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INDONESIAN
VISUAL ART
A Never Ending Process of Interpellation
Prof. Dr. Primadi Tabrani
INTRODUCTION
The term and concept of fine art in Indonesia is something relatively
new, having come from the west through colonialism, and has turned out
to have shortcomings in the eyes of the Indonesian culture. First, western
fine art makes a distinction between “high” or museum art
and “low” or public arts, and sometimes speaks only of painting
and sculpture. Second, the application of the “beauty-aesthetics-mainstream-universal”
chain of though has proven to be problematic with its theoretical and
absolute definitions and dominant histories.
Third, the “schools” defined within this framework of thinking
become dominant histories within a linear chronology, in which a given
school is automatically considered as falling within a specific period
of time. For example, this approach requires that Impressionism be considered
only in relation to the relatively narrow window of time in which this
school or style of art emerged, and that Post-Modern (or Post-mo) trends
in art can only be considered in connection with the period coming chronologically
after the period in which Modernism emerged.
To say it blatantly, within this constrained framework of thought, in
which everything is defined and categorized in little boxes of time, it
would be impossible for elements of the Post-mo school’s thinking
and style to emerge in the period of prehistory. But is this perception
accurate? Conversely, in the Post-mo period, are all the art forms and
styles occurring definable only within the Post-mo school? It turns out
that in the midst of the Post-mo period, we simultaneously have works
that better reflect the thinking or artistic stances of other schools!
The fourth shortcoming in relation to the Indonesian mindset on aesthetics
has to do with the western cult of individualism that claims that creation
is good, while eclecticism is bad. Fifth, the assumption built into the
concept of “modern” that something new is always desirable,
while tradition is perceived to be obsolete and needful of discarding.
This stance has been imposed within modern chronological art histories
from the period of Romanticism up to Cubism.
The result has been that once art has been thoroughly explored within
this framework, the western thinkers have easily discarded their own credo
by lumping the concepts of “ethnic” “period art”
and the various styles of the “isms” into one type of art
and labeling it “Post Modern”. What then is the period after
Post-mo to be called: Post-Post-mo? Anti-climatically, it seems that what
comes is just “Contemporary Art”.
Sixth, western visual art theory remains very Newtonian (a world view
emerging with the publishing of Principia in 1687), while we are now in
the Einsteinium era (with a new view of the universe set forth in Einstein’s
General Relativity Theory in 1916).
For many thinkers, this western fine art view involving discourses, theoretical
justifications, systems, and dominant histories, has become an intellectual
headache. It simply doesn’t compute within the Indonesia artistic
experience. So why follow this train of thought on endlessly in Indonesia?
Why not look for and define our own view of the art existing and developing
in the archipelago? This Indonesian visual art ”world view”
would at least provide another approach, perhaps more valid and applicable,
to the art happening here and now?
Indonesian Visual Art
What I mean by “Indonesian art” is the type of art produced
in the archipelago from the period of prehistory to the current time.
Indonesian art, in this sense, is actually a “total art”,
and in this context any art form that has a visual element, can be called
“visual art”. Conversely it could also be called another kind
of art. Originally in Indonesia there was no painting or sculpture that
stood alone as a specifically defined art form. Artistic creations were
always simply part of a whole, or “total art”. For example:
the Wayang puppet could be called a visual art, while simultaneously it
is a part of a theater performance. In the same way, a sculpture could
be viewed as an individual entity, while it almost always is also part
of a temple, a building, or related integrally to some architectural structure.
Indonesia’s history of visual art is a never-ending process of
interpolation. And there are numerous concepts behind this seemingly endless
interpellation within Indonesian art. In this paper I will talk about
several aspects of this phenomenon.
Nusantara Concept ( Wawasan Nusantara )
For hundreds of thousands of years the inhabitants of the Indonesian
archipelago (or Nusantara) were impacted by the oscillation of two continental
plates (the Sunda Plate of Asia and the Sahul Plate of Australia), and
the fluctuations and changes occurring in two seas (the Indian and Pacific
oceans). During the latest Ice Age the sea and land levels oscillated
up and down, to eventually create the string of Indonesian Islands that
stretch from Sabang to Merauke, a distance equivalent to that between
London and Teheran.
The migration of people from Asia to the archipelago was already happening
during this period of geographic fluctuation and upheaval. In these earlier
time, when the sea levels were low, the Java Sea was more like a massive
river, and the people living along its banks could simply escape into
the inner recesses of the various islands defined when the water began
to rise. Because of this, there remains a strong bond between the inhabitants
of the eastern parts of Sumatra island, northern Java island and southern
Kalimantan island. It is still as if these peoples feel that there is
“family” beyond the sea surrounding their individual “homelands”.
