02

Published by ArtSociates© 2012, ArtSociates, Bandung

Published in conjunction with the exhibition: Ruhe in FriedenMarch 3 - 18, 2012Lawangwangi Art And Science Estate, BandungCurated by Rifky Effendy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright holder. Copyright of artwork images belong to ArtSociates and their respective artists, and essays to the respective authors.

CuratorRifky Effendy With an Essay byRoy Voragen

Translator Rani Elsanti

PhotosArtist collection

Designer Arief Setiawan

ISBN 978602962013-9

First Edition, March 2012500 copies

Printed in Yogyakarta, Cahaya Timur Offset

Lawangwangi Art & Science Estate: Jl. Dago Giri 99, Warung Caringin, Mekarwangi, Bandung, Indonesia, Ph +62 22 250 4065, Fax +62 22 250 4105, info@artsociates.com

03

04

Perkenalan saya dengan Erika Ernawan terjadi melalui Erik Pauhrizi, yang saya kenal

sejak pameran-pameran awalnya. Belakangan, keikutsertaan Erika di Bandung

Contemporary Art Awards #01 (BaCAA #01) membuat saya memahaminya lebih

dalam. Perlu saya tambahkan di sini bahwa Bandung Contemporary Art Awards

(BaCAA), yang diselenggarakan setahun sekali, bertujuan terutama untuk mendorong

perkembangan seni rupa kontemporer di Indonesia, yang membawa ke suatu tempat

di peta seni internasional. Anugerah seni ini ditujukan untuk memberi perhatian pada

seniman-seniman muda berbakat untuk mendorong partisipasi mereka di ajang seni

penting. Karya Erika untuk BaCAA #01 berwatak kuat dan menjadi satu dari tiga

pemenang yang menerima hadiah dalam bentuk kunjungan seni atau residensi seni di

luar negeri.

Selama proyek studionya di Berlin sebagai bagian dari anugerah seni BaCAA #01,

Erika memperoleh ide untuk pameran tunggalnya di Lawangwangi. Pameran ini,

berjudul “Ruhe in Frieden”, bercerita tentang tubuh, air, dan lingkungan hidup. Ia

mengembangkan gagasan tersebut lebih lanjut ketika ia kembali ke Indonesia seraya

bekerja dengan kurator Rifky Effendy dan penulis Roy Voragen. Saya harus mengakui

bahwa ia tentu punya disiplin tinggi sehingga mampu membuat karya-karya untuk

pameran tunggal ini. Ia juga memiliki watak dan tekad kuat, yang berujung pada karya-

karya menarik dalam pameran ini.

Lawangwangi beruntung memiliki kesempatan menjadi tuan rumah pameran ini. Saya

ingin berterima kasih kepada kurator Rifky Effendy dan penulis Roy Voragen. Tim

tersebut telah bekerja keras untuk menyukseskan pameran ini.

Tentu saja saya harus berterima kasih kepada staf saya, Asnaini Aslam yang telah

mengatur segalanya untuk pameran ini dan Arief Setiawan yang merancang katalog,

undangan, banner, iklan, dsb. Untuk Dian, Mira, Wahyo, dan seluruh staf di

Lawangwangi, terima kasih karena telah mengatur acara pembukaan.

Akhir kata, saya berterima kasih pula kepada para pengunjung yang berbagi

kebahagiaan dengan sang seniman. Kritik dan pujian merupakan tanda dari suatu

acara yang bermakna, yang semoga berkontribusi kepada pengembangan karier sang

seniman khususnya dan seni rupa kontemporer Indonesia pada umumnya.

Bandung, 22 Februari 2012

AndonowatiDirektur, ArtSociates

pengantar

dari

artsociates

introduction

from

artsociates

05

My initial knowledge about Erika Ernawan was through Erik Pauhrizi whom I knew

since his early exhibitions. Later, her participation in Bandung Contemporary Art

Awards #01 (BaCAA #01) brought me to understand her even further. I must note

that the Bandung Contemporary Art Awards (BaCAA), given annually, aims primarily to

stimulate the development of contemporary visual art in Indonesia, leading to a place

on the international map. The awards are meant to give attention to young talented

artists for furthering their participation in important art venues. Her artwork for BaCAA

#01 has a very strong character, resulting in becoming one of the three winners to

receive prizes in the form of art trip abroad or residency abroad.

During her Berlin studio project as a part of BaCAA award, she conceived the idea

behind her solo exhibition at Lawangwangi. The show, entitled “Ruhe in Frieden”, is

about the body, water, and environment. She further developed that idea when she

came back to Indonesia while working with the curator Rifky Effendy and the writer

Roy Voragen. I must admit that she must have been very disciplined to be able to

produce the works for this solo show. She also has a strong character and

determination that lead to these exciting artworks for the show.

It is fortunate that Lawangwangi has the opportunity to host the show. I like to thank

the curator Rifky Effendy and the writer Roy Voragen. The team has been working

hard to make this show possible.

I certainly have to thank my staff Asnaini Aslam who arranged everything for the show

and to Arief Setiawan who designed catalogues, invitations, banners, advertisements,

etc. To Dian, Mira, Wahyo and all the staff at Lawangwangi, I thank you for arranging

the opening.

Finally, I would like to thank the audience who share the happiness with the artists.

The criticism as well as the applause are signs of a meaningful event that hopefully

contribute to the development of the artist's career in particular and the Indonesian

contemporary visual art in general.

