Jakarta Biennale #14.2011

Jakarta Maximum City: Survive or Escape

November 2011 to January 2012.

Curators: Ilham Khoiri, Bambang Asrini Widjanarko, Seno Joko Syono

Guest curator: Eileen Legaspi Ramirez

It deals with the concept of the Batavia people: Cosmopolitan, adventurous, multicultural, liberal, economy conscious, power sensitive, and enthusiastic about science and art updates. “They want to spearhead their time” as Jan Erdman Jordens wrote, the founder of Bataviasche Nouvelles, the first newspaper in Batavia which was published in 1744, quoted by the curators during the brainstorming sessions for the Jakarta Biennale 14.

“Jakarta Maximum City: Survive or Escape” is a term to describe Jakarta as a dense and crowded city. The residents face two options, which are Survive or Escape?, whether we choose to stay and continue to seek solutions yet occupied with our own ways, or escape from all the congested problems of the city. As an inspiration, the condition of the “maximum city” is a source of provocations and challenges that promises unpredictability. Jakarta Maximum City ; Survive or Escape? has five sub-themes, namely Violence and Resistance, Narcisism, Voyeurism and The Body, Game, Leisure, and Gadget Victim, Metro-Text Seductions, Citizen and Homo Ludens.

The core focus of Jakarta Biennale is on recording the trails of the latest developments and levels in fine arts, a manifestation of the levels of today’s society and civilization. Specifically, it propels the latest the developments of contemporary arts in Indonesia by presenting works from the newest generation with multidiscipline, multimedia, interactive, and innovative capabilities as well as founding their perspectives on the problems of the city and its people. Everything is within the context of the situation of Jakarta.