For Adi Dharma, visual art and music are inseparable. With his classic hip-hop and street art background, Adi Dharma really knows how alternative cultures are born to smash the establishment. Being in the visual art space without losing his street art identity is another challenge for Adi Dharma. Adi Dharma makes Jogja National Museum his playground. He puts his graffiti works and installations at some points the visitors of exhibition might never
imagine before. Adi Dharma also plays the beats he made from the pieces of soundscapes of Indonesian modern culture.

Texts, images, and music intertwine in Adi Dharma’s work. Growing up in admiration for funk and classic hip hop, such genres of music influence the visual style of this bachelor of Public Relation of Parahyangan University. The geometric nuance commonly appearing in Adi’s murals seems to represent the music bars in his head. The interest in typography has led him to an adventure in the world of graffiti since 1997. The exploration of deconstructing the anatomy of human body reflected in his recent works seems to narrate how he deals with a text treated mathematically.

In the artwork he made fo Biennale Jogja XIV, Arin Sunaryo reflects his creative process as a visual artist. Arin attempts to challenge his established position as an artist and the identity implied in his works. Interference is the result of Arin’s reprocessing his previous artworks in different ways. No longer displaying his paintings as the “center”, he disperses the works to various spots in different positions. Arin presents his earlier works in distorted form. This work manifests Arin’s effort to break out of his artistry “comfort zone”. He wants to present something unstable yet conccurently provide a silent space for reflection. By the work, he is describing a glitch, a sort of interference in wave transmission. He recorded and froze the glitch in a room.

His curiosity about the characteristics of various materials has, unexpectedly, brought Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo to learn to negotiate with uncertainty and self-acceptance. Arin, a graduate in the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology) and in the graduate program of Fine Arts at the Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design, initially explored resin for canvas painting. However, after Merapi Volcano eruption in 2010, Arin was inspired to make use of volcanic ashes to pigment the resin he applies for painting. Arin’s creative process is quite unique since what eventually appears in his painting is totally different from what he saw during the process. Since liquid resin flows and freezes rapidly, the final result of Arin’s works are always unpredictable.

Pause and silence are the main themes appearing in each of Cinanti’s artworks. The opportunity of taking a break (adempauze) is manifested in a space which is narrowed or expanded through a visual language game filled with subject and the Other. Cinanti offers a moment of pause to retreat from a complex society that has bound and shaped the Subject. Besides, she provides a reflection on self-existence by presenting some subtle objects that “interfere” and “present” crisis.

For Keni, or Cinanti Astria Johansjah, working is a medium for evaluation. Even though studying Graphic Design at ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology), Keni was interested in painting since her early childhood. She remembered the first time she admired a painting when she was a kid; she visited Affandi Museum with her parents. She was standing in front of a painting for quite long, until her mother dragged her to move. She has been amazed at the power of artworks ever since. Keni’s paintings are the “pauses”, the moments when we can take a little time to breathe before returning to our activities. In her artworks, Keni presents many portraits of women with animals. She wishes that the audiences will recognize the humane side of the animal figures. She found herself in a dilemma in regard to the circumstance when painting becomes a routine. Such situation led her to reflect and ask herself: what does painting mean to her?

Faisal Habibi maintains his fondness for composing raw objects into a new form of object in Biennale Jogja XIV. In this exhibition, however, Faisal arranges his previous artworks into a single object. It looks as if he had cut a big intact object into thousand pieces, whereas they might not be connected to each other. Faisal offers the image of unity and discord as a space showing the fragility of identity which binds the subject, questioning whether the subject is a part of the majority or the majority is a single entity. Aren’t both entities united by a frame that confines from the rest?