Bandung, 22 February 2012

AndonowatiDirector, ArtSociates

350variable installationelectroplating & chrome resin2012

06 07

RUHE IN FRIEDEN

Air, Tubuh, dan Lingkungan

Pameran tunggal kedua Erika Ernawan kali ini menghadirkan karya-karya instalasi

interaktif, performance, video performance, dan foto mix-media. Cermin dan tubuh

menjadi elemen utama di sini. Judul “Ruhe in Frieden” diambil dari bahasa Jerman dan

berarti “beristirahat dalam kedamaian”—“rest in peace” dalam bahasa

Inggris—menyiratkan soal kehidupan dan kematian. Erika memulai proyek ini pada awal

masa residensinya di Berlin, Jerman, tahun lalu, ketika ia berinteraksi dengan perupa

dari berbagai negara dan bangsa. Pengalaman itu memberinya banyak informasi

mengenai persoalan manusia dan lingkungannya. Erika bertutur, “Ternyata Jerman

memang peduli dengan lingkungannya. Tapi, dari sepuluh orang dari sepuluh negara,

termasuk saya dari Indonesia, enam sampai delapan orang mempunyai masalah

karena rusaknya lingkungan. Semua masalah itu ternyata saling berhubungan:

bagaimana di Indonesia bisa terjadi banjir, tapi di Afrika terjadi kekeringan. Atau, ada

kaitan kolonialisasi dengan penyebaran nyamuk malaria. Di beberapa negara, wabah

bisa terjadi, yang bisa berakibat kematian. Penyebarannya ternyata dari air kotor di 1lingkungan tempat mereka hidup.”

Sepulangnya ke Bandung, Erika mulai memperhatikan lingkungannya dengan lebih

seksama, dan ia melihat sumber air yang tercemar: apakah tercemar oleh limbah

industri, limbah rumah tangga, atau akibat pesatnya perubahan dalam tata ruang

kotanya. Pengamatan ini kemudian ia ungkapkan dalam serangkaian karya instalasi,

performance, video, foto digital, dan cermin. Erika mengelaborasi seluruh elemen

tersebut. Erika menyatakan, “Dalam menggunakan cermin, tubuh, dan cetak digital,

saya melihat medium tersebut merupakan kendaraan yang pas, ketika saya bertujuan

mendekonstruksi hal-hal yang seolah-olah telah jadi konvensi bersama, besar, dan

menjadi semacam monumen. Ini saya lakukan untuk menginterupsi hal-hal yang

seolah-olah telah baku, karena nyatanya tak ada yang baku di dunia; manusia 2dilahirkan bebas, telanjang, sendiri.”

Pernyataan ini seolah menampik anggapan bahwa karya Erika berhubungan dengan

isu feminisme, sebagaimana kerap dikemukakan orang. Tetapi, semangat femininitas

bisa jadi tetap punya kaitan dengan karya-karya Erika. Femininitas dalam arti luas

menyentuh soal nilai-nilai yang berada di luar arus utama, soal dunia domestik, dan

terkait dengan tubuh perempuan dan lingkungan hidup. Aksi tubuh atau performance

dalam gerakan feminisme pada dekade 1960-an sampai 1970-an kerap dilakukan

untuk menyatakan protes, membuat gerakan, pernyataan antiperang, antinuklir, atau

untuk melakukan provokasi publik, sebagaimana kerap dilakukan oleh Yoko Ono atau

Marina Abramoviæ. Aksi semacam itu telah kuat tercatat dalam sejarah seni

kontemporer dan bahkan menjadi ikon dunia. Akibatnya, Erika yang kerap menyoal

tubuh dalam karyanya dan melakukan seni performance sering dikaitkan dengan

gerakan feminisme semacam itu.

08 09

Pada pameran “Ruhe in Frieden”, karya-karya Erika menyentuh soal kerusakan

lingkungan, terutama pencemaran air dan ancamannya pada kehidupan manusia.

Proyek Erika ini mungkin bisa dibandingkan dengan proyek perupa Tisna Sanjaya,

yang menjalankan seni terlibat bersama komunitas di selatan Bandung. “Proyek

Cigondewah” Tisna dimulai beberapa tahun lalu di tengah-tengah permukiman

masyarakat di sekitar daerah persawahan dan industri. Tisna melakukan aksi seni

terlibat dengan membangun “Pusat Kebudayaan Cigondewah”, suatu rumah

serbaguna untuk dipakai masyarakat setempat.

Tisna bercerita betapa sungai kecil yang mengalir di samping “Pusat Kebudayaan

Cigondewah” itu dulu berair bersih dan digunakan warga untuk keperluan sehari-hari,

selain untuk mengaliri sawah. Kemudian, wilayah itu berubah menjadi daerah industri.

Wilayah persawahan pun menciut karena tergusur industri dan mekarnya daerah

perumahan. Muncullah masalah pencemaran lingkungan akibat limbah pabrik. Air

sungai yang mengalir di daerah itu pun tak lagi bisa digunakan dan bahkan berbahaya

bagi kehidupan masyarakat di sana, menimbulkan penyakit dan bahkan kematian.

Persoalan air di tengah-tengah masyarakat urban di Indonesia memang topik yang

penting dan menarik. Air adalah elemen kunci dan mendasar bagi manusia dan

makhluk hidup lain di Bumi. Alam Indonesia dan iklimnya menjadikan air sebagai

elemen utama yang membentuk kebudayaan masyarakat. Ironisnya, di kota-kota

besar air langka karena tak lagi bersahabat, atau karena sumber air bersih memang

semakin terbatas. Sumber air alami yang ada tak lagi layak dikonsumsi. Sementara air

yang dikelola oleh perumahan oleh Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum pun kualitasnya

semakin tak terjamin sehingga masyarakat pun beralih ke air yang dikelola perusahaan

swasta, atau ke air dalam kemasan.

Erika melakukan riset singkat dan menemukan bahwa: “Tingkat pencemaran air di

Bandung sudah mencapai 40%. Sungai-sungai di kota Bandung sudah amat kritis dan

tercemari berbagai limbah. BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) dan COD (Chemical

Oxygen Demand), bakteri e-coli, arsenikum, dan sianida sudah melewati ambang

batas maksimal. Pada 2000, 25,9% penduduk Bandung yang menjadi konsumen air

PDAM terancam langsung hidupnya. Saya ngeri membayangkan tingkat pencemaran 3pada 2012.”

Elemen cermin dalam karya Erika bisa menyimbolkan air. Pada saat yang bersamaan,

ia juga bisa berfungsi sebagai kendaraan untuk menunjukkan citra atau identitas diri.

