Tuesday, December 30, 2014

booklet Dear Curator Curate Me/Yogyakarta

Download the Dear Curator Curate Me booklet here.
April/May 2014 Dear Curator Curate Me was organized in Yogyakarta in collaboration with Cemeti Art House and Ruang MES56. In Yogyakarta, three curators participated: Mira Asriningtyas, Pitra Hutomo and Grace Samboh. The booklet is designed by Arthel Tagnipez and handmade by ASNARUPA.


meet-up between curators & artists @ ArtStage '15


January 22, I'll participate at a meet-up between curators & artists at ArtStage '15 in the Latent Spaces booth (no. H1a), which is organized by Michael Lee.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

manifesto #superduperdecorativeart

manifesto #superduperdecorativeart

1. #superduperdecorativeart comes by many names and in different disguises.

2. We will no longer allow for any more boring art!

3. What cannot be said, should be joked about.

4.

5. #superduperdecorativeart is beyond beauty yet aesthetic.

6. #superduperdecorativeart is artificial and characterized by a high-degree of plasticity.

7.#superduperdecorativeart has no clear-cut genesis, it's and continuous to be the bastard child of a great many artists, with and without talent.

8. No one is an artist until one is an artist.

9. #superduperdecorativeart embraces mimetic desire: that our desires are our own is a wonderful illusion.

10. #superduperdecorativeart has limited use for authenticity. Authenticity can be regarded a useful artifice though.

11. #superduperdecorativeart plays with an infinite feedback loop: reflexive self-plagiarism is called for in our digital modernity.

12. #superduperdecorativeart quotes, samples, pirates, forges, bootlegs, imitates, borrows, mimics, copies transposes, plagiarizes, steals, appropriates and echoes from whatever sources we see fit: nothing is holy.

13.

14.

15. #superduperdecorativeart's interventions are unpredictable and unstable – long live contingency!

16. #superduperdecorativeart does not spell everything out, use your imagination anyway you like to finish works on display.

17. #superduperdecorativeart does not aim to bridge contemporary art and everyday life, whatever the latter might mean, but see statement 12.

18. #superduperdecorativeart does not make statements, let alone statements on factual reality.

19. Pure logics does not apply to the aesthetics of #superduperdecorativeart, which does not mean that #superduperdecorativeart is beyond discourse, but, for a change, lets speak in French tongues, paradoxes, lies, hyperboles and contradictions.

20. Sometimes a shoe is just that: a shoe. Sometimes a shoe does not signify or symbolize a meaningful concept or idea (but sometimes, maybe, it does).

21. #superduperdecorativeart does not care the slightest for democracy, but does care about/for aesthetics as well as ethics (the two sides of the same proverbial coin).

22. #superduperdecorativeart is post-post-colonial art as well as post-identity politics.

23. #superduperdecorativeart offers pleasure: emotional, spiritual as well as intellectual pleasure – but can also cause discomfort in the faint hearted. It is, therefore, best enjoyed in small doses in good company.

24.

25. Every day is a great day for #superduperdecorativeart; no one has the last word on #superduperdecorativeart, not even the artist (nor this author).

26. #superduperdecorativeart does not want to win popularity contests, yet, #superduperdecorativeart might, one day, go viral and become the neo-avant-garde, possibly the new 0.1 percent.

27. None of the above statements have any claim to originality. Moreover, this manifesto is far from complete (like noise, silence can be convenient).

28. The author cannot be hold responsible for the interpretations of this work of fiction.

29. Copyright does not apply to the above statements nor the manifesto as a whole.

30. None of the above statements nor the manifesto as a whole are manifestations of art.

31. Needless to say, the artist does not agree with any of the above statements nor with the manifesto as a whole.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Unoriginal Sin II - Art in the Expired Field - a solo exhibition by Asmudjo J. Irianto at LAF

Unoriginal Sin II
Art in the Expired Field

Solo exhibition by Asmudjo J. Irianto at LAF, Yogyakarta.