Every single form of material tool has undergone a long process hitherto. Faisal Habibi, who studied Sculpture at FSRD ITB (Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology), likes to trace such process. Due to the variant forms of the objects and the way objects become the encounters of different human interests, Faisal’s approach in working emphasizes more on the visual and formalistic aspects, and yet triggers us to consider the functional aspect. Faisal is currently fond of deconstructing the form of any familiar object which provokes the audiences to discuss it. Cups, tables, chairs, or dishes, for examples, are the objects developed along with human civilization. Man-made objects create their own system in which they may subordinate human. Faisal is trying to expand his exploration concerning the perception of space and probably of architecture.

Farid Stevy Asta examines the phenomenon of text scribbles on the wall. He recorded those texts and presented them as a visual artwork. Farid explores the activities of inscribing words in public spaces and the babbling about everything. The mazy or unrelated texts, for most people, are perhaps considered worthless or rubbish-like. Farid integrates those texts and doodles into a visual arrangement that brings harmony and chaos at the same space.

Since in elementary school, Farid Stevy Asta has been familiar with billboards and its surroundings. The early interaction he had with brushes and paint led him to explore the visual arts in the Department of Visual Communication Design at ISI Yogyakarta. However, it seems like he acquired the insight on visual arts from his interaction on the streets, outside the class. Living as a designer, a musician, an artist, and a father gives him a lot of opportunities to re-examine a variety of issues he encounters. By embodying various roles in life, Farid contemplates the frenzy of life; and it is implied in the dialectical nuances of his works.

The patchworks arranged by Gatot Pujiarto were originally an experiment on the elements of line, color, and field. At the middle of his working process, Gatot imagined a deep dark room. Gatot Pujiarto then developed an imagination about abyssal life that he later depicted on his own version of submarine life. Gatot invites us to ‘dive’ into the imaginations manifested in the work with the dimension of 3 x 6 meters. Beneath the water, we can only make interpretations of the dark submarine life down there. For Gatot, what exists in the depths, like human heart or life, is a mystery we should interpret or explain over and over again.

The dialog between face and patchworks constructs Gatot’s idea on canvas. Gatot’s interest in patchworks arose when he realized that his friends were so dependent on oil and acrylic paint. Thus, they will not work, unless they have the paint. Therefore, he tried to find an alternative medium available nearby. Cloth has drawn his interest for, beside its accessibility, it has the quality that fits his exploration. Gatot was faced with so many unexpected things during his experiment on the textures and patterns of patchwork, thus he had to negotiate with the work. A graduate of Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at IKIP Malang, Gatot has an interest in human behaviors and daily expressions. For him, human face stores a lot of stories, whether conveyed or concealed, a comedy or a tragedy. In fact, they are inseparable and engraved on someone’s face.

indieguerillas presents an interactive artwork at Biennale Jogja XIV. They invite the visitors to trace the sounds identical to Yogyakarta cultures, while exploring the visualizations. The idea of this work is to create a space providing an auditive and visual experience, giving more “power” to the visitors to combine the auditive and visual elements of that space. It intends to discuss the changing and remaining values in the development of Yogyakarta city. It is not a mere nostalgia, it invites us to re-trace the diversity of cultural values remaining around us today.

In this artwork, indieguerillas collaborate with the musician Ari Wulu.

The duo artists, Santi Ariestyowanti (Santi) and Dyatmiko Bawono (Miko)—both graduated from ISI Yogyakarta, are renowned for the combination between the traditional and the modern. indieguerillas’ artworks are typical of noisy and colourful pop cultures, while at the same time carrying traditional legendary icons. Through the cross-media works, indieguerillas explain their reality as Javanese, living in the midst of global consumerism that demands everything provided instantaneously. Working becomes a ritual of self-criticism and a method to re-examine themselves. For them, the urban and rural people are the same. What distinguishes them is only the fact that the urban live in a more sophisticated locus, while they maintain the agricultural way of thinking.

Ari has pursued his interest in electronic music since the late 1990s. Known as midiJUNKIE or WVLV in electronic music scene, he also works as a Sound Technician at Gameloft, an international game company. Ari is developing a contemporary gamelan project with Komunitas Gayam 16, entitled Saron Groove; and playing in a duo DJ with Rancak Arcade group.