And this is characteristic of the perception of the peoples of the other
islands in the archipelago as well.
Over time, as the bodies of water separating the land masses became larger
and more clearly defined, the perception of Indonesia as Nusantara existing
from pre-historic times, modified into a view of the combined land masses
as a kind of “maritime continent”. The people of the Indonesian
archipelago refer to their country or homeland as “Tanah-Air”,
which literally means “land and water”. So Indonesia is not
only the islands, but also the sea between those islands. This is why
although every local art form existing among the more than 17,500 islands
of Indonesia is unique, there are many designs found in the traditional
visual arts of Indonesia that are basically the same. This reality is
reflected in the saying Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity).
Some Basic Designs
The “Gunungan” (Mountain), or the ‘”Tree of Life”
design is not characteristic of Central Java, but also of Sumatra, Kalimantan,
Sulawesi, and other islands. The mono-dualism concept can also be found
throughout the Indonesian archipelago. And the “boat design”
is commonly found in houses in Sumatra, the Sunda region, Kalimantan,
Sulawesi, Papua, and Flores, among other places. Just as the outrigger
canoe is typical of the entire archipelago, the STP system of drawing
and its accompanying traditional visual language are also found everywhere
among the Indonesian islands.
Mono-dualism Concept
The mono-dualism concept can best be explained as a way of thinking in
which contrasts are perceived as part of a whole, not as separate things:
above-below, man-woman, good-bad, right-left, creativity-eclecticism.
These pairs are not perceived as being opposed to each other, rather,
they are seen as partners. Progress happens as a result of the working
together of these dual entities within a single effort. It is not the
problem of which is stronger and more powerful, or which is the weaker
and which is the subject or the object. The central idea is one of the
two is only complete when accompanied by its partner. This concept includes
the “space” between the dual elements as another factor, a
unifying agent, within the overall relationship and interaction. This
whole approach to existence can thus be called the concept of mono-dualism;
there are three elements which together make one whole. So within this
mono-dualism way of thinking, does it have to seem strange to look for
a “third element”, a “space” between relativism
and universalism? In contrast to what often occurs within the framework
of the western, compartmentalized way of thinking, things rarely “fall
between the cracks” within the mono-dualism concept.
The thinking of the West also acknowledges dualism, but within this view,
the pairs are almost always perceived as opposed to each other, and progress
is achieved as a result of the tension and conflict between those opposing
polls. Mono-dualism is radically different than this western concept of
conflict as catalyst.
Interpellation and Hybridism
So interpellation and hybrids are a common thing in Indonesia art. The
Indonesian cultural “hybrid” can be defined as follows: anything
that comes from outside will be integrated until it has taken on a high
level of local content. In this way we will not lose our grasp on our
perception of ourselves, or our “identity”. It is as if our
identity or sense of “self” has simply developed and progressed
through the passage of time and the various eras without any fundamental
shift in the initial paradigm. This concept of artistic or cultural “hybridism”
does not fit easily into the western cultural exchange theory.
However, it should not be difficult to understand how such a mindset
toward oneself or such an “identity” could develop among a
people with the experiences that geography, time, and history have imposed
on the residents of the archipelago. Since the Indonesian islands functioned
as a physical “passageway” between two oceans and between
continents, it is also reasonable to perceive the basic culture existing
in the archipelago as functioning as the passageway between several religions.
In the same way, it can be seen that the Indonesian archipelago also acted
as the passageway for the various colonial, cultural, political and economic
systems. The result of these geographic, religious, cultural and sociopolitical
comings and goings has been the continuous process of interpolation, with
the tendency toward hybridism being a natural outcome. Within the Indonesian
way of thinking, nobody can truly create something from zero, we can only
make a better use of, or develop an improved performance from what has
been set out as a pattern in the past.
Understandably, although there are diverse ethnic roots existing in the
archipelago, as a whole, Indonesians form a solidly collective society,
and are not so strong on individualism. Therefore, in relation to the
type of artworks traditionally developed and created by Indonesians, what
occurs is usually a type of “total art” resulting from teamwork
rather than individual effort. Once this is understood, then, is it really
that much of a jump in logic to say that performance visual art and multimedia
art are not, for Indonesian’s, contemporary art forms? This perception
of art in Indonesia might also help us to understand why performance art
and multimedia art are so popular in contemporary Indonesia. And it may
also hold the answer as to why so many young Indonesians have made such
advances and gained international recognition for their experimental filmmaking
and organization of Independent film festivals.