Opening: Friday 28 November 7.30 pm
Artist talk: Saturday 29 November

Exhibition runs until 28 December 2014

My text can be downloaded here.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Looking at the Big Sky - video art from Germany


'Looking at the Big Sky' is a traveling program by Goethe Institut (http://www.goethe.de) of 14 videos by students from four art schools in Germany: Braunschweig University of Art, Düsseldorf Art Academy, Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, and Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. The selection was made by Renate Buschmann (http://www.imaionline.de/) and Leonhard Emmerling. The videos range from fictional narratives and stagings to individual assertions and performances, from found-footage montages to pseudo documentaries. At the same time, two major perspectives crystallize in the works: 'The Beauty of the Familiar' aim towards personal introspection that divines meaning in the inconspicuous and unspectacular, 'Departures for Tomorrow' encompasses films seeking to formulate an outlook on the immeasurable and indeterminate. The choice of 'Looking at the Big Sky' is associated with the hope that the ideas and illusions knows no boundaries, that the sky is the limit. At the same time, it sounded like an appeal to the participating artists to venture a look at longings, utopias and great aspirations, and to think the existing concepts of authenticity and beauty beyond the present.
Opening: Friday 10 October, 2014, 7pm
Talk: Saturday 18 October, 2014
Speakers: Melati Suryodarmo & Deden Hendan Durahman
Duration: until Thursday 30 October, 2014
PLATFORM3
Jalan Cigadung Raya Tengah no.42, Bandung
At PLATFORM3, organized by Rizki Lazuardi and Roy Voragen

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Bandung Network 11

Sergio Beltran, from Mexico City, stays as a guest at Roma Arts and ASNARUPA. He is in Bandung to give a Situationist workshop, which is facilitated by BCCF and Sembilan Matihari (for more info on his workshop see here). And he presents his thoughts on this workshop at the fifth Arte Polis conference at ITB. Sergio first came to Bandung four years ago to speak at Arte Polis 3, a biannual conference organized by the department of architecture at ITB, during the conference he also participated in the roundtable discussion on art and the city, which I organized and moderated (see here for my essay on the roundtable's topic as published in Tempo Magazine and see here for my review of Arte Polis 4 as published in the IIAS Newsletter).

Sunday, July 20, 2014

e-catalog Amorphous Amours

The e-catalog of Deden Durahman's solo exhibition Amorphous Amours at RKFA can be downloaded here.

Deden Durahman's solo exhibition Amorphous Amours


Amorphous Amours

Deden Hendan Durahman


The body is to be compared,
not to a physical object,
but rather to a work of art.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
The Phenomenology of Perception


For his solo exhibition at RKFA, Singapore, 17 July – 17 August 2014, Deden Hendan Durahman (Majalaya, Indonesia, 1974) presents his new series Amorphous Amours (2014): multi-layered choreographies of serial de/re-constructed and morphed bodies. Reconstruction on the level of the pixel opens up the possible of the possible; therefore, there is an element of contingency of what actual forms a concept takes – a pixilated flux of becoming. The element of contingency of a pixilated flux of becoming necessitates seriality. If actualizations of disparate fragments is not to unravel in such a way that all that remains are fractures of the possible then working in series is needed. A series offers a sense of unity – and meaning – to fragments. The method of working in/on serial de/re-constructed bodies also implies repetition. And repetition is key in performativity: body is an unstable category – body as medium and concept in the work of Deden – over time, gestural permutations allow for changes to occur. The mediated bodies in Deden’s work are indexes of performativity. Our bodies are the primary sites of the expanded field of knowing and remembering – or: ontology of the flesh. Memory leaves imprints in and on our bodies. One body remembers and reminds another; memory moves from body to body, re-touching us sensually, re-touching the unfathomable geography of our bodies – to paraphrase Walt Whitman: For every pixel belonging to me as good belongs to you…

Roy Voragen
Curator

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Amorphous Amours


--> -->
Amorphous Amours
A solo exhibition by Deden HendanDurahman at RKFA, Singapore
Curated by Roy Voragen 
Opening: 17 July 2014
Until: 7 August 2014

Artspace@Helutrans
39 Keppel Road
#01-05 Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Singapore 089065
E info@rkfineart.com
T +65 6221 1209
F +65 6221 1249

For the catalog see here.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Dear Curator Curate Me: postscript - questions raised during the roundtable discussion at Cemeti Art House

-->
The discussion on Dear Curator Curate Me (a travelling
--> project by the nomadic visual artist Kristoffer Ardeña) at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia, 19 May 2013, with curators Rizki Lazuardi and Chabib Duta Hapsoro, focused on the artist-curator relationships. The discussion at Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on the other hand, focused on the curatorial text. For Yogyakarta,  --> the following curators were invited: Mira Asriningtyas, Pitra Hutomo and Grace Samboh.

Here are some of the questions that arose during the discussion at Cemeti Art House (5 April 2014):

1.     Why ask curators to include all the 15 videos?
2.     Why can’t curators select videos she or he wants to curate?
3.     Why can’t curators add more videos in the selection? Curators felt like they were given an assignment instead of a challenge.
4.     Is Kristoffer Ardeña acting as a meta-curator? How is Dear Curator Curate Me an artistic project?
5.     Are different models possible to express curatorial intentions? Is it possible to make a video as a curatorial discourse instead of writing a text?
6.     A researcher in the audience posed an interesting point on the dilemma and difficulties of gathering data from past exhibitions, if curators would opt to make non-text-based curatorial discourses, how would this facilitate research on these exhibitions in the future?
7.     What are the functions of texts within curatorial practices?
8.     What are the relationships between the curator and the artist(s)/artworks/exhibitions to the curatorial text? How to engage with artists and their art as a curator?
9.     Who reads curatorial essays? Who is our audience? Is there enough of a critical mass?
10.  What are the relationships between the curator and the public in relation to the curatorial text?
11.  Should curators write curatorial texts that are readily understandable by the general public?
12.  Is there such a thing as a curatorial art writing style?

Friday, April 11, 2014

Dear Curator Curate Me roundtable discussion at Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, 5 April, 2014



For more photos see here.

Dear Curator Curate Me t-shirts


Dear Curator Curate Me (https://www.facebook.com/dearcurator.curateme.3) is a traveling project by the nomadic visual artist Kristoffer Ardeña. In Indonesia, Dear Curator Curate Me is coordinated by Roma Arts with support by ASNARUPA (http://aogindonesia.com). And by purchasing a t-shirt, you support Dear Curator Curate Me!

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Dear Curator Curate Me notebooks




Dear Curator Curate Me is a traveling project by the nomadic visual artist Kristoffer Ardeña. In Indonesia, Dear Curator Curate Me is coordinated by Roma Arts with support by ASNARUPA (http://aogindonesia.com). And by purchasing a notebook, you support Dear Curator Curate Me!

The notebooks are handmade by ASNARUPA with suede covers in red, green or brown and refillable content.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Dear Curator Curate Me - Yogyakarta: Cemeti Art House & MES56

Dear Curator Curate Me (https://www.facebook.com/dearcurator.curateme.3) is a traveling project by the nomadic visual artist Kristoffer Ardeña. Dear Curator Curate Me consists of 15 videos from different makers and each time this project is organized different curators are invited to write a curatorial essay on the same set of videos. This time around, the following curators were invited: Mira Asriningtyas, Pitra Hutomo and Grace Samboh. Dear Curator Curate Me in Yogyakarta is organized in collaboration with Ruang MES56 (http://mes56.com/; public screening 28 March 2014) and Cemeti Art House (http://www.cemetiarthouse.com; roundtable discussion 5 April 2014 with Ark Gallery artistic director and independent curator Alia Swastika as discussant). Roma Arts coordinates Dear Curator Curate Me in Indonesia.