He is a board member of Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival and Festival Kesenian Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Art festival).

The artwork by Julian “Togar” Abraham originates from his interest in a place named Barus in North Sumatra. He tried to investigate the connection between camphor—which was popular thousand years ago—and this place. It was said that in the 4 th to 9 th centuries, camphor was more expensive than gold. Kâfûr, which literary means chalk, is also written in Surah Al-Insan (Surah Al-Insan: 5). Togar discovered that Barus today is in totally different condition from that narrated in the remarkable stories about it. He can not find any camphor tree (Dryobalanops aromatic) anymore. Most of the area turned into oil palm plantations. It is like the glorious history disappeared off the face of the earth. Togar found that barus camphor, well-known as a reliable preservative, in fact, can not preserve itself. Togar offers a reminiscence about the glory of Barus he knew from Pak Silaban, a local who still “bears” the remaining evidence of the past.

Julian Abraham or Togar is an artist who pays special attention on repetition, interconnectivity, interrelationship, and continuity in the prevailing social system. He finished his study on Broadcasting and Film at Akindo, Yogyakarta, and graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Medan Institute of Technology. The three keywords of his artistic practices are generative, manipulative, and problematic. In order to present his perspective on a social phenomenon, he often deals with the complicated—or confusing—matters and materials both literally and sensorily.

“The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave”
John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667)

“The more violent their movements become and the faster they sink in. The belligerents don’t notice the abyss they’re rushing into; from outside however, we see it clearly”
Michel Serres, The Natural Contract (1995)

What do we owe to the things we can’t see?
Nature shoulders the weight of Man, and yet there is a more debilitating process occurring. Human lives are so often focused on the spectacle of the world and so few are noticing the mud that will eventually swallow us. Light is a window into the experience of the sublime. It is capable of illumination, though if you stare at the sun too long, it may blind you. There is also light invisible to the human eye, and yet we know these lights, we affirm them in controlled experiments for us to know its existence to be true. So we move amongst worlds, between the material and immaterial, projecting extensions of our selves across mediums. Believing in things we cannot see. ‘Interim’ grapples with intrinsic human qualities that are often hard to formulate. In this piece, the artist’s essential feminine Nature is symbolically presented as light emitting in a dark room, both illuminating and blinding. Look closer, beyond the veil of rays, and the sum of divided parts begin to accumulate form. Legs, a torso, and a head. Human lives are fleeting, possessing an interim body in an ancient world.

According to her observation and reflection, Kinez considers a natural phenomenon at a certain moment as puzzles, that inspired her in seeing the “reality” of human today: regarding their behaviours and beliefs of self-existence. Kinez found her understanding through experiencing and exploring some remote areas as listening to the wisdom of the past. With Kinez, talking about the past means talking about the period of hundreds or thousands years ago. After graduating from college in England, Kinez mostly works for documenting research and artifacts of the National Archaeological Research Center and Bandung Geological Museum. She produces her artworks in the forms of photograph, video, and installation which put the ancient artifacts “on stage” in some art galleries. Kinez combines scientific research method and the styles of fashion show to awe us of the calm yet strong nature.

Lugas Syllabus depicts the memory of his hometown, Pagaralam, South Sumatra, in his work, The Relationshop between Hope and Blood. The hills of Pagaralam and the architecture of its traditional house inherited across generations have become his inspiration. Through his artwork, Lugas talks about the contradiction between the development of technology and traditional values. Technology, that is supposed to strengthen the bond between humans, has widened the gap and limited their relationship with one another instead. Lugas believes that as the relation between humans gets worse, particularly in the nuclear families, the nature goes likewise.