Systems of Drawing and Visual Language
Western art in general, fine art -- painting and sculpture -- in particular,
are very Newtonian. In essence, Newton “stopped” time with
the idea that the moon could circle the earth if and only if the earth
was stationary. Although we all know now that the earth is not stationary,
it also moves, the Newtonian system and the primary assumptions about
the physical world it put into place have continued to dominate human
thought processes for more than 300 years (since the Principia was published
in 1687). For Newton a plane is two dimensional (width and length) and
an object is three dimensional (width, length, height), without any consideration
of the dimension of time. Under the influence of this way of perceiving
the world, was developed the most important system of drawing and sculpting
in western tradition: Naturalism-Perspective-Freeze moment (NPF). Under
this system, an object is drawn/sculpted from one distance, one angle
and one time, much the same thing that occurs when we take a snapshot
with a camera. So the picture becomes a scene on which the objects are
imprisoned in a frame and can only describe the action or situation depicted
in the picture. Western fine art, from the time of the Greeks up to just
before Cubism, was predominantly influenced of this NPF system of drawing.
Through colonialism this system traveled globally, eventually reaching
Indonesia.
In Indonesia, another system of drawing developed within the perceptual
context of the Nusantara culture and visual tradition: the Space-Time-Plane
(STP) system. In this system, the artist “shoots” from several
different distances, several angles, and several periods of time simultaneously.
So not only does a drawing, or work of art, created within this conceptual
framework include a recognition of the dimension of time, it deals with
a wholeness, not just elements of the whole. This system allows a picture
to encompass a sequence that can have several scenes and spaces, and can
include repeated depictions of a given object, with the items depicted
remaining unframed and free within space. What results is still definable
as a picture, but it is also “alive” in that it is a “still”
picture that follows or carries a story line. It is, therefore, interesting
to note that this STP system of drawing, born in prehistory, falls very
closely into line with discoveries relating to modern physics. In particular,
the General Relativity theory of Einstein (1916) which states that, “Every
object in the universe has its own time and space, that are not the same
with each other, but those objects can become a part of a common theme”.
So actually Picasso’s Cubism comes closer in approach to this STP
system than it does to the conceptual underpinnings of the NPM system
in its conception and application. But when Picasso’s Cubistic depictions
of objects move across the boundaries of the NPM system, they become increasingly
difficult to recognize, whereas in the traditional drawing of Indonesia,
it remains easy to recognize the depictions as representative of specific
objects. So Cubism is in a sense a “hybrid” of two trains
of thought or approaches, whereas the STP is a visual language. In comparison
to the representative drawings created within the conceptual framework
of the NPM system, drawings created within the scope of the STP mindset
are descriptive explanations of that which is depicted or drawn. And a
traditional drawing not only describes what is drawn, but since it has
a time dimension, it can tell a story as well. This then could be understood
to put the STP approach to visual art into intimate proximity with the
storytelling art forms such as singing, dance, theater and literature.
Actually, within the context of mono-dualism, these two systems of drawing
are not at all confrontational. There exists the necessary meeting space
to see them as a pair in the effort to depict. If the exploitation of
the dimension of time in an STP system drawing is kept to a minimum, it
is easily perceived as a drawing created within the framework of the NPF
system.
Conversely, with the advent of digital technology, images created within
the framework of the NPM approach can be manipulated in such a way that
they incorporate the dimension of time; meaning that this image begins
to resemble more closely an image created within STP framework.
This is most apparent in “digital editing” – the latest
offspring of the contemporary explosion of electronic gadgetry. In digital
editing, “stockshots”, whether in the form of still photos
or of segments of film footage, are manipulated electronically through
application of techniques such as dissolves, inserts, zoom ins and zoom
outs, shifts, pans, wipes, etc. All one really needs to merge the NPM
system images and this technology into an articulate whole – a finished
work of art -- is simply to apply the mindset of the STP system’s
visual language which allows the artist to ask and answer simultaneously:
how big, how small, how far, how close? Thus the mono-dualism conceptual
view enables the bringing together of the static, separate NPM stockshots
in such a way that they tell a story as in the STP approach to art. Hence
the thinking required of a digital editor would clearly be enhanced tremendously
by studying the traditional Indonesian STP visual language.