Cermin itu tak hanya ditujukan kepada diri sang seniman sendiri, melainkan juga

digunakan untuk berinteraksi dengan publik. Erika mengajak pengunjung pameran

menunjukkan diri dengan becermin. Di sini, teori psikoanalis Prancis Jacques Lacan

(1901-81) tentang cermin bisa jadi penting. Menurut Lacan, tindakan manusia

becermin dilakukan tanpa henti dan tanpa jera karena ada kecenderungan menonton

diri sendiri. Cermin menjadi jendela ajaib untuk meneropong identitas diri.

Menurut Donny Gahral Adian dalam pengantar buku Jacques Lacan, Diskursus, dan

Perubahan Sosial, dalam fase becermin seseorang mulai mengerti ide tentang liyan

dan memahami keliyanan sebagai prinsip atau konsep penstrukturan, lalu kemudian

mulai membentuk gagasan tentang 'diri'. 'Diri' sebagaimana terlihat di cermin

sebenarnya adalah liyan, tapi kadang salah dikenali sebagai 'aku'. Padahal, yang

terlihat di cermin hanyalah citraan. Relasi kita dan liyan di cermin sebagai 'aku' ini

adalah relasi simbolik, pusat dari kesadaran bahasa yang ditetapkan oleh 4liyan/phallus/nama-sang-Ayah/hukum/kuasa.

Cermin dalam karya-karya Erika, dengan demikian, ditujukan untuk melakukan

konfrontasi dengan 'diri' atau 'liyan'. 'Liyan' atau 'the other' adalah “apa dan siapa

saja yang bukan aku, yang berbeda dari aku, tapi sesamaku”—demikian kicauan

singkat penyair Goenawan Mohamad melalui media sosial Twitter, pada 24 Agustus

2010. Sementara itu, bagi Erika, cermin adalah medium untuk melakukan refleksi, 5untuk lebih memahami hidup dan seni.

Pada karya instalasinya, Erika menumpuk tengkorak kepala manusia di jalan masuk ke

ruang pamer. Tengkorak itu diselubungi lapisan chrome sehingga memantulkan

bayangan seperti cermin. Pengunjung mau tak mau harus menginjak belulang itu dan

melihat bayangan mereka di sana. Struktur tulang-belulang memantulkan diri kita

dalam citra yang berbeda, terpecah dan tampak asing. Keliyanan diri kita dalam

cermin belulang itu bukan saja merupakan metafora, tapi secara harfiah pun kita tak

lagi mengenali citra diri kita secara utuh di sana. Instalasi tengkorak ini juga

membentuk suasana bernapaskan kematian. Pengunjung akan langsung berhadapan

dengan tulisan dalam bentuk neon sign: “Leben Ist Entstehen Und Vergehen”, yang

berarti “hidup adalah awal dan akhir”.

Karya lainnya adalah rekaman performance ketika Erika menggantung diri dengan

tubuh terbalik pada tali yang berputar; tepat di bawah kepalanya, terdapat bak

stainless steel berisi air warna-warni dari obat kumur. Dalam pameran, rekaman itu

disandingkan dengan kerangka manusia utuh, cairan obat kumur berwarna, dan

deretan huruf yang membentuk kalimat “Die Umwelt ist der Lebensraum des

Menschen, der 'Tiere' und der Pfla das Geld”, yang berarti “lingkungan adalah tempat

hidup manusia, 'hewan', dan uang”. Karya ini menyuarakan kritik Erika mengenai

ketakseimbangan dalam hubungan antara manusia dengan perilaku ekonominya dan

alam sekitarnya. Manusia mengeksploitasi lingkungan tanpa mempertimbangkan

dampaknya terhadap manusia lain di sekitarnya.

10 11

Pada karya lainnya, Erika merekam tubuh-tubuh yang tergantung terbalik di lingkungan

rumahnya, yang sumber airnya telah tercemar limbah industri. Tubuh-tubuh itu menjadi

simbol keterancaman, kematian, ketakberdayaan. Karya ini ditampilkan dalam bentuk

video dan foto digital. Tindakan merekam aksi performance dan menghadirkannya

kembali dalam suatu medium kerap dilakukan dalam arena seni rupa kontemporer,

terutama di Asia.

Menurut peneliti seni Thomas J. Berghuis dalam bukunya, Performance Art in China,

rekaman aksi performance sebagai representasi kedua atas tubuh yang beraksi (acting

body) merupakan perkembangan mutakhir di Asia saat ini. Tubuh dalam praktik

performance art ditampilkan sebagai subjek dan objek yang direpresentasikan kembali 6melalui karya video, new media, foto digital, lukisan, atau pun patung.

Karya-karya Erika lainnya, neon box dan stainless steel berbentuk citra tengkorak,

adalah simbol dari persoalan yang tengah ia geluti: kematian. Sementara itu, air

dihadirkan sebagai kendaraan untuk membicarakan kehancuran budaya akibat ulah

manusia sendiri. Di sini, tubuh mungkin merupakan wujud Body without Organs

seperti yang dikemukakan Gilles Deleuze, memberi sinyal tentang kerusakan

lingkungan. Tubuh menjadi sub-bagian dan terhubung dengan elemen alam lain seperti 7Bumi dan isinya.

Dalam karya-karya Erika, air sebagai unsur utama kehidupan dan kematian ditampilkan

dalam citra yang mengerikan, mungkin seperti air bah atau tsunami yang datang

menerjang dan merendam rumah-rumah dan bahkan menghanyutkan apa yang

menghadangnya. Air bisa begitu berbahaya dan menjadi pencabut nyawa, tapi

sekaligus sangat dibutuhkan dan tak bisa dipisahkan dalam hidup manusia dan alam.

Dengan menyampaikan sisi lain air, pameran “Ruhe in Frieden” menjadi peringatan

mengenai perubahan sosial dan budaya manusia, yang dikhawatirkan membawa

bencana dan kematian.

Erika Ernawan menunjukkan praktik seni kontemporer yang terlibat dan menyajikan

pandangan yang kritis dalam menyikapi situasi sosial di sekelilingnya. Pada saat yang

bersamaan, ia mampu merangkum persoalan tersebut ke dalam suatu rangkaian

penciptaan simbol dan metafor yang bisa menggetarkan dan menghibur, sehingga

komunikasi bisa terjalin dengan publik. Sungguh melegakan bila melihat seorang

perupa muda memiliki perhatian terhadap persoalan sosial dan lingkungan. Kita tahu,

dalam perkembangan terakhir banyak perupa muda muncul, terutama dari Bandung.