Lugas Syllabus plays in between the childhood fantasy and the imagination of Mooi Indie. In his paintings, this bachelor of Fine Arts from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, uses the images of action figures from various backgrounds. At a glance, Lugas’ paintings seem cheerful and light. However, the poker faces of the characters conjure a horrifying impression through the contradictory background. His fantasy also revolves around myths, fables, and various kinds of fairy tale from the past. While his paintings seem humorous, his installation works are more likely deep and serious. Lugas chooses installation when images are no longer capable of delivering his ideas.

Maria Indriasari’s works originated from a story about parents who refused to bury their dead child for they were afraid that the child would be tormented in the afterlife. Maria compares that story with how Ibrahim acquiesced his son, Ishmael, to be sacrificed, as narrated in Islam. For Maria, the comparison is a part of her pursuit of the value of authentic life. Her work depicts the earthly tangles that shackle humans and prevent them from reaching authenticity.

The role and position as a woman become a whirling productive anxiety for Maria Indriasari. Her artwork is laden with thoughts and reflections on what she sees and bears day by day. Maria graduated from the School of Recorded Media Arts, ISI (Indonesian Institute of the Arts) Yogyakarta. She includes many identical artifacts of women in her artworks. It seemed that she is to talk about her gloom concerning the reality faced by Indonesian women today through some artifacts like pins, clothes, or home appliances. The adorable shapes of various colors ironically imply the impressions of “darkness” and “gloom” that reflect the dynamics of her intellectuality.

Mulyana’s artwork for Biennale Jogja XIV is a journey to hope. Mulyana reflects the consequences of his choices of life. He believes that hope is close to human will and nature. It means, hope is likely to be real or merely wishful thinking. In between hope and reality, Mulyana puts sleeping as the form of independence for a subject, when one sleeps and admit hope and reality happily. For his present work, Mulyana uses only one color. He made this choice to challenge himself of how he would remain creative in limitation. He would like to offer a new perspective in regard to pink color which is identical to a certain gender.

Submarine is a silent world where conversation seems to fade out. Mulyana’s seaworld-themed series of artwork are like a representation of an enjoyable corner where Mulyana feels free to be himself. This alumnus of Pondok Pesantren Gontor (Gontor Islamic Boarding School) and Visual Arts Education at UPI Bandung assumes that art is his reliever, entertainer, and friend. Mulyana’s works are an octopus monster made by knitting thread and cloth. The shape of an octopus and its moving tentacles represents the hands that pray and work. The monster is not alone. It co-exists with its habitat and friends. Through the knitting techniques he learned in his study in Bandung, Mulyana gets a lot of opportunities to build a world of fantasy which presents power and fragility.

Narpati Awangga compares the rapid development of digital technology during the last decade to several decades before. The speed and interconnection experienced by today’s generation was only a luxurious imagination back in 15 or 25 years ago. Narpati Awangga, in his specialty, visualizes it in the form of pixel art. Not merely presenting his knowledge on computing technology, he selects which forms of the technology that belong to Indonesian popular cultures as well. Other than the visualization, he also shows us how human feels while interacting with such technologies.

Born and raised in Jakarta, Narpati Awangga, familiarly known as Oomleo, had studied for six years at ISI Yogyakarta before deciding to return to Jakarta. Oomleo assumes arts as an expression of honesty originating from his personal notes and life experience. Currently working on mostly digital artworks, Oomleo also engages in music with Goodnight Electric, organizing musical performances, broadcasting, hosting karaoke performances and digital art workshop for youths. In his work, Oomleo chooses various linguistic and visual idioms that seem absurd, stupid, and random. On the other hand, he offers certain brilliance wrapped in humour regarding the urban phenomena happening around.

Patriot Mukmin brings forth the theme of the illusion of Indonesian football in his work. He was inspired by the fact that this year, a number of supporters died in the football stadium while supporting their favourite teams. Indonesian soccer supporters fanaticism is undoubted, whereas in terms of achievement, Indonesian football has nothing to be proud of. Speaking about the fanaticism, Patriot underlines that being football supporters in the stadium, cheering for their favourite teams, may surpass political differences among them. Patriot’s work for Biennale Jogja XIV is made in response to Tisna Sanjaya’s work (2000) entitled Art and Football for Peace. By this work, Patriot borrows artistic language to articulate the values of peace and friendship in football.

