Shall We Let Indonesian Art Run Free and Wild ? / SRI Akankah Dibebas-liarkan ?

Shall We Let Indonesian Art Run Free and Wild?          

by hendrotan, owner of Emmitan Contemporary Art Gallery
Write on, march 25th, 2012

Early in March the Faculty of Art and Design of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) invited players of Indonesian art market to the campus. This is notable for being the first time for higher learning institutions in Indonesia approaching market players.  
Aside from looking around the studios in the campus these market players were taken to Soemardja Gallery where the institute’s lecturers were exhibiting their works, and invited to a discussion session with the Faculty’s Dean, lecturers and alumni as well as artists, media on art, and auction houses in a famous restaurant in Bandung. 


This seemingly small step taken by Aminuddin Th. Siregar, who is a lecturer and Soemardja Gallery director, and friends, can have significant effects on Indonesian contemporary art, particularly with regard to academicians’ insight of into art market from the viewpoint of their disciplines. Such insight into market on the academicians’ part can in turn inspire hope for some improved life of the Indonesian art world, keeping our art from being subjected to the conduct of irresponsible speculators. 


Ethics vs. Wildness


Quite many issues were touched upon in the discussion, which were meant as input for the ITB’s Faculty of Art and Design. Among them was the issue of the need to have some rules or regulations for the trade in art that has recently been sloppy. Even the stock market has its rigid rules with all their sanctions; how come that art market has none! And this concerns a market with an annual circulation of money reaching billions of Indonesian rupiahs. This concern is in line with a discussion on art in Bali, weeks before, sparked by shared worries around the prolonged lethargy of art market at home that might well be drawn into a ”black hole” if nothing was done together in response. 


A collector turned down the suggestion to develop an art trade ethic. He warns against wasting time for the matter; it would be too demanding to do and, besides, times have changed. Now trade in art must be free and we ought to let it run as freely as possible. This implies that collectors, galleries, art dealers and auction houses can buy works directly at artists’ studios. Collectors may organize exhibitions the way galleries do, in available exhibition spaces, while also selling the works on exhibition. It’s okay for artists to directly supply auction houses with their works. Curators are welcome to take the double jobs of curacy and sales, and so on and so forth. 


I was taken aback! It is easy to imagine that if collectors can freely buy work directly from art studios, then exhibit/sell paintings and sculptures, or if artists make their products only for selling to auction houses, it will mean doomsday to art galleries. Following the crumbling of galleries, I think the major art market will be occupied and controlled by fat-cat predators of art works that are grabby, haughty, and pretentiously wise. Then, in such setting let’s imagine academicians, curators and art critics playing dual roles because at the same time they would, each of them, be acting as salespersons. I reckon we will then have an art market crowded by knowledgeable people equipped with sophisticated theories and clever theorizing that would be put to maximum use for merely promoting the sales of goods that are art works.

If what is described above does happen, what would Art Lovers Association (Asosiasi Pecinta Seni/ASPI);  Indonesian Art Gallery Association (Asosiasi Galeri Seni Rupa Indonesia/AGSI), and artworld experts mean? And what would be the meaning of the professional ethic of artists, academicians, curators, and art critics?


It’s Not a Terra Incognita


I need to present those questions here because my brooding above actually concerns with the creation of an art market undistinguishable from a fair or a cattle market – and the transformation of the world of art into a terra incognita or no man’s land bereft of rule and regulation save the law of the jungle. The strong devour the weak’ the rich oppress the poor; the experienced  abuse the naive.

Therefore it is now for us to prevent such dark shadows from reigning by solidifying our line for sustaining love, values, belief and trust, control and morals already existent in the realm of art. If our ties and association are believed to be still weak or loose, let us improve them by trying to elevate ourselves lest we be left behind in the current progress of global art.

That’s why I think that from educational viewpoint the improvement of art infrastructure  is a cultural project. It involves  dealing with ways of thinking as well as the understanding and appreciation of the existence of different stakeholders of art in Indonesia. So the idea and practice of letting the infrastructure of Indonesian art go wild and uncontrolled is against the core, ethic and spirit of advancing Indonesian Art; please note this, Sir ! 




hendrotan
Art lover, based in Surabaya

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SRI Akankah Dibebas-liarkan ?          

oleh hendrotan , pemilik Emmitan Contemporary Art Galeri

Tertulis tanggal, 25 Maret 2012

Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain ITB, awal Maret lalu mengundang pelaku pasar seni rupa Indonesia masuk kampus. Hal ini istimewa, karena FSRD-ITB,  mendahului institusi perguruan tinggi lainnya, dalam “merangkul” pelaku pasar. 

Selain melihat-lihat studio, para pelaku pasar itu juga diajak melihat pameran karya dosen di Galeri Soemardja, dan berdiskusi bersama Dekan FRSD dosen, alumni, perupa, media seni rupa hingga balai lelang, bertempat di sebuah restoran ternama di Bandung. 

Langkah kecil yang dilakukan Aminuddin Th. Siregar, dosen dan Direktur Galeri Soemardja, bersama kawan-kawannya ini, bukan tidak mungkin bakal berdampak besar bagi seni rupa kontemporer Tanah Air, khususnya dalam membuka cakrawala dan wawasan bagi para akademisi terhadap pasar seni rupa dari sudut keilmuan. Jika para akademisi memiliki wawasan wacana sekaligus pasar yang memadai, hal ini dapat kita harapkan bersama dunia seni rupa Indonesia ke depan bisa lebih baik, dan menghindarkan seni rupa kita dari para spekulan yang tidak pernah mau bertanggung jawab. 

Etika vs Keliaran

Dalam diskusi, tepatnya untuk memberi masukan FSRD, cukup banyak hal yang dilontarkan. Di antaranya adalah ajakan untuk menata etika perniagaan seni rupa, yang belakangan ini amburadul. Pasar Modal saja punya aturan ketat, lengkap dengan sanksinya, masak seni rupa tidak punya sama sekali. Pada hal putaran uang di pasar seni rupa mencapai miliaran rupiah pertahun. Suara ini laras dengan diskusi seni rupa di Bali beberapa pekan lalu, yang bertolak dari kecemasan bersama terhadap lesunya pasar seni rupa di dalam negeri yang berlarut-larut belakangan ini, dan dikawatirkan masuk “lubang hitam” jika tidak ditangani bersama. 

Ajakan menata etika perniagaan seni rupa itu, ditolak oleh seorang kolektor. Bahkan ia memperingatkan jangan buang-buang waktu untuk itu, sebab selain merepotkan,  jamannya sudah berubah dibanding seni rupa Indonesia dahulu. Tata perniagaan seni rupa sekarang ini harus bebas, dan biarkan sebebas-bebasnya berjalan. Dalam arti, kolektor, galeri, art dealer, balai lelang bisa membeli karya langsung di studio perupa. Bahkan kolektor bisa menyelenggarakan pameran seperti galeri di ruang pamer yang disediakan, tentu sekaligus jualan. Perupa boleh saja sebagai pemasok auction house. Kurator juga bisa merangkap profesi agen pemasaran, dan seterusnya. 

Saya terkesima! Dan sudah bisa dibayangkan, jika para kolektor bebas sebebas-bebasnya membeli karya seni rupa langsung dari studio perupa, lalu memamerkan/menjual lukisan dan patung itu; atau jika para perupa membuat karya hanya untuk dipasarkan ke balai lelang, maka malapetaka yang akan terjadi adalah kebangkrutan galeri-galeri. Setelah galeri-galeri bangkrut, saya kira pasar utama seni rupa akan diisi dan dikuasai oleh predator karya seni rupa berkantong tebal yang serakah, jumawa sok bijak. Dalam situasi seperti itu, bayangkanlah jika para akademisi, kurator, dan kritikus seni rupa berperan ganda sebagai agen-agen pemasaran? Saya kira medan pasar seni rupa akan dijejali oleh orang berilmu dengan teori-teori canggih sebagai jimat jualan karya seni rupa doang.

Jika bayangan dan perkiraan di atas benar-benar menjadi kenyataan, maka apa arti Asosiasi Pecinta Seni ( ASPI ), Asosiasi Galeri Seni rupa Indonesia ( AGSI ), pakar komunitas seni rupa dan medan sosialnya ( artworld ). Apa pula makna etika profesi perupa, akademisi, kurator, dan kritikus seni rupa?

Bukan Terra Incognito

Pertanyaan tersebut perlu saya ajukan di sini mengingat bayangan dan perkiraan di atas mengarah pada terciptanya pasar seni rupa layaknya pasar malam atau pasar blantik sapi—dan berubahnya dunia seni rupa sebagai terra incognito (daerah tak bertuan) yang tak memiliki aturan apa pun kecuali hukum rimba. Yang kuat memangsa yang lemah; yang kaya menindas yang miskin; dan yang berpengalaman mengakali yang awam. 

Karena itu, sudah seharusnya kita menyingkirkan ( terjadinya ) bayangan kelam semacam itu dengan merapatkan barisan untuk memperkuat ikatan cinta, nilai, kepercayaan, kontrol dan moral senirupa yang sudah ada. Kalau ikatan itu dipandang masih lemah atau longgar, marilah kita perkuat lagi dengan mencoba berbenah secara lebih baik agar tak ketinggalan dalam percaturan seni rupa global saat ini. 

Itu sebabnya, ditengok dari sudut pandang pendidikan, bagi saya, pembenahan infrastruktur seni rupa adalah suatu proyek kebudayaan, cara berpikir,  cara memahami eksistensi, dan cara menghargai peran bersama setiap pelaku seni rupa di Indonesia. Maka dari itu, ide dan perbuatan yang membebas—liarkan tatanan ( infrastruktur ) Seni Rupa Indonesia adalah tindakan yang bertentangan dengan hakekat, etika dan semangat memajukan Seni Rupa Indonesia, ingat ya Tuan !

* SRI : Seni Rupa Indonesia

hendrotan

Pecinta Seni Rupa, tinggal di Surabaya