The Asana Bina Seni program of individual artists, collective artists and young writers/curators aims to encourage learning, discussion and incubation for young practitioners in Indonesia. The program seeks the collaboration of young artists who have an interest in cross-disciplinary and collaborative approaches to art. On March 29, 2023, participants of the Incubation Class take a general class and learn together about various things, In this class session the speaker will be asked to provide material on “The Practice and Politics of Archiving in Art”, Why is archival work and archive processing important for the art world? What is the archiving process and its intersection with political practice in the wider arts? To what extent can archival methods be exercised in the practice of creating works of art? This class will be attended by young individual, collective, and writer/curator artists who are netted in the Asana Bina Seni 2023 Biennale Jogja class. During the class, the participants involved are expected to broaden their horizons of knowledge and build intergenerational networks and revisit their art practices for future art work.
Lisistrata Lusandiana, familiarly called Lisis has served as Executive Director of IVAA (Indonesian Art Archive) since 2018. He became IVAA Program Chair in 2016 and Archive Festival Director in 2017. He was involved as a researcher and assistant curator at the 2015 Biennale Jogja “Hacking Conflict” and was the coordinator of the Biennale Forum Jogja “Age of Hope” in 2017. In addition, he writes for cultural arts magazines, is editor of Mata Window magazine, and is involved in several exhibitions such as art and research projects. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Religious and Cultural Sciences from Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta with a thesis on Backpacker Ethnography, a critical study of community mobility and cosmopolitanism. He is currently developing programs related to decolonization and documentation culture.
Archiving Group
Participants made visits to several places, which have been divided according to their respective interests. The Archiving Group made its first visit to the Sonobudoyo Museum Unit II. Participants were given the opportunity to dialogue with conservators and tour the storage room of ancient collections and manuscripts. This class is a joint learning process about archive management carried out by the Sonobudoyo Museum, before finally being exhibited to the public at large. In addition, participants can see the methods and processes of maintaining historical objects. On the second visit, participants visited FX Harsono’s artist studio, seeing how archives are articulated into works of art. The young artists and writers/curators of the Asana Bina Seni Incubation class learned with Mr. FX Harsono about how to read archives as a context, discourse, and medium for creating works of art in contemporary art criticism more articulately. In addition, this session is also a process of opening the horizons of knowledge of Asana Bina Seni 2023 participants to dialogue with artists, activists, and thinkers in the context of art.
Gender Group
Gender group participants visited artist Mella Jaarsma, this group also visited Biyung Indonesia, a community as well as a social enterprise unit that advocates reproductive health issues. During the visit with Mella Jaarsma, the Gender group had the opportunity to have an intense conversation about Mella’s art practices: her artistic methods, the material forms and approaches she used, to of course the focus on social issues and the power that Mella deepened. Having a career since the 80s in Indonesia when contemporary art was not yet bright, Mella has seen a lot of development in its ecosystem, especially in Yogyakarta itself. Mella emphasized that Indonesia has a tradition of art ecosystem that is strongly tied to social practices, therefore artists do not move in their studios alone. Mella advises young artists not to worry about making wrong or “ugly” works, thereby encouraging the experimentation of the younger generation’s art. On the second visit with Biyung Indonesia, participants got acquainted with the practices of Biyung community activism since 2018. Moving initially with a focus on menstruation and the environment, Biyung throughout its existence has developed as a community, as well as a social enterprise unit, which encourages participation and education in communities with minimal access to menstrual health fulfillment. Biyung emphasized that reproductive health for individuals who have a uterus is closely related to welfare, systemic oppression, and impoverishment of women.
Ecology Group
The Ecology Group in the Asana Bina Seni incubation class visited two communities, Karangkitri in Panggungharjo and Selokraman Farmer Group, Purbayan Kotagede. The Ecology Group focuses on visits related to ecological themes, ranging from the relationship between art and ecology, to art practices and/or citizen movements that use art/cultural practices as a platform to advocate for environmental issues. In Karangkitri, participants learned about independent waste processing carried out by the Waste Management Business Group (KUPAS). The second visit was to the Melati Green Farmer Group, Selokraman with Panen Apa Hari ini to study, travel, and chat together about agricultural practices in urban areas. Visits to various citizen ecology movements are an effort to bring participants closer to situations and realities related to ecological issues, as well as reflect on how artists contribute to citizen movements.