Memory and illusion blur out facts, so do politics and art. Patriot Mukmin, graduated cum laude from Visual Arts Graduate Program in FSRD ITB, put such assumption as the basis of his practice. For him, political history is a vague domain containing various faces. Something is perhaps obvious or tangible among the vague, but each “clarity” is always multi-faceted. Patriot Mukmin invites the audiences to enter an illusive territory through an optical trick he made of weaves. He plays with diverse point of views since he believes it can make people enjoying the work from multiple sides. The weaves, made of pieces of paper cut horizontally and vertically, drift the audiences deep into wondering. And even further: looking back at history with its ambiguous face.

Ngakan Ardana is interested in Sumanto case: a man who dug up and ate corpses for supernatural purposes. Ngakan also expands his interest in various practices of exploitation of humans or communities for wealth and power. Ngakan discovered that Sumanto and the people who take advantages of others’ misery tend to look friendly outside, but heartless inside. Ngakan’s idea was presented through paintings that depict paradoxes about the recurring violences around us, that made us seem to be used to them.

For Dewa Ngakan Made Ardana, his artworks represent the efforts to answer all questions in his mind. However, he found his works unable to satisfy his curiosity. Choosing the path of visual art since 2003, currently he feels that he has no strict standard for the concept of his works as a visual artist. Growing up in Bali and finishing his study at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Denpasar, now Ardana resides in two different cities. Yogyakarta and Denpasar are the places for all his questions and works. In his working process, Ardana attempts to get out of the concept of modern visual art by reproducing a work similar to the archives from the past. Ardana does not deny his desire to “return” to traditional painting.

Citing the expression of Buzz Lightyear, the astronaut figure in Toy Story, Nurrachmat Widyasena builds his artwork on the dream of a glorious future. As a citizen of a third world country, Nurrachmat dreams about the passion of the development in the future. The characters are drawn in an animated style, floating in the air, trying to reach the light “up there.” As the visual strategy, Nurrachmat puts his artwork in between propaganda, irony, and comedy. Nurrachmat realizes that the future of the third word countries is still questionable. He expresses this notion in the animated figures, floating objects, development as dream or reverie, multiplying hope, and reality that drifts away from dream.

Retro-futuristic imagination became the main interest of Nurrachmat Widyasena or Ito’ in creating his works. Bearing his childhood memory about the ideas of space age, he initiated a satirical comedy on what we, “the fools of the third world”—as he calls himself, can do to change the destiny of mankind. During the last two years, Nurrachmat concerns that the future will be dominated by Western ideas, while we can only sit watching. His artwork is the representation of his concern about the labels “ignorant” and “old-fashioned” inherent in the citizens of Indonesia.

During the recent years, we are faced with disputes between groups, one group puts a label on another. The people arbitrarily characterize the others just to differentiate one group from another. Roby gets fed up with those self-claimed truths and created an artwork that reflects such condition. For Roby, human can only capture a portion of the whole truth. This time Roby will present his 3D work reflecting that the reality can be seen from different sides, thus results in different conclusion between one another. Roby hopes that diversity can again be something to be grateful of.

Roby was born among a blacksmith community in Pandean, Ambarawa, Central Java. After graduating from Grafika Vocational High School, Semarang, Roby had worked in Batam for a year, then he moved to Yogyakarta to work as a graphic designer. Roby is now studying graphic design at the Indonesian Institute for the Arts, Yogyakarta. Since five years ago, Roby has been focusing on painting. Roby’s artworks originate from his touching personal daily experiences. The objects in Roby’s paintings symbolize the memorable stories in his life. In one of his artworks he includes some characters that narrate different yet unrelated collections of stories creating a surrealistic impression.