Tapi, tak banyak di antaranya yang melakukan praktik seni rupa terlibat, yang

mengharuskan seniman melakukan observasi langsung dan berinteraksi dengan

lingkungannya. +++

Skelton, 28 x 220 cm, neon with mouthwash installation, 2012

12 13

Catatan Kaki1. Pernyataan Erika Ernawan, diakses pada 10 Februari 2012.2. Ibid.3. Ibid. 4. Ibid.5. Kata pembuka oleh Donny Gahral Adian dan penutup oleh Kurniasih dalam buku Jacques Lacan,

Diskursus, dan Perubahan Sosial: Pengantar Kritik – Budaya Psikoanalisis oleh Mark Bracher. Diterjemahkan oleh Gunawan Admiranto, diterbitkan oleh Jalasutra (Yogyakarta; 2009)

6. Thomas J. Berghuis. Performance Art In China. Published by Timezone 8 (Hong Kong; 2006) 7. Bruce Baugh. Body: The Deleuze Dictionary. Disunting oleh Adrian Parr. Edinburgh University

Press. (Edinburgh; 2005)

TUBUHSENI

“The body is to be compared, not to a physical object, but rather to a work of art.”

a – Maurice Merleau-Ponty

“My paintings are smarter than me.” b– Gerhard Richter

“There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. There's your answer.”

c – Gertrude Stein

Baru-baru ini, Indonesia terkena demam; demam biennale, dengan biennale-biennale

diselenggarakan di Yogyakarta dan Jakarta. Kadang, demam bisa saja jinak, seperti

yang terjadi di Yogyakarta. Namun, biennale Jakarta terlampau kacau dan tak teratur

untuk mampu menawarkan suatu platform di mana kita bisa mengapresiasi karya-

karya seni dan menjelajahi berbagai perkembangan baru dalam seni.

Di Jakarta Biennale 2011, pemasangan teks dinding yang berantakan, misalnya tak

ada sama-sekali, hanya mencakup informasi minim (sekadar nama seniman dan judul

karya), atau terjemahan yang salah (dan mungkin ada juga teks dinding yang keliru

dipasang pada karya seni yang salah) jelaslah merupakan gangguan besar. Namun,

hal ini menimbulkan pertanyaan: sejak kapan mulai ada kebiasaan untuk memasang

teks dinding yang panjang-lebar, yang menafsirkan karya-karya seni yang terpajang

dalam pameran-pameran seni rupa, dan sejak kapan kita memandang perlu teks-teks

seperti itu? Karya-karya seni Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh, dan Piet

Mondrian untuk menyebut tiga seniman terpenting dari sejarah seni Belanda tak

didampingi teks dinding yang panjang-lebar. Apakah karya-karya para seniman itu tak

sebagaimana karya seni kontemporer dipandang jelas dengan sendirinya? Dapatkah

teks dinding juga menjadi gangguan dengan terlalu banyak memandu pengunjung

pameran?

Pada Yogyakarta Biennale 2011, karya instalasi Albert Yonathan, 'Cosmic Labyrinth:

The Bells', instalasi Jompet Kuswidananto 'Site of Gods', dan karya instalasi Nurdian

Ichsan, 'Linkage', adalah beberapa karya yang menonjol dalam biennale yang

menyenangkan di kota yang tak kalah menyenangkannya. Tapi yang pasti, karya seni

yang terakhir saya jumpai termasuk dalam daftar favorit saya. Karya itu mengingatkan

saya pada perjumpaan saya terdahulu dengan karya pelukis neo-ekspresionis Jerman

Georg Baselitz, di Museum Bonnefanten di Maastricht, Belanda, sekitar sepuluh

sampai lima belas tahun lalu. Dalam antusiasme dan keterkaguman saya, saya

melupakan teks dinding yang ada. Baru kemudian pada malam itu, saat saya

membaca katalog di kereta dalam perjalanan pulang, saya melihat bahwa karya yang

memesona itu adalah karya Erika Ernawan (seri 'Mirror Sees Me').

Di kereta malam dalam perjalanan ke Yogyakarta, saya membaca buku James Elkins,

What happened to art criticism. Elkins menyatakan: “Art criticism is massively

produced and massively ignored.” Bagaimana kita menulis tentang seni dengan cara

yang masuk akal? Tentu saja, dengan menulis sedemikian rupa sehingga tulisan

tersebut masuk akal bagi seniman dan karya seni. Tapi, mungkin lebih penting lagi, ini

juga soal bagaimana menulis tentang seni dan seniman sedemikian rupa sehingga

tulisan tersebut memukau pembaca dan mendorong mereka untuk sungguh-sungguh

menjelajahi pameran seni. Kali pertama saya menjumpai kasus tulisan seni yang buruk

A. “Tubuh selayaknya diperbandingkan bukan terhadap objek fisik, melainkan karya seni.”B. “Lukisan-lukisan saya lebih cerdas daripada saya.”

C. “Tak ada jawaban. Tak bakal ada jawaban. Tak pernah ada jawaban. Itulah jawaban buatmu.”

adalah saat saya membaca katalog Documenta X (dengan kurator Catherine David

pada 1997), karena tulisan tersebut mengintelektualisasikan seni secara berlebihan

ketimbang berusaha menyentuh hati (bahkan jika citraan benak masuk akal, benak itu

menubuh).

