) national ideals: One Motherland, was issued on Independence Day, One Nation, One Language. August 17, 1963. The Manifesto promoted the philosophy of Regional nationalist organisations Pancasila as an alternative to such as the Jong Java and the LEKRA’s Marxist ideals. Jong Ambon were consolidated by nationalist movements such as An abortive coup by the Gerakan the Indonesia Muda and Gerindo First congress on culture held in 30 September (30th of September (Indonesian Movement), which Magelang, 1948, which was chaired Group) allows General Suharto to Suharto forces Sukarno to transfer was under the leadership of Amir by Wongsonegoro, S.H. Members of consolidate his power, severely executive powers to himself, Syariffudin and Adnan Kapau Gani. Seniman Muda Indonesia (SIM) and weakening Sukarno’s political using these powers to dissolve Pelukis Rakyat held a joint exhibition influence. Blaming the attempted the Indonesian Communist Party The emergence of Indonesia’s Sutarjo Kartohadikusumo presented during the congress. coup on the Indonesian Communist in 1966. Over the next two years, The formation of the Dutch first nationalist movement, the a petition to the Dutch demanding Party, a bloody anti-communist Suharto would assume the East India Company (VOC) to Budi Utomo, which opposed greater Indonesian autonomy Indonesia achieved independence purge is launched, effectively presidency, consigning Sukarno to administer Java. Dutch colonialism. in 1936. in 1949. marking the end of LEKRA. house arrest. Period 1800 - 1880 1880 - 1920 1920 - 1945 1945 – 1949 1950 – 1965 1966 - 1969 Year Birth of Raden Saleh in Dutch East Indies (or Indo- Development of the Mooi Indies The establishment of SIM or The establishment of the Akademi Art festival held in conjunction with possibly 1807. European) painters active in (Beautiful Indies) movement Young Indonesian Artists, led Seni Rupa Indonesia (ASRI) in the opening of Taman Ismail Marzuki Southeast Asia. of ‘Self-Orientalism’, which was by S. Sudjonono in Yogyakarta 1950 and a Faculty of Fine Art and Art Centre in Central Java in 1968. Raden Saleh’s tutelage similar to the Amorsolo School to develop an Indonesian style Design in the Bandung Institute of under A.A.J. Payen in Bogor of the Philippines. Artists of the of painting. Technology (ITB) in 1959 marked the Lecturers at ASRI introduced Euro- and later C. Kruseman and Mooi Indies painted romanticised beginning of formal art education American art history, theory and A. Schelfhout in Holland and idealised landscapes and in Indonesia. Reis Mulder, one of styles of modern art to students. (1829-1839). rural workers. the lecturers at ITB, is noted for introducing recent trends in Western Founding of Persagi (Oct 1938). art, such as Cubism. Teachers of ASRI and the ITB’s Persagi’s goal is to develop fine Faculty of Fine Art and Design held art among the Indonesian people a large exhibition in 1969, marking through an Indonesian style. a culmination of the increase in momentum toward exhibiting art. First Persagi exhibition in 1938 at the Kolf book shop in Jakarta. Persagi was disbanded by the Japanese in 1942. S. Sudjojono’s critical articles published in Seni Loekis, Kesenian dan Seniman, which derided the Mooi Indies movement as shallow, quasi-romantic and erotic, advocating instead a specifically Indonesian style of art. Art Activities 4 5 Local Political and Cultural Activities The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) elevates Pancasila (Five Principles) to the status of compulsory moral education for government officials and the youth in 1978.