Forum Group Discussion Yayasan Biennale Yogyakarta: Session 1 “Discussion of Art Space Management in Jogja with Yayasan Biennale Yogyakarta”
2023 will be the second Biennale Jogja equatorial series that will be different. On Thursday, January 5, 2023, Biennale Jogja together with 17 representatives of the art community in Jogja held a discussion entitled Management of Art Space in Jogja with the Jogja Biennale Foundation. Participants who attended included; Nanang Wijaya (NN Art Space), Gunawan Bonaventura (GPrints, Making Art Studio), Nurasif (Coffee WAE Art Space), Gunadi (Pendopo Art Space and Studio Setiyaji), Syahrizal Pahlevi (Miracle Art Prints), Ekwan (Ruang Kembang Jati Art House), Kreasimu (Archive Art Space), Chandra (Drawing Home Studio), Binti (LAV Gallery), Sukma (Crack Studio), Galih (Survive Garage), Rangga (MES Room 56), Dedy Baskoro (Kumpeni Art Space), Arham (Hallway Gallery), Linda (Cemeti), Aurel (Raspati Room), Duls (Soboman 129).
During the discussion event, the discussion participants introduced their community and gallery followed by watching a short video about Biennale Jogja. This video is played back to refresh the memory of the 10-year journey of Biennale Jogja with collaborator countries, as well as to provide an introduction to the theme of the upcoming Biennale Jogja 2023. Alia Swastika, Director of the Biennale Jogja Foundation and moderator of this discussion conveyed the plan to raise the theme of locality and new imagination space, as well as the plan to make JNM no longer a centralized space for the big exhibition event of Biennale Jogja. In addition, the Biennale will also present exhibition spaces in villages in Yogyakarta, villages are a place to survive urgent changes, many values of local philosophy, movements and allow becoming a prototype.
Since 2011, Biennale Jogja has had parallel events such as the equator festival. This festival is in conjunction with various events in other districts with an open call for the community and interdisciplinary collectives in response to the big theme of Biennale Jogja. But for this year, there will be a selection of 34 Art Spaces to collaborate with.
This discussion was responded by several participants, including Syahrizal Pahlevi from Miracle Art Prints, according to him Biennale Jogja must release the equator theme and make changes to be different from other major art events in Jogja. Dunadi expressed his interest in this collaboration, especially by utilizing the wealth of tourism in Jogja. Sigit from Krack Studio again explained the history of the origin of Biennale Jogja. According to him, the background of each different art space does need to be discussed further. It would be better if fellow communities and art space owners build horizontal networks and do not consider this to be a competition for the same vision. Dedy Baskoro as the manager of Kumpeni Art Space also shared his experience as a free cast venue. According to him, managers are stuck in the industry, artists again question who visitors will attend, and buyers of their works, this is a dilemma for managers.
Arham (Lorong Gallery) also expressed his opinion about the Biennale Jogja that will come out of JNM, Biennale Jogja has many interesting spaces, new and still not captured by radar. This program exists and is merged into Asana Bina Seni. The parallel format of equatorial events and festivals can be revisited, as they reach beyond urban areas and event-based art, this has already been done by the Biennale with collaborating countries only to be matured in format. Linda from Cemeti also thinks the same, with the latest formulation of trans local trans history, this is a great experiment to answer the challenge of yesterday’s equatorial series, how to connect the artistic practices of other regions with our context. This is big PR, because it involves a lot of people, artistic vision, institutional mission is quite diverse. Linda is optimistic that the equator will become a center for the study of equatorial art, not choosing a country that is political about equatorial discourse.
Discussions with the community and Art Space managers ended with an Agreement to create one more meeting focusing on future plans at the end of February Week 4. Biennale Jogja would like to thank the community and managers for attending, sharing their concerns, views on the wider governance of Jogja’s arts.
Overview of FGD event of Yogyakarta Biennale Foundation Session 1: “Discussion of Art Space Management in Jogja with Yogyakarta Biennale Foundation” at Kedai Kebun Forum :