Saat saya kembali ke Bandung, saya bersemangat mencari tahu lebih banyak

mengenai karya Erika Ernawan. Saya membaca beberapa esai-esai kuratorial dan

ulasan-ulasan. Kemudian, segenap antusiasme saya tentang karya ini luruh dari tubuh

saya. Bagi saya, tulisan-tulisan tersebut menghasilkan kebalikan dari yang

sesungguhnya ingin dicapai oleh para penulis itu, karena semua penulis tersebut sama

positifnya mengenai karya Erika Ernawan. Di bawah ini saya mengutip beberapa

contoh yang saya temukan dalam esai-esai kuratorial dan ulasan tentang karya Erika

Ernawan. Permasalahan saya bukanlah dengan penulis tertentu, melainkan dengan

gaya penulisan. Saya bisa mengutip belasan kasus seperti di bawah itu, termasuk dari

pengarang lain. Sebagai penulis, kita senantiasa harus berurusan dengan ruang yang

terbatas dan tenggat yang ketat, dan karena itu esai yang sempurna nyaris mustahil

dibuat. Tapi kita harus mencoba. Dan bila kita gagal, kita mencoba lagi (menyitir

Samuel Beckett).

1. Carla Bianpoen: Erika Ernawan “refutes the male gaze or anyone else's

voyeuristic tendencies […].” (Erika Ernawan “menyangkal tatapan lelaki atau

kecenderungan-kecenderungan voyeuristic siapa pun.”)

2. Angela Dewan: “Erika Ernawan is a courageous young feminist.” (“Erika

Ernawan adalah seorang feminis muda yang berani.”)

3. Icha Annisa: “In one piece, a bare woman's body is covered in paint.” (“Dalam

satu karya, tubuh telanjang seorang perempuan terbalur cat.”)

4. Andi Yustana: “The exhibition titled 'My Body' then is intended to receive a

picture of the representation of contemporary Indonesian women artists on

their own body.” (“Dengan demikian, pameran berjudul 'Tubuhku' ini

dimaksudkan untuk memperoleh gambaran representasi seniman perempuan

kontemporer Indonesia mengenai tubuh mereka.”)

5. Asmudjo Irianto: “The things we witness in her pieces contradict her tender

and mostly feminine daily disposition. The Erika of her artworks is not the

Erika we know, sweet natured and well mannered.” (“Hal-hal yang kita

saksikan dalam karya-karyanya bertentangan dengan perilakunya sehari-hari

yang halus dan kebanyakan feminin. Erika dalam karya-karyanya bukanlah

Erika yang kita kenal, manis dan sopan.”)

Di sini ada beberapa permasalahan: penghilangan (1), kesalahan faktual (2 dan 3),

dan ketakberhubungan (4 dan 5).

Izinkan saya membahas kesalahan-kesalahan faktual terlebih dahulu. Dalam kutipian

ketiga, tersirat bahwa Erika Ernawan seorang pelukis tubuh (body painter), padahal

bukan. Ini bukan komentar ringan, karena ini menunjukkan bahwa banyak di antara kita

terbiasa melihat seni secara naturalistis: citraan yang timbul dari pembubuhan cat di

atas kanvas, misalnya, adalah tubuh perempuan.

Pada banyak kesempatan, Erika Ernawan menjelaskan bahwa ia tidak menganggap

dirinya feminis (kutipan kedua). Namun, ini tidak berarti bahwa karyanya tak bisa

dipandang feminis; akan tetapi, klaim seperti itu membutuhkan penjelasan lebih lanjut.

Mengapa penting membubuhkan 'perempuan' dan 'tubuh mereka' dalam kutipan

keempat? Mengapa menyebut Erika Ernawan seniman perempuan jika lelaki tak

disebut seniman lelaki? Bandingkan karyanya dengan, misalnya, karya Tisna Sanjaya,

dan kita akan melihat betapa kedua seniman menerima perlakuan berbeda dari kurator

dan kritikus seni. Tisna juga menggunakan tubuhnya dalam karya-karya seninya, tapi

tak ada yang menyatakan bahwa karya-karya tersebut semata-mata tentang sang

seniman sendiri. Terlebih lagi, dengan menggunakan adjektiva 'woman' dan 'female',

sang seniman dan karyanya tegas-tegas disimpan dalam lemari besi dan potensi

implikasi politisnya dijinakkan.

Dalam kutipan kelima, masalahnya lebih parah lagi dengan mengacu kepada perilaku

halus sang seniman. Sekali lagi, Tisna Sanjaya tak bakal menerima perlakuan seperti

itu. Setidaknya, hal tersebut tak berhubungan dan separah-parahnya, hal itu bisa

dianggap seksisme, yang merupakan kontradiksi pernyataan dalam kutipan pertama.

Akhirnya, kutipan pertama: banyak kurator dan kritikus seni menggunakan teori-teori

(filosofis, sosiologis, dsb.) seperti 'male gaze' (tatapan lelaki) atau tulisan-tulisan

Jacques Lacan saat menanggapi karya-karya Erika Ernawan. Hal ini bisa jadi jalan

untuk menjelaskan karya-karya Erika kepada penonton. Namun, ada beberapa masalah

di sini. Penggunaan suatu teori secara seadanya tidaklah memberi penjelasan; teori

'tatapan lelaki' (male gaze), misalnya, adalah teori yang rumit dan berkaitan dengan,

katakanlah, tulisan Edward Said tentang orientalisme dan tulisan John Urry tentang 8tatapan sang turis (the tourist gaze). Suatu teori juga disertai oleh sejarah panjang

gagasan dan konotasi-konotasi budaya (bagaimana tulisan-tulisan Jacques Lacan

berkaitan dengan tulisan-tulisan para pria kulit putih Barat seperti Georg Wilhelm

Hegel, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, dan Martin Heidegger?).

Pemanfaatan teori dapat berujung pada suatu sikap yang lebih kritis terhadap karya

Erika Ernawan. Karyanya jelas layak dipuji, akan tetapi, kritik seni tanpa kritik tidaklah

pantas disebut kritik. Teori tentang tatapan baik tatapan seksis, orientalis, atau turis

hanya bisa sistematis bila semua yang terlibat dipengaruhi dengan menghayati

implikasinya; karena itu, dalam hal ini, refleksivitas (reflexivity), ketimbang reflektivitas

(reflectivity), merupakan gagasan yang lebih baik untuk menjelaskan hal tersebut (ya,

di sini saya memang terlalu singkat). Sebagai tambahan, beberapa penulis tak hanya

menggunakan teori-teori tertentu, melainkan juga berusaha menulis dalam gaya yang 9menyerupai gaya Jacques Lacan (atau Jacques Derrida atau Slavoj Zizek), yang

mengaburkan ketimbang menjelaskan.

