Around forty journalist accounts managed to show up in the Zoom app’s screen that day. While four speakers plus one moderator took the spotlight in Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6’s Press Conference that was conducted after the Friday Prayer at the beginning of October (01/10).
Gundhi Aditya, the MC, started by a narration about Biennale Jogja (BJ) and how it’s been conducted. BJ is an international biennale that’s held by the government of Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) and organized by Biennale Yogyakarta Foundation (YBY). This year becomes the 16th event since its first celebration in 1988. Since 2011, Biennale Jogja decided to focus on Equator or Equator Series and to bring Indonesia, especially Yogyakarta, around the globe for 12 years.
Gundhi then delved deeper for information of Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021 from the four speakers. The Director of Biennale Jogja Foundation, Alia Swastika, was the first to go. They started by questions about how Biennale Jogja is conducted all these years to questions about further plans after Equator Series.
“This year’s Biennale Jogja is special because it marks a full decade of Biennale Jogja Equator Series that has been done since 2011. Therefore, there’s also an archive exhibition that shows artefact flakes and notes on how Biennale Yogyakarta Foundation grew and thrived in the artistic ecosystem in Yogyakarta and the Global South,” answered the writer and curator.
While questions regarding technicalities of event organizing was delivered by Gundhi to Gintani Nur Apresia Swastika as the Director of Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021. He informed that Biennale Jogja XVI 2021 will be held at 6 October to 14 November 2021. The whole arrangement of exhibition and program will take place at four locations, which are the Jogja National Museum (JNM) for the main exhibition, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta (TBY) for equator archive exhibition, while Bilik Taiwan exhibition will take place at Museum dan Tanah Liat (MDTL), and Bilik Korea at Indie Art House.
“Aside from the four exhibitions, there are around 70 programs that we plan to hold, such as Biennale Forum, the Labuhan Program, Residency, Resource Room, and etc. All of them can be attended by the public, but half of those are attended by public invitees and more through online means, through https://biennalejogja.org/2021/ or Biennale Jogja’s social media accounts,” said the ’84 liner Jogjanese.
The next two speakers were the curators of the first exhibition, Ayos Purwoaji and Elia Nurvista. Both have done research trips at the islands at Eastern Indonesia that hold similar cultural patterns that is very similar to Oceania. Both did researches at Ambon, Maluku, and Jayapura, Papua, Maumere and Kupang, at Nusa Tenggara Timur.
“The trips became the first step for Biennale Jogja to understand Oceania culture through the cultural reality at Eastern Indonesia islands which is quite similar,” said man who is also a lecturer at Ciputra University, Surabaya.
The artists involved, Ayos said, are no less than 34 artists and communities, amongst them are dedicated to artists and cultural authorities: Y. B. Mangunwijaya and Sriwati Masmundari. Some of the participating artists are Udeido Collective, Greg Semu, A Pond Is The Reverse of an Island, Radio Isolasido, also Meta Enjelita and Raden Kukuh Hermadi (two young artists from Asana Bina Seni program).
“Biennale Jogja XVI puts a considerable attention to narrations about localities and situated knowledge, and also decolonialization and decentralization,” Elia said, answering Gundhi’s question regarting the theme of Roots < > Routes.
Gundhi ended the event by asking the conference attendees to turn on their videos at Zoom and raise their hands. In the freezed position, the documenters captured the moment. (Teresa Vita)
