Jim Supangkat is a prominent art curator in Indonesia, as well as a witness to the history of Indonesian modern art. The relay momentum in Jim Supangkat’s thoughts is presented in the summary of the book he has compiled entitled “Satu Abad Gagal Paham” which is also the subject of a seminar organized by Buku Seni Rupa in collaboration with PSPSR in the Auditorium Room, 5th Floor, Faculty of Postgraduate School, UGM, Wednesday (10/5).
The event began with a discussion on the context of “Satu Abad Gagal Paham”, which was born from Jim Supangkat’s long contemplation after evaluating his experience in conversing with various art figures from around the world. The initial discussion was opened with a discussion of art myths that distort the understanding of western and eastern society, thus creating a misunderstanding in Indonesia. Furthermore, Jim also invites the audience and readers of his book to review artistic ideas in art events and review various artistic expressions in various parts of the world. From there, according to Jim, we will realize that there is an art discipline that influences art work practices, as well as an understanding of art itself that has been constructed through art history.
According to Jim, the history of art in Indonesia turned around with the opinion of art history which had been methodized by intellectual parties from western Europe. From here, Jim Supangkat explained that the history of art in Indonesia could be read from two signs, namely the first through Raden Saleh and the second through Raden Saleh. the term “Art” in Indonesian. According to Jim Supangkat, Raden Saleh witnessed major changes in western Europe where at that time he was in France and witnessed the 2nd French revolution. In 1882 Raden Saleh lived in Germany, which at that time coincided with the birth of Hegelian ideas. Armed with his experience in western Europe, Raden Saleh voiced justice in the form of dignity. The birth of the painting on the arrest of Diponegoro is a reflection of Raden Saleh’s thoughts on identity, in this case Western historians stutter to read the painting. Then the second sign is regarding the term Art. According to Jim, all language dialects related to tradition have nothing to do with the term Art, but here Jim reveals that in Indonesian there is a term art whose definition is similar to the definition of Art in the west, namely kagunan. The term comes from the absorption of the Javanese language which was alluded to by Ranggawarsita.
The issue of the definition of art is getting wider, but in this seminar Jim Supangkat emphasized fighting against the definition of western hegemonic art in the realm of understanding Indonesian art which tends to be universally claimed. Jim emphasized that today’s art must be read in terms of local aesthetic concepts and local spirit, so that discourse on Indonesian art can be argued in a global art world discourse. Therefore, Jim Supangkat invites the public to re-interpret the flow of art history that occurred in Indonesia.
Towards the end of the event, a deliberation was held to evaluate Jim Supangkat’s opinion moderated by Suwarno as one of the Indonesian academics and curators. In addition, other curator figures such as Alia Swastika were also presented to broaden perspectives regarding artistic works in Indonesia. Then the artist Heri Dono is presented as a very strong art practitioner with a local spirit in each of his works to complete the discourse on knowledge of art creation in Asia, especially in Indonesia.