Apabila suatu teori digunakan, penggunaan teori tersebut harus dilakukan secara

sederhana dan masuk akal serta terkait erat dengan realitas yang ada: karya seni

tertentu dari seorang seniman tertentu. Alternatif dari penggunaan teori adalah usaha

pemberian konteks sejarah bagi seorang seniman dan karyanya. Saya sadar bahwa 10seni kontemporer menderita suatu amnesia, dan ini diperumit dengan kenyataan

bahwa tak ada satu universitas Indonesia pun yang menawarkan program sejarah

seni. Toh tetap saja hal ini dapat memberi masukan berharga, karena seorang

seniman secara sadar maupun tak sadar dipengaruhi oleh seniman lain. Kepada saya, 11Erika Ernawan menyebut Marina Abramovic sebagai satu sumber pengaruh. Marina

12Abramovic memiliki rekan kerja lama: Ulay. Bagaimana mereka saling memengaruhi

melalui kerja sama itu? Pertanyaan ini juga berlaku untuk Erika Ernawan, ia menikah 13dengan seniman Erik Pauhrizi. Bagaimana saling-pengaruh di antara mereka mewujud

dalam karya-karya seni mereka? Karya Erika Ernawan juga dapat diberi konteks 14dengan membandingkannya dengan karya-karya Mella Jaarsma atau Jill Magid.

Pertanyaannya tetap saja: bagaimana cara menulis tentang seni tanpa mengecilkan

karya seni menjadi definisi tegas yang pas dalam kertas post-it atau stiker mobil?

Dalam cerita pendeknya, “Looking at Meinhof” (“Melihat Meinhof”), Don DeLillo

menulis tentang seri 'October 18, 1977' karya Gerhard Richter. Hari demi hari,

seorang perempuan mengunjungi seri lukisan yang sama, setiap hari ia melihat lebih

banyak. Pada hari ketiga, seorang asing mendesaknya mengungkapkan apa yang ia

lihat dan menjelaskan mengapa ia terpesona oleh seri lukisan itu:

“Katakan apa yang Anda lihat. Jujurlah. Saya ingin tahu.”

[...]

“Saya sadar kini bahwa pada hari bertama saya tak cukup melihat. Saya kira

saya melihat, tapi saya sekadar memperoleh bayangan tentang apa yang ada

dalam lukisan-lukisan itu. Saya baru mulai melihat.”

Mereka berdiri, bersama-sama, melihat peti-peti mati dan pepohonan serta

kerumunan. [...]

“Dan apa yang Anda rasakan saat Anda melihat?” si orang asing berkata.

“Saya tak tahu. Rumit.”

“Sebab saya tak merasakan apa pun.”

“Saya kira saya merasa tak berdaya. Lukisan-lukisan ini membuat saya

merasakan betapa seseorang bisa begitu tak berdaya.”

“Itukah mengapa Anda ke sini tiga hari berturut-turut? Untuk merasa tak

berdaya?” kata si orang asing.

“Saya ke sini karena saya menyukai lukisan-lukisan ini. Kian hari kian suka.

Awalnya saya bingung, dan saya masih bingung, sedikit. Tapi saya tahu saya 15menyukai lukisan-lukisan ini sekarang.”

Kata-kata penutup dialog ini sungguh mencerahkan: “Saya menyukai lukisan-lukisan ini 16sekarang.” Dan perempuan itu kembali lagi keesokan harinya. Bagaimana kita bisa

memperoleh keintiman seperti itu? Hal tersebut membutuhkan upaya dan perhatian

sungguh-sungguh dengan cara menghabiskan waktu dengan karya-karya seni di

ruang pameran. Contohnya, saya membutuhkan bertahun-tahun untuk mengapresiasi

karya Piet Mondian. Berkali-kali saya kembali ke lukisan-lukisannya, dan terutama ke

lukisan terakhirnya yang belum selesai: 'Victory Boogie-Woogie', yang saya sukai

sekarang.

Seperti yang sudah saya kemukakan, tak mudah menggunakan suatu teori filosofis

atau yang lain dalam suatu esai kuratorial atau ulasan, dan ada keterbatasan lain yang

Leben ist Entstehen und Vergehen, 42 x 600 cm, neon, 2012

harus kita ketahui. Seni dan pengalaman kita dengan seni dapat pergi ke tempat-

tempat di mana logika (dan epistemologi) tak lagi masuk akal. Ludwig Wittgenstein

menulis: “What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence” apa yang tak 17bisa kita bicarakan, harus kita lewati dalam diam. Ia berbicara pada para filsuf; apa

yang tak bisa tak boleh dibicarakan para filsuf, dapat dialihkan kepada para seniman.

Ludwig Wittgenstein menarik garis tentang pemikiran logis; tentu saja, ia tidak

menyiratkan bahwa dunia berhenti berputar saat para filsuf meletakkan pena.

Seni tak menyampaikan argumen terlebih lagi argumen yang koheren, konsisten, dan

rasional dengan hipotesa, premis, dan kesimpulan yang dapat dibuktikan. Seni tidak

menyampaikan pertanyaan jika pertanyaan dapat diajukan, jawaban dapat diberikan.

Untuk kembali ke sistem sosial tatapan lelaki (male gaze): sistem tersebut tak akan

runtuh oleh agumen-argumen yang sahih. Hal tersebut membutuhkan cara lain dalam

melihat dunia dengan memperkenalkan metafor-metafor baru (novel-novel dengan

nasionalisme anti-kolonial juga merupakan contoh yang baik). Selain itu, seberapa

kukuh pun argumen yang diajukan untuk mendukung suatu karya seni, karya seni

senantiasa lebih daripada sekadar elemen-elemen penyusunnya: pengikat puitis. Bila kita ingin sepenuhnya merasakan seni, kita harus menyingkirkan tradisi berabad-

abad (setidaknya sejak Plato): dualisme pikiran-tubuh, yang memandang pikiran (atau

diri, ruh, atau jiwa) sebagai hal yang rasional (setidaknya bagi lelaki, kebanyakan teori-

teori ini seksis) dan menguasai tubuh, yang dipandang sebaik-baiknya sebagai

perangkat tumpul dan seburuk-buruknya sebagai penjara. Dualisme pikiran-tubuh

berujung pada tertutupnya berbagai pengalaman berharga dan dengan demikian juga

pengetahuan.