Beauty and Communication
Anthropological studies have determined that not all ethnic cultures
in the world make art for the sake of beauty. However, these same studies
have come to the conclusion that all ethnic entities do make art for the
sake of communication. This is especially true of cultures in which art
is still deeply rooted on ritual. So, within this understanding of art
as a form of communication, couldn’t installation art be perceived
as a contemporary version of ritual art?
Within the scope of Indonesia’s traditional culture, the mono-dualism
concept readily brings about the phenomenon of hybridism: in Indonesia,
art is accepted as something beautiful as it is perceived within western
thought, but it is also understood as a way to communicate or tell a story.
For that reason, representative drawing as produced within the NPM system
of thought and which can be readily recognized, finds acceptance among
the Indonesian public. However, we don’t like abstract drawings,
most of which result from a pulling away from the NPM system’s boundaries,
because their content does not seem readily accessible. Indonesians value
the beautiful because we don’t like to exaggerate the ugly or sad
aspects of life. But we do not take the depiction of beauty to the extreme
of Greek art in which a dying warrior must still have a smile on his face.
Indonesians also tend to prefer typological beauty over individual beauty.
The face of Arjuna (a hero from the wayang puppet theater) has the characteristics
of what is perceived as princely beauty. This same preference for a generalized
rather than specific beauty can be seen in a lack of close-up images and
direct depictions of specific visages in Indonesian traditional visuals
arts: reliefs, wayang puppets, wayang scroll paintings, etc. Indonesians
communicate more through gestures than facial expression, hence the characters
in Indonesian traditional drawings are drawn from head to foot. The faces
of the Buddha, kings or princes in a Borobudur temple relief cannot be
recognized as the visages of any particular individuals, they are recognized
through their physical stances, attributes and gestures.
This is one of the reasons why creations by Indonesian artists who are
heavily influenced by western theories and styles with their abstract
constructs and aesthetics appear elitist and alien to the lay public.
It is difficult for Indonesians to relate to western visual images. Western
art or western influenced local art fails to communicate readily because
it simply does not speak the same language.
Conclusion
From the above it can be understood that Total Art, Mono-dualism, Bhinneka
Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), the Nusantara concept, and the STP visual
language of Indonesia reach back to prehistory. With a social and cultural
structure deeply rooted in such concepts, this may be why, even though
when, sometimes, as a people who have long inhabited a land that functions
as a gateway for the world, Indonesians may feel as if they are being
swept along by western concepts, they find it is simply a matter of reaching
out to grasp their existing cultural heritage to regain their equilibrium
and identity.
This is as true today as it was when the first travelers from western
regions passed through the waterways of the archipelago. That is one of
the reasons why it is so important for us to scrutinize our Indonesian
art experience and analyze contemporary developments and trends in relation
to our own cultural heritage. This is especially true when western theoretical
justification of art styles and directions threaten to create a cultural
headache within Indonesian art circles and confusion within our larger
cultural environment. We must allow ourselves to step back and take a
close look at the ideas of Total Art-Single Art; Modern-Traditional; High
Art-Popular Art; Universality-Plurality, and Individuality-teamwork. Also,
why not study the Indonesian Visual Art Concepts and strive to make them
more available to the international art world as another way of seeing
things?
It may just be that this is the best way to find the theoretical meeting
point within the “third space” between cultural relativism
and universalism.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIES
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Pustaka, Jakarta.
DAVIES, Paul, 1966, ABOUT TIME, EINSTEIN’S UNFINISHED REVOLUTION,
Simon & Schuster, New York.
HAWKING, Stephen, 2001, THE UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL, Bantam Press, London.
KROM, N.J., 1927, BARABUDUR – ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION, Part
I, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.
McLUHAN, Marshall, 1964, UNDERSTANDING MEDIA, New American Library, New
York.
PINDI SETIAWAN, 1994, Dunwahan Cliffpainting, Content Image analysis
according to its real position on the Cliffs, Graduate Scriptum, Faculty
of Visual Art & Design, Institut Teknologi Bandung.
PRIMADI TABRANI, 1991, The Study of the Visual Language of the Jaka Kembang
Kuning Scroll Wayang, by a comparative Study with the Visual Language
of Modern Two Dimensional Static Audio Visual Media, in connection with
the Visual Language of Prehistory, Primitive, Children drawings, and Lalitavistara
reliefs of Borobudur, Doctorate Disertation, Post Graduate Faculty, Institut
Teknologi Bandung.
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WOSPAKRIK, Hans, J., 1985, EINSTEIN’S GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY,
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YAYAT RASMUN, 1999, A study of Garin’s Films, from its Image-Way
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