What if visual artists gather and form a rock band? Please welcome Sangkakala, a rock music group with mediocre skills yet all-out fashion. But do not get us wrong, Sangkakala arranged their music seriously; their identity can be recognized through a live music performance with certain typical characteristics. The typical characteristics are Hendra “Blankon” Priyadhani’s fashion, Rudi Atjeh’s fireworks stage act, Ikbal’s customized guitar, and Tatang’s slow style behind his crazy drum beats. Each personnel contributes some parts of their music and life to shape the identity of Sangkakala. For Biennale Jogja XIV, they present a music performance of Sangkakala, without involving any of the personnel. The show must go on even though none of the personnel of Sangkakala performs on the stage.

Marking the juxtaposition of visual art and rock music may be the current definition of Sangkakala. Established in the end of 2005, three out of four personnels of Sangkakala studied in the Department of Fine Arts, ISI Yogyakarta, while the other one in the Department of Music. For Sangkakala, a music performance is not merely about sound, but also about appearance. Sangkakala is a visual artwork presented through the medium of music. Their songs abound in the elements of fashion and life style. On many occasions, they even requested their audiences to dress up like them. At that very point, watching and being watched are inclusive and equal activities, and a performance becomes similar to a collaborative work. Meanwhile off stage, Rudy “Atjeh” Darmawan, Hendra “Blankon” Priyadhani (Baron Capulet Araruna), Riono “Tatang” Tanggul (Tatsoi), and Ikbal Simamura Lubys are separated individuals attributed with their own characteristics of artwork. Currently, they still long for producing an upcoming album, after previously released Macanista and Heavymetalithicum.

For Syaiful Aulia Garibaldi, death has another meaning. It is not merely a process heading to nothingness, but at the same time a process leading to a new life cycle. In biology, human is a part of the ecosystem from which human takes natural resources, and in the end will return therein to keep new life sustained. Syaiful’s work is a short film depicting the life of larvae decomposing corpse. With this work, he reflects on the fact that any part of human is useful for the nature. Watching microscopic visualization of the life of larvae may trigger an imagination about how knowledge is formed and transmitted in minuscule creatures.

Syaiful Garibaldi had once studied Agronomy at Padjajaran University, Bandung, before finally graduated as a bachelor of Graphic Design from FSRD ITB. He began his creative journey with paying attention to the symptoms emerged from language using, and is currently working with microbiological organisms. Tepu—Syaiful’s nickname—conducts his creative process by looking for shapes, and the tension between the acts of creating and destroying. In his recent exploration done by making use of microbiological organism, Tepu is very grateful that Indonesia is a territory with great biodiversity. He utilizes the way nature operates in its organic manner and presents surprises in his working process. His recent works are those that live and remain developing.

For today’s Biennale Jogja XIV, Tattoo Merdeka create an artwork based on their experiences of meeting the child prisoners of Kutoarjo Prison for Children. As children and teenagers who are getting mature, by being in prison they are forced to be revoked from their family and surroundings for committing acts considered as breaking the law. Tattoo Merdeka apply a Javanese philosophy in seeing these children in prison as those who are conducting lelaku, an act of living in paucity, avoiding worldly pleasures, in order to acquire more advanced knowledge or skill. Tattoo Merdeka’s work departs from Kutoarjo child prisoners’ hopes and dreams about their upcoming life outside the jail.

For Dhomas Yudhistira (on the streets, renowned as El Kamprettoz) and his friends, streets are not merely a spot to gather. Streets are where they obtain experiences and knowledge to carry along their life. On the streets, they are forced to be creative in order to survive; and on the streets, they have to share every single thing. Dhomas took an example: his first tattoo equipment was the one his mother—who worked as Javanese bridal make up artist—used to make eyebrows tattoo. Later, he developed simple mechanics he used to build a tatto machine kit made of secondhand things. Dhomas and his friends also “shared” their bodies with those who wanted to be tattoo artist; they provided their bodies as the media for amateur tattoo artists. Tattoo Merdeka activists are basically those who are fond of drawing on some media which were once considered uncommon, such as human bodies, walls, or motor vehicles. Visual art scene might have not taken their practices into account, whereas what these tattoo artists did is closely related to the practices of visual art.