Kritik saya terhadap pendekatan intelektual yang berlebihan terhadap seni tidak berarti

bahwa saya lebih menyukai pendekatan yang romantis, sentimentalis, mistis, intuitif,

instingtif, atau anti-intelektual (bagaimanapun saya seorang cendekiawan).

Pengalaman yang menubuh atas seni menekankan bahwa kita makhluk sadar yang

bertempat (situated) dan berelasi (relational). Pengetahuan menubuh tentang seni

betempat dan berelasi dengan mengalami karya seni tertentu dalam suatu ruang seni

fisik (tubuh kita, dengan demikian, merupakan ruang dalam ruang). Hal ini merupakan

hubungan yang tak stabil: mengunjungi pameran yang sama untuk karya seni yang

sama dapat menghasilkan pengalaman yang berbeda (sebagaimana dituliskan dalam

cerita pendek Don DeLillo di atas).

Penafsiran terbaik dari suatu karya seni adalah karya seni lain dengan ambiguitasnya

sendiri. Namun, sebagian besar dari kita tak memiliki waktu, keterampilan teknis, serta

sensibilitas puitis untuk menjadi seniman dalam arti tersebut (hiburan: kita tetap bisa

bercita-cita mengikuti seni hidup berkebajikan). Sementara itu, kita sebaiknya menulis

tentang seni dan seniman dengan menggunakan sebanyak mungkin perangkat:

memanfaatkan teori secara masuk akal dan menyediakan konteks sejarah seni

(dengan membandingkan karya-karya seni dengan karya seniman lain, tapi juga

dengan mendiskusikan penggunaan media dan material serta kemampuan teknis dan

stilistik). Serta menulis sedemikian rupa dengan bergairah sehingga ambiguitas seni 18yang puitis tak terhancurkan oleh upaya mencari sesuatu yang final. Bagi saya, ini

perjuangan yang menerus seiring dengan berlanjutnya cinta dan keterlibatan saya

dengan seni.

Roy Voragen, dari Belanda, telah tinggal di Indonesia sejak 2003, dan seorang

penulis seni yang tinggal di Bandung. Ia dapat dihubungi di

http://fatumbrutum.blogspot.com/.

1. James Elkins, What happened to art criticism (Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003), p.4.

2. Carla Bianpoen, “Erika Ernawan shatters theconventional,” the Jakarta Post, 23-4-2011; <http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/04 23/erika-ernawan-shatters-conventional.html> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

3. Angela Dewan, “Starting with the woman in the mirror,” the Jakarta Globe, 15-4-2011; <http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/arts/starting with-the-woman-in-the-mirror/435635> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

4. Icha Annisa, “Erika Ernawan Art Exhibition,” <http://www.kemangbuzz.com/content/previssu /view.php?edisi_id=14&art_id=159> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

5. Andi Yustana, “preface,” in My Body, 43 Woman Artists, exhibition catalog (Jakarta: Andi's Gallery, 2009);<http://www.andisgallery.com/exhibition/ ev/id/17/title/My%20Body> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

6. Asmudjo Irianto, “Der Spiegel: curatorial essay,” in Der Spiegel, exhibition catalog (Jakarta: Vivi Yip Art Room, 2011); <http://viviyipartroom.com/1287/del-spiegel-2> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

7. That the artist uses the term 'male gaze' in titles does not warrant a merely cursory reference by an art critic or curator in her or his writings.

8. Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1994). John Urry, The Tourist Gaze (London: Sage, 2005). John Urry writes (on p.1) that the “gaze is socially organized and

systemized [… and it] varies by society, by social group and by historical period. […].” The gaze, therefore, is not given by nature, but because it has become a part of our culture over the centuries it can be considered as our second nature. Internalized orientalism is seeing oneself as the exotic other. Orientalism is also at play in the reception of art from Indonesia abroad; it is not shown alongside Western art, but is grouped according to nationality, supposedly so Westerners can learn something about Indonesian culture. Even worse, sometimes, contemporary art from Indonesia is shown in ethnographic museums, which is condescending. For example, Indonesian artists Heri Dono and Oscar Motuloh had exhibitions in the Tropenmuseum recently (ethnographic museum in Amsterdam);<http://www.tropenmuseum.nl//MU /6313/Tropenmuseum/Tentoonstellingen/Tentoo stellingen-Archief> (accessed on 3 January 2012).

9. The ways Slavoj Zizek puts the writings of Georg Wilhelm Hegel, Karl Marx and Jacques Lacan to use is playful but very hard to replicate. This criticism does not apply to the citations above.

10.That we could claim that we are living in post traditional times does not mean that we are living in post-historical times, let alone that influence no longer matters. That a tradition is no longer the single most important authority does not mean that artists create something out of nothing. See Anthony Giddens, “Living in a Post-Traditional Society,” in Reflexive

Modernization, Politics, Tradition, and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order, Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994).

11.Interview with the artist, 10 February 2012.12.For more information on their collaboration (and

other artists collaborating) see <http://collabarts.org/?p=156> (accessed on15 February 2012). After years of collaborating, Ulay and Marina Abramovic decided to depart where another interesting collaborative couple's artistic journey had only just begun: RongRong and inri. Ulay and Marina Abramovic traveled from opposite ends on the Great Wall, where they met they said goodbye. A few months ago, I was in Hong Kong and I visited a superb exhibition by RongRong and inri. He is Chinese and she is Japanese, and when he had a solo exhibition in Japan, she first fell in love with his work and then they fell in love with each other. During the first stages of their relationship, they could only communicate through their bodies and their art. See <http://blindspotgallery.com/en/exhibitions/past three-begets-ten-thousand-things> (accessed on 15 February 2012).