For the essays by Mira Asriningtyas, Pitra Hutomo and Grace Samboh see here.

Monday, March 10, 2014

RE-ENTRY#3: Muhammad Zico Albaiquni

RE-ENTRY#3: Muhammad Zico Albaiquni

In collaboration with Galeri Gerilya, Roma Arts presents RE-ENTRY#3, a talk with Bandung-based artist Muhammad Zico Albaiquni (1987; http://zicoalbaiquni.blogspot.com/). Zico studied painting at FSRD/ITB and he works now as an assistant lecturer at the painting studio. He continued his studies at ITB to earn a MFA. But before he started studying again for his MFA, he went to Austria for an artist-in-residency at the invitation by the Bundesministeriums für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur (Ministry of Education, Art and Culture; http://www.bmukk.gv.at/). He was in Austria for a three-month residency and he found a new love for the art of painting. But now he has returned and Zico will share his experiences of living and practicing art abroad.

Moderated by R. Yuki Agriardi (http://www.agriardi.com/)

Free admission & open for the public and in Indonesian

Wednesday 19 March 4PM

Galeri Gerilya
Jalan Raden Patah 12, Bandung

Poster design by Endira FJ (http://www.endirafj.com/)

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

e-catalog the weight of weightlessness exhibition at Dia.Lo.Gue. Art Space

You can download the e-catalog of the weight of weightlessness exhibition here. The exhibition runs until 31 March, 2014, at Dia.Lo.Gue. Arts Space, Jakarta.

Monday, February 24, 2014

the weight of weightlessness - exhibition at Dia.Lo.Gue. Art Space


the weight of weightlessness
rhymes and rhythms of paper

an exhibition by Prilla Tania, Irfan Hendrian and Ivana Stojakovic

curated by Roy Voragen

Dia.Lo.Gue. Art Space
Jalan Kemang Raya Selatan 99A, Jakarta
Tel: 021-719 9670
Opening: March 4, 2014
Opening officiated by Dr. Tisna Sanjaya
And a contemporary dance performance by Yola Yulfianti
Until: March 31, 214

the weight of weightlessness: rhymes and rhythms of paper at Dia.Lo.Gue. Art Space is a contemporary art exhibition by three Bandung-based artists: Prilla Tania (Bandung, Indonesia 1979; see her blog: http://prillatania.wordpress.com/ and a review of a previous solo exhibition: http://bit.ly/17zyUCM), Irfan Hendrian (Ohio, US, 1987; see his website: http://www.regmart.net, for his work process: http://vimeo.com/irfanh and see for an essay on his work: http://bit.ly/VLyQMk) and Ivana Stojakovic (Belgrade, Serbia, 1976; see her website http://ivanastojakovic.webs.com and a video on her work process: http://www.youtube.com/user/ivanastojakovic). Prilla Tania, Irfan Hendrian and Ivana Stojakovic are three visual artists from various backgrounds – but they share something, a love, a love for paper.

The versatility of paper is a common thread throughout the artistic practices of these three artists. For the three artists, paper is a medium and material at the very same time – with keen consideration, these three artists give paper a different kind of life, a metaphorical life full of rhyme and rhythm.

The three artists in this exhibition work with and on paper, so that it remains an important element in the works they create. In short, this exhibition illuminates the staggering versatility of paper and, as such, this exhibition is an ode to paper.

In their works, paper is heavy and light, compositions and rhythms are crafted with, in and on paper, paper is used in unusual ways, pushed to its limits – cut, pressed, shredded and re-assembled, printed on over and over again until breaking point – and in this laborious process new forms are created, paper as body, and these forms are connected to the spatiality of Dia.Lo.Gue. Art Space.

The three artists in this exhibition go against the grain by persistently and quietly going their own way – along meandering paths they show us paper in new lights. They mold paper into compositions that are weighty or light and always poetic – or in other words: the weight of weightlessness: rhymes and rhythms of paper.

Roy Voragen (Bandung-based writer and curator)