Tattoo Merdeka consists of:
Dhomas “Kampretz” Yudhistira, Wiwid Somawijaya, Dhendra Setho, Dedi Praboejazz, Anneke Fitrianti, Munir Kusranto, Gepenk Tattoo, Benedictus Rio “koplo”, Nandi Yoga, Helly KKK, Uceng Tattoo, Dimas Pesawart Kertas, Ferry Poison, Mamat Murbaut, Yohanes Botax, Frans Anggoman Chorawk Tattoo, Raffi Rodesta, Bayu Widodo, Pathub Pork, Gembol Prablika, Kuntet Tattoo, Gilang Mohican, Djathy Surclass, Herjun Sasmitha, Thomas D tattoo, Bambang mBendol.

Wiguna Valasara lives in two worlds running simultaneously. The first one is his neighbourhood in Bali in which the nature of communality is always put forward. The second one is the universe of insights and knowledge he acquired from his learning experiences, meeting people outside Bali, and travelling to other places. The two parallel universes shape Valasara’s viewpoints that are inseparable from Balinese communal culture, complete with all sorts of rituals’ merriness and the silence he encounters everytime he questions his position amidst Balinese cultures. His work bring the two worlds confronting each other, by following the styles of traditional and modern paintings.

Bali, in which he was born and raised, and its daily traditions have influenced Made Wiguna Valasara’s works in its own way. Graduated from the Department of Sculpture and Painting at ISI Yogyakarta, Valasara treats canvas as not merely a supporting medium, instead, it is a kind of language within the world of visual art. Such perspective challenges him to respond to the canvas by creating contours, textures, and volumes through sewing and filling in the canvas, instead of brushing some paint thereon. In recent years, Valasara put custom as his source of anxiety and inspiration. He particularly concerns with the traction between individuality (and the freedom of thinking and expression) and communality, within the context of Balinese people construction and the entire traditional rituals and religious activities.

“The cries echoed in silence! I was reminded of the sharp spears that had conquered the dusty land, challenged the heating tropical sun that felt like burning my skin. There were some secret moments when I felt like I was roaring together with the tiger that was about to die. But for the rest of the time, I was the crowd! I was the pointing ends of the spear! I live from the death of the tiger, that had jabbed its stomach to our spears!”
Unknown author, Tanah Runcuk, 1870

Timoteus Anggawan Kusno traced the tradition of rampogan macan, and found it as a celebration of violence conducted by a crowd. The tiger that was put to death either at the edge of a buffalo or bull’s horn or the sharp spearheads brought by the nameless crowd had “entertained” the King, all honourary guests, and the colonial officials as well. Timoteus discovered the similarity between the crowd’s clamor within the occasion of rampogan macan and the violent acts conducted by the crowd against those who are considered “different”.

For Timoteus Anggawan Kusno, history, memory, and the fiction of history are the centrum of idea. He graduated from Communication Studies Department, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, UGM, and is currently studying in Religious and Cultural Studies Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University. In order to engineer some fictions of the past history, he made use of the elements of everyday life (such as notebook, bag, suitcase). Timoteus’ works are drawings and installation comprising the everyday objects; those are arranged in a game of language and visual that intertwines facts and fictions. Through his process of creation, he engineered a different reading towards various possibility regarding the past.

Yunizar’s painting is a recording of moments sedimented in the painter’s mind. This time, unlike a lot of his previous works which only used two or three colours, Yunizar poured a variety of colours onto his works. Matahari Kuning depicts Yunizar’s experience of watching the situation happening in the morning and afternoon; he offers the warmth he found within different situations. Maintaining his typical style: painting like children, Yunizar’s work proposes some surprising shapes of object he scattered all over the giant canvas, together with some chatters he inserted thereon.