13.See their website <http://erikunderika.com/> (accessed on 15 February 2012).

14.I assume that all readers are familiar with Mella Jaarsma's work. Jill Magid participated in the 2011 Singapore Biennale; for more information on her work see <http://www.jillmagid.net/> (accessed on 15 February 2012). Erika Ernawan was not familiar with Jill Magid's work prior to my interview on 10 February 2012, but it can still be helpful to compare an artist and her works to artists she is not familiar with.

15.Don DeLillo, “Looking at Meinhof,” The Guardian, 17 August 2002; <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/aug/1/fiction.originalwriting> (accessed on 14 February 2012). Gerhard Richter's series 'October 18, 1977' can be see here: <http://www.gerhard-richter.com/art/paintings/photo_paintings/detail.php?7687> (accessed on 14 February 2012). I am not comparing Erika Ernawan's work to Gerhard Richter's work. Don Delillo's storyillustrates nicely how difficult it is to givereasons for why we love certain artworks. Gerhard Richter's quote used as a motto shows that a work can be richer than the artist is aware of. Moreover, we should not worry solely about the intentions and motivations of an artist, because it could distract us from the actual artworks.

16.Italics added. Or try to answer this question: why do you love your partner (including her or his flaws)?

17.Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, trans. D.F. Pears and B.F. McGuinness (London and New York: Routledge, 1999), section 7, p.74. I am aware of the irony: I am using a philosopher to claim that philosophy has its limits.

18.To put it in another way: contemporary culture in general (with a tongue-twister also called 'contemporaneity') and contemporary art in particular is complex and eclectic. How can I write about the practices and products of such a complex eclecticism? I am trying to avoid two traps. First, I try not to reason away perplexities (an artwork is not a text, let alone one with a beginning, middle and (happy) end). And second, I try not to add extra layers of bewilderment.

RUHE IN FRIEDEN

Water, Body, and Environment

Erika Ernawan's second solo show today presents interactive installation works,

performance, video performance, and mix-media photographs. The key elements here

are mirrors and the body. The title, “Ruhe in Freiden”, is German for “rest in peace”. It

hints at issues of both life and death. Erika began the project in the early days of her

residential period in Berlin, Germany, last year, as she interacted with artists from

various countries and nations. The experience informed her about the problem of

humans and their environment. Erika explains, “It turns out that Germany does care

about the environment. However, out of ten people from ten different countries,

including myself from Indonesia, six to eight people have problems that are caused by

environmental degradation. All these problems are inter-related: how flooding could

occur in Indonesia while Africa experiences a period of drought. Or, there is a link

between colonialism and the spread of malaria. Different countries have seen how

plagues took place, resulting in death. The illness might spread from the dirty water in 1their surrounding.”

As she returned to her hometown of Bandung, Erika started to observe her

environment more closely, and she came across polluted sources of water, which

might be caused by industrial or household waste, or because of the rapid changes in

the urban lay-out. She then presented her observations in a series of works of

installation, performance, video, digital photographs, and mirrors. Erika explored all

these different elements. She explains, “As I use mirrors, the body, and digital prints, I

view the media as the appropriate vehicle for my ideas, as I wish to deconstruct the

things that have seemed to become conventions, even monuments. I do this to

interrupt the way things work in seemingly standardized ways, as in truth there is no 2standard in life; we humans were born free, naked, alone.”

The statement seems to refute the oft-repeated arguments that Erika's works have to

do with feminism. The spirit of femininity, however, might still have to do with Erika's

works. In its broad sense, femininity touches upon issues residing outside the

mainstream, things about the domestic world, and related to the female body and the

environment. Corporeal actions or performance acts in feminism during the sixties to

the seventies were often done to state protests, introduce movements, make antiwar

or antinuclear statements, or to provoke the public, as Yoko Ono and Marina

Abramoviæ had often done. The history of contemporary art have recorded such acts

and they have even become world icons. As a result, Erika, who often talks about the

body in her works and does performance acts, is often linked with such feminism

movements.

In the exhibition “Ruhe In Freiden” today, Erika's works talk about environmental

degradation, especially about water pollution and the threats it poses to human life.

One might perhaps compare Erika's project with that of the artist Tisna Sanjaya, who

is doing a project of “involved art” along with a community residing in Cigondewah,

south of Bandung. Tisna's “Cigondewah Project” began a few years ago, in a

residential area around rice fields and near the industrial area. Tisna has been doing a

project of art activism, or involved art, by establishing the “Cigondewah Cultural

Center”, a multifunction place that the community can use.

Tisna remembered how the small river running next to Cigondewah Cultural Center

had been clean, and people could use the water for their daily needs and to irrigate the

rice fields. The area subsequently became an industrial area. The rice fields became

smaller, replaced by the industry and human settlements. Then there was the problem

of environmental pollution because of the industrial waste. The water running through

the area could no longer be used and even posed a distinct danger to the people,

giving rise to illnesses and even death.

The issue of water in the Indonesian urban society is indeed a significant and

intriguing issue. Water is a key and fundamental element for humans and other living

creatures on Earth. With the Indonesian nature and its climate, water has become a

key element shaping the Indonesian culture. Ironically, in big cities, water has become

scarce as it is no longer clean, or simply because there is no source of clean water.

Water from natural sources is no longer safe to consume. Meanwhile, the quality of

water managed by the Regional Water Company (PDAM, Perusahaan Daerah Air

Minum) becomes increasingly doubtful that people switched to buying water from

private companies, or consuming bottled water.

Erika has conducted a brief survey and found out that “the level of water pollution in

Bandung has reached 40%. The quality of rivers in Bandung has reached a

dangerously critical level. The rivers are polluted by a myriad of waste products. The

BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and the COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) of the

river water have become so high, and the same is true for the levels of e-coli bacteria,

arsenic, and cyanide pollution, which have passed the maximum allowable limit. In

2000, 25.9% of Bandung residents who consume water from the Regional Water

Company risked their health. I'm too scared to think of the possible level of pollution 3in 2012.”

In Erika's works, the mirrors might symbolize water. At the same time, they might also

function as a vehicle to reveal the identