M58 The Indonesian New Arts Movement
Manifesto of the Indonesian New Arts Movement (1975)
The avant-garde Indonesian New Arts Movement (Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia) began as a protest collective in 1974, when a group of students from the ASRI Arts Academy in Yogyakarta rallied together to object to the jury’s selection of paintings at the Pameran Besar Seni Lukis yang Pertama Indonesia (The First Great Exhibition of Indonesian Painting) – the first staging of what is now the Jakarta Biennale. The judging panel had dismissed the students’ vibrant attempts at radical experimentation, and instead chosen five traditional paintings in the decorative Indonesian style as the best artworks. The New Arts Movement railed against the awards, and wrote the ‘Pernyataan Desember Hitam’ (‘Black December Statement’) in protest. As a result, five of the student artists – B. Munni Ardhi, Ris Purwono, F. X. Harsono, Siti Adiyati and Hardi – were immediately suspended from the academy.
In 1975 the ‘Black December Statement’ became the basis of the group’s first manifesto, which is reproduced below. Its rhetoric can be seen as mimicking the declamatory statements issued by President Suharto’s authoritarian regime. Art was too elitist, they argued. Modern Indonesia needed a popular new art: one that traced its aesthetic history back to the nineteenth-century Indonesian modernist Raden Saleh, but which was not inward looking – it should embrace innovation and radical new ideas, not just technical skill.
The New Arts Movement proceeded to promote their spirited vision through a series of exhibitions between 1975 and 1979, when their manifesto was finally published in the Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru book compiled by the group member Jim Supangkat. The movement disbanded soon after, due to internal disagreements; but they reunited eight years later in Jakarta for the exhibition Proyek 1: Pasaraya Dunia Fantasi (Project 1: Department Store Fantasy World), which they marked by issuing a new manifesto that reconfirmed their core beliefs.
The Five Methods of Indonesia’s New Arts Movement
- In carrying out our creative work, we discard as far away as possible the vision of ‘art’ that has thus far been recognized (we consider it as ‘old art’), i.e. art that is limited to only painting, sculpture, and drawing (prints).
In the Indonesian New Arts Movement, crossing-over between the above-mentioned forms of art, which can give rise to works of art unable to be boxed into one of those recognized forms of art, is considered ‘legitimate’ (New Arts).
As we embark on our creative travails, we reject the vision about the existence of discrete elements in art such as elements of painting, drawing, or prints. All exists as a whole within one category, a unity consisting of visual elements that might be related to elements of space, movements, time, etc.
Therefore, all activities that can be categorized as art in Indonesia – albeit based on different ‘aesthetics’, for example the activities that have their basis in traditional art – are logically considered as legitimate and living art forms. - In carrying out our creative work, we discard as far away as possible the ‘specialist’ stance in art that tends to create an ‘elitist language’ based on the attitude of ‘avant-gardism’, which was constructed on the vision that artists should go deep within themselves and seek subtle issues (so that the public does not understand them, because artistry is a part of the mystery of life).
We instead believe in the aspect of ‘similarities’ that we share as human beings due to the similar living environments. We believe that actual social problems are more important than private sentiments. In this case, we give greater emphasis on the richness of the ideas or concepts rather than on masterly skills in creating visual elements. - We long for ‘creative possibilities’ in the sense that we desire a rich variety of styles in art in Indonesia. We inundate Indonesian art with new possibilities, recognizing all possibilities sans restrictions, reflective of our searching gestures. We henceforth reject all reductions of possibilities, including the patronizing teaching stance in which a master’s style is followed by his disciples, who are actually able to do differently and enrich the possibilities of style in Indonesian art.
- We aim for the development of art that is ‘Indonesian’ in nature, by laying the emphasis on the knowledge about the history of new Indonesian art, which began from Raden Saleh. We learn about the different periods and shrewdly observe how this new Indonesian art has developed, then consider and perceive subsequent developments in that context. We believe that the history of new Indonesian art contains issues that are on a par with those found in imported books on art; issues that are able to augment the art in Indonesia, whether for the critics, historians, or philosophers. We firmly reject the opinions saying that the development of art in Indonesia is a part of the history of world art, that art is universal, and that the issues of Indonesian art are dependent on the issues of international art.
- We aim for art that is more alive, in the sense that its existence is readily accepted and that it exists naturally, usefully, and widely among the people.