The students will hail from France, Poland, Denmark and Finland, as well as Germany. At least one already has an Indonesian connection. “I hope to make art that will address the public’s ideas or notions to create or develop something new, making it memorable long after the project,” says German artist Edi Danartono Winarni, whose parents come from Cilacap, Central Java. “Most of all, the work is a good way to affirm my [Indonesian] roots and getting in touch with them, as well as find new ways to deal with Jakarta.” “I was struck by the massive extent of changes in Jakarta as it developed into a megacity,” Edi explains: “the challenges from traffic and poor infrastructure, as reflected by the lack of sidewalks, as well as how Jakartans can still find their way amid the chaos. Most of all, I’m keen to use this experience to find and recontextualize myself, so I’m intrigued to see how it will turn out.” Edi’s previous works include an intervention piece in the Dutch city of Maastricht that explores nature’s natural way of reclaiming urban spaces. His artistic vision and that of his friends will be complemented by their Indonesian counterparts from Bandung and Jakarta, among them Angga “Acip” Cipta and Riyan Riyadi. Angga is known for his multimedia “Survival Tips in Jakarta,” a wry series of illustrations about life the capital and its pitfalls. The series has earned critical acclaim both at home and from as far afield as South Korea. Riyan is a mural and graffiti artist better known by his alter ego The Popo. Now a lecturer in communications art at the Institute of Social and Political Sciences (ISIP) in East Jakarta, The Popo made waves with “Demi Flyover, Pohon Game Over,” (“For the Flyover, Game Over for the Trees,”) and “Demi Rating, Semua Di Setting,” (“Everything Can Be Up For the Setting, When It Comes to Ratings,”), installations critical of Indonesia’s haphazard urban development and television landscapes, respectively.
Rehberger is certain that the traditional market art collaboration between the Stadeschule students and their RuangRupa counterparts promise to yield interesting results. Marketplaces, he says, are a good forum to broaden artistic horizons. For RuangRupa, their work with the Goethe-Institut is the second collaboration with Indonesian artists since Mahardika Yudha’s 2011 video artwork “The Face of the Black River.” And when artistic horizons meet, it’s certain to provoke inspiration to imaginatively rethink the world around us, starting with the quotidian experience of shopping.
This article was first published in the Jakarta Globe newspaper on April 14, 2015.