Ocula Conversation Jess Johnson: Worlds Within Worlds Geometric patterns, anthropomorphic characters, architectural spatial environments, and relics of the ancient world appear throughout Jess Johnson's artworks.Johnson's solo art-ventures began in drawing, but her long-term collaborative relationship with animator Simon Ward brings her drawings to life in videos and virtual reality. The animator has...
Ocula Conversation Melati Suryodarmo: Performance Art as Trigger In 2012, Melati Suryodarmo opened Studio Plesungan in her native Surakarta, also known as Solo, the historic royal capital of the Mataram Empire of Java in Indonesia. Suryodarmo had returned to Indonesia from Germany, where she studied Butoh and choreography with Butoh dancer and choreographer Anzu Furukawa, time-based media with avantgarde...
Ocula Report Lagos Biennial 2019: Stories from Africa’s most Populous City 15 Nov 2019 : Jareh Das for Ocula Under the direction of Folakunle Oshun, the second edition of the Lagos Biennial (26 October–23 November 2019) includes works by over 40 Lagos-based and international artists, architects, and collectives. Curated by architect Tosin Oshinowo, curator and producer Oyindamola Fakeye, and assistant curator of photography at the Art Institute of...
Ocula Insight | Video Hans Hartung and Art Informel at Mazzoleni London (1 October 2019-18 January 2020) presents key works by the French-German painter while highlighting his connection with artists active in Paris during the 50s and 60s. In this video, writer and historian Alan Montgomery discusses Hartung's practice and its legacy.Born in Leipzig in 1904, Hans...
Jompet Kuswidananto was born in Yogyakarta, he divides his time between Bali and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He studied Communication at the Faculty of Social and Political Science of Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. He was a musician and during 1995-1999, he produced recording albums and performed in several gigs. Visual arts then became the main focus in the years after, trained and learned to be visual artist by and from the local art community.
Kuswidananto produces installations, videos, sounds, performances and scenographies. Working for years with Teater Garasi, a Yogyakarta based contemporary theatre group, gives a significant influences to the artistic approaches. xts. In much of his work, the idea of a ghost as a forgotten memory or haunting social presence has given birth to kinetic installations where symbols such as military costume come alive with sound and light.
In January 2014, he won the best installation category at the inaugural Prudential Eye Awards in Singapore with his work, Cortege of the Third Realm.
Ocula Conversation Zoe Butt on the Challenges and Rewards of Curating Zoe Butt is the artistic director of The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, the first purpose-built space for contemporary art in Vietnam. Founded in March 2016, the Centre was designed by HTAP Architects in an old steel warehouse, with cargo shipping containers added to its structure. Initiated as a social enterprise...
Related Press M+ of West Kowloon Cultural District receives donation of artworks from Hong Kong collector Hallam Chow Art Radar Journal : 21 October 2016 M+ has been steadily building their collection since the late 2000s, unlike many of the museums built in the period 1990-2010 as part of a global museum building boom and that opened without a single artwork to their name. Barcelona’s Museu d’Art Contemporani, London’s The Power Station of Art and Beijing’s Red Brick...
Related Press Jompet Kuswidananto: 'After Voices' ArtAsiaPacific : 31 August 2016 The voices of Indonesian contemporary artists are gaining an increasing profile in Australia along with the region. Yogyakarta is a thriving arts center, attracting artists and curators from around the region for cultural exchange. Indonesian artists appear in biennials and triennials, and are closely watched and supported by commercial galleries...
Related Press When bamboo meets politics: Indonesian artists at the Frankfurter Kunstverein Art Radar Journal : 14 December 2015 Roots. Indonesian Contemporary Art runs at the Frankfurter Kunstverein until 10 January 2016. The invited artists belong to a ‘Post-Reformation‘ generation in Indonesia that emerged in 1998, roughly 30 years after Suharto’s autocracy. Characterised by a newfound freedom of expression and experimental liberties, contemporary...
Related Press 'Discover Indonesia' in the heart of Glasgow Evening Times UK : 27 August 2015 Discover Indonesia, from September 9 to 13 at venues across Glasgow including CCA, the Glue Factory, GFT, Glasgow School of Art, the Burrell Collection, Kelvingrove and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland celebrates 70 years of independence for the nation in a burst of vibrant, colourful events.Trend-setting innovator and renowned visual artist...
Related Video & Audio Grand Parade At The Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam Tropenmuseum : 11 December 2014 The Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam has commissioned Grand Parade - a major art installation for its Great Hall — by the renowned Indonesian artist Jompet Kuswidananto.In his work he shows a constantly changing world and the way in which the identity of individuals and groups change with it. Dozens of human figures with drums and weapons, motorbikes...
