Kurasi dan Kuasa: Kekuratoran dalam Medan Seni Rupa Kontemporer di Indonesia

by Agung Hujatnikajennong

Istilah, praktik, dan profesi kurator yang belakangan marak di dunia seni rupa Indonesia sesungguhnya nyaris tak pernah ditemukan dalam wacana seni rupa Indonesia sebelum era 1990an. Mengapa demikian? Adakah kaitan antara "kurator"dengan wacana "seni rupa kontemporer"yang juga berkembang dari kurun waktu yang sama?

Buku ini mengupas sejarah teori dan praktik kekuratoran baik di Barat maupun dalam konteks yang khas Indonesia, beserta relasinya dengan kuasa-kuasa lain yang bekerja dalam medan seni rupa, baik itu kuasa politik maupun kuasa ekonomi. Sebuah sumbangan penting bagi kepustakaan dan kajian seni di Indonesia.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

277 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2015

Reviews

[melancholinary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Albeit it aims to accomplished a cornerstone of curatorship—and its function—in Indonesia, this book is pretty much Art School 101. Pak Agung—as I know him personally—dissects the development of art and its discourse ranging from Kant to Greenberg, from Dickie to Adorno as a way to transition his idea of curatorship in Indonesia. Not so many publication or research have been focus on this particular issue in Indonesia, with ‘Kurasi dan Kuasa’ I think public at least will see the necessity of curatorial practice and its ability as a catalyst.

I never been drawn deeper to Greebergian idea of modernism, in this book Pak Agung interestingly points out that the history of Greenbergian approach to modernism echoes the same method of cultural imperialism of repressing the emergence of social realism art in America—in which this also reminds of Manikebu vs LEKRA in Indonesia. Another fascinating fact presented by Pak Agung in this book is the politics of Biennale and how it eventually shaped the infrastructure of the art world. Through Pak Agung explanation of Biennale polemics with market, this brings me to the idea: commercialisation of the art work is never been away. This shows in the form of how museum eventually attracted to buy ‘uncommercial work.’ As this ‘uncommercial work’ quite often presented in the form of giant installation that demand interaction. And in order for public to experience the work, museum charge a ticket to access. The nature of interactivity of the work that makes museum gained profit more fluid—instead of informing public with free knowledge through the artwork.

Back to Indonesia, Pak Agung describes the history of political-attached cultural aspect of early art exhibition and cultural events in Indonesia in flowing fashion. Drawing distinction from how the Dutch organised cultural event that is exclusively presented for bourjois and ruling class to the Japanese propaganda of Pan-Asianism, Pak Agung tries to proof the existence of curatorship in that era. Curatorship, argued Pak Agung, has been started in Indonesia partially in Soekarno era—by how Dullah organised and archived Soekarno’s own collection. Fast forward to ‘Order Baru’ and its relevance to the cultural domination of upper class or ‘seni rupa atas’ and its aggressive stance on depoliticizing any art activities, curatorship started shaped its own form although the term itself is too vague to be circulated. As the autonomy and heteronomy in art accelerated faster under globalization, the social dynamics of art in Indonesia changes faster. The notion of post-modernism becomes a big thing in curatorship as well as regionalism that being fostered with the help of country like Japan and Australia through their spirit of ‘Asia-Pacific’—this breed and legitimate the word ‘curator’ as an important noun in Indonesian art dictionary.

In the end, Pak Agung states that curatorial practice in Indonesia should become a catalyst in the disparity between contemporary art and public. He brilliantly comes to this conclusion by analysed the sensational case of ‘Pinkswing Park’ where he draws a claim that art knowledge has been exclusively consumed by the elite. Once an artwork sensationalised in a weekly tabloid—and in regards to how this tabloid love their sensational stories—it is more influential to the public, compare to a more constructive art journal—this also reminds me of the ‘Chicha Press’ phenomena in Peru under Fujimori.

It is really nice to have a book devoted to curatorship in Indonesia written by academic who also active on the practice field. Anyway, amongst all of the artist, curator and other art patron that being mentioned in this book only one woman is noted: Ibu Sewaka, the wife of West Java Governor in 1950.

[Bangquito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku pengantar kuratorial yang padat, bahkan pegangan yang optimal.
Isinya dipisahkan dengan jelas antara kerangka teoritis seni rupa, historiografi kuratorial global, kemudian muasal dan dinamika kuratorial di Indonesia hingga 2015. Terakhir ditutup dengan kritik penulis yang cermat.

Sebagai warga sempit yang tadinya menganggap kerja kuratorial hanya sekedar tukang noto karya seni, buku ini cukup memukul tengkuk saya.

[KTTTR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Membahas secara mendalam teori dan sejarah kuratorial secara global dan spesifik di Indonesia. Juga membahas perkembangan museum/galeri/biennale, tentang pergerakan seni sebagai komoditas, dll.

Melihat buku yang membahas seni rupa, seni kontemporer, atau isu kuratorial masih sangat jarang ditemukan—terutama di penerbit arus utama, membaca buku ini jadi terasa sangat menarik 3.5/5

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5: Buku ini menarik karena menambah deretan literatur tentang seni rupa Indonesia yang (menurut saya) jumlahnya masih sedikit. Satu hal yang buat saya pusing adalah Bab 1 dan 2 mengenai landasan teoritik tentang seni rupa yang coba penulis sampaikan. Buat saya yang tidak memiliki latar belakang pengetahuan tentang seni rupa, bagian tersebut disampaikan secara cukup berat dan agak sulit dicerna. Tapi ketika masuk ke bab belakang, saat konteks ke-Indonesia-annya dibahas, saya cukup bisa membayangkan bagaimana praktik kurasi dalam seni rupa itu berjalan.

[Moyann Larasati · Rating 4 out of 5]

menarik. mengingat buku-buku yang membahas hal seputar kuratorial secara cukup dalam di indonesia cukup minim. buku ini menambah wawasan mengenai kurasi dan hal-hal terkait secara global, khususnya di wilayah indonesia sendiri.