Asana Bina Seni is one of the programs of the Yogyakarta Biennale Foundation in order to provide opportunities and space for young artists from Yogyakarta and other regions in Indonesia. This program elaborates their ideas and ideas through regular classes and incubation that take place during February-April 2023, which will then be exhibited on June 9-19, 2023 at Taman Budaya Yogyakarta. Participants consist of artists and writers/curators selected through an open call in February 2023, consisting of 15 individual artists, 7 collective artists and 9 writers/curators from different disciplines ranging from painting, photography, sculpture, music/sound, history, anthropology to theatre or performance.
Many of the works of Asana Bina Seni 2023 artists make the place, literally, a point of departure as well as a medium to tell their respective concerns. Some artists loudly talk about the memory of their childhood stories or the social constructs shaped by the surrounding environment. Some talk about stone hills to touch post-coloniality matters, some talk about tobacco cultivation in East Java to touch on faith-based patron-client relations. Others talk about ethnic motives to preach environmental damage, even discrimination about gender and identity. Some artists immediately display a place, a setting that has a story, into a showroom. A Chinese family teahouse, a Batak kongko place, land for sale and imagination about modernity. Place also includes a medium in the form of everyday artifacts that indicate a sense of place, a sense of space, for artists in the context of their work issues. Objects on the coast of Madura to objects that define women’s activities in public spaces are two of the many examples that can be mentioned.
The word “(Se)place” may have the potential for primordialism—about who is genuine and who is oplosan; who have the right and the right not to speak. “Which ID card?”; “Which original?”; Two of the primordial expressions that could have arisen from feeling local. However, the power relations need to be read carefully because the attempt to divide and divide citizens must come from those who have power; those who need to break the solidarity of citizens. To that end, the exhibition seeks to offer a wide range of ideas and attempts to see the locality from a personal point of view, and not something typical, exotic, or exclusive. Rather, it is a method of trying to sensitize the audience to historical specificities, specific oppressions, and different contexts of resistance that require continuous intense dialogue. “(Se)place” is an attempt to look within, to see the empirical, before responding to more distant and abstract things, in order to emerge a common thread that is interrelated. The hope is that through this context, empathy can grow and solidarity can flourish and take root in everyday life.
The Asana Bina Seni exhibition “(Se)tempat” will take place on June 9-19, 2023 at Taman Budaya Yogyakarta Showroom, Jl. Sriwedani No.1, Ngupasan, Kec. Gondomanan, Yogyakarta City, Special Region of Yogyakarta 55122. It was opened by Dian Lakshmi Pratiwi, SS.M.A. (Head of DIY Cultural Office) and Moelyono.
Artists & Writers/Curators involved in the 2023 Asana Bina Seni Exhibition “(Se)tempat” include:
Artists : Aji Ardoyono, Aman Syahril, Awi Nasution, Fredy Hendra, Ivonne Kani, Ma’rifatul Latifah, Muzeian, Nessa Theo, Nisa Ramadani, Reza Kutjh, Shodiq, Sophie Trinita, Yusi Yuansa, Zakaria, Zuraisa.
Collective : Brebes Artdictive, Kawan Pustaha, Matrahita, Angular Kalisat, Tanglok Art Forum, Meeting Point Forum, Tutti Frutti.
Authors/Curators : Aliffia Marsha N, Ardhias Nauvaly, Dayna Fitria, Hanan Syahrazad, Ima Gusti, Juwita Wardah, Muhammad Farid, Samuel Bonardo, Sekar Atika.