Childhood’s joy is a characteristic prominent in almost all of his works. For Yunizar, every single thing aims at simplicity. The shapes and strokes he made always look spontaneous, truthful, and modest. Such impressions seem to reawaken a memory of a certain time in the past and the various imagination surrounding it. On the other side, in the era in which representation is largely celebrated like now, the simplicity of shape Yunizar brings forward is an oasis. Each of his work is born from the sediment of stored experiences that represent his unconscious perception on his surroundings.

Wisnu Auri had temporarily left the art of painting in his several recent exhibitions, and even seemed to indicate his rejection against the art of painting. But this time Wisnu created a work of painting for Biennale Jogja XIV. He once again learned craftmanship through the medium of oil paint. He managed to complete 49 paintings varying in size. Those paintings are put in an order based on several episodes of journey, describing his crossing from being surrounded by his self-anxiety to finally making peace with himself.

Wisnu Auri’s works are filled with impression, memory, and remembrance since in his teenage years he frequently dealt with the antiques. Other than developing two or three dimensional artworks, Wisnu—who studied in the Department of Fine Arts, ISI Yogyakarta—also explores the realm of interaction with audiences in some occasions. Wisnu’s prominent characteristics are his choice and consideration of the objects he met. He created a new meaning for those objects, generated from his strategy of arranging them within his works.

“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:6)

The Bible excerpt is the point from which Yudha Kusuma Putera “Fehung” initiate his work. Yudha even take a further look at a couple of human joined by the marriage institution before God. The couple is not merely joined spiritually, but also their physical, social, and cultural lives become one. Collaborating with some families for the process of the work he is about to present in Biennale Jogja XIV, Yudha captured those families in arranged poses and frames. The result is that those families are becoming some new “creatures” before the eye of Yudha’s camera. His interpretation turns the non-tangible bond within a family into something tangible, “real”, and at the same time odd.

Yudha Kusuma Putera, familiarly known as Fehung, is identical to the spirit of his photographs which embodies the reflection on the detail of everyday life. He acquired the visual theories at the Department of Photography, ISI Yogyakarta; and later a number of internship and residency programs are the practices he conducted in order to ripen his artistic journey. He is greatly piqued by his observation towards everyday reality, particularly in regard to an artist’s position and artistic force amidst common people. Fehung’s artistic journey leads him to explore the world outside the circle of visual art scene. For instance, he worked on a site-specific project whose audience is ordinary people such as traders. Meanwhile, in selecting his medium of expression, Fehung considers photograph as something more real, logical, and having its own mysterious space which is unecessary to explain, unlike other medium of visual art.

The previous works of Zico Albaiquni were mostly influenced by S. Sudjojono’s realistic paintings with the theme of social realism. The objects within his paintings are the problematic ones, for example a female body covered with hijab, a place of worship in the middle of brothels, or a farmer whose land is besieged with housings. In this occasion, Zico’s painting suggests a rather distant jump. He portrayed a mythological female body he is not familiar with. To Zico, a female body always becomes problematic in Indonesian contemporary culture. He once again interfered with such problem and showed that within the tradition of Indonesian agricultural society, females play an important and crucial role indeed.

It is the process that matters, not the result. The exploration and quest for a form is a critical element that Zico Albaiquni always wants to present in his works. The man who graduated from the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology)—both undergraduate and graduate program—has been passionate in the art of painting since his encounter with Soedjojono’s works. Zico is on his continuous attempt of exploring the forms of the art of painting and its function in the middle of society. He started with some issues related to Islam, such as the teachings regarding “hijab” and “hijra”. Zico is currently looking for the intersection of Mooi Indie paintings and social criticism by reexamining the notion of space and environment, as well as its influence towards our action and culture. His exploration of ideas and notions of the art of painting has taken him to a state where painting is no longer the final result of an aesthetic exploration; what is important instead is how the very artwork may ignite a discussion on the phenomenon he found within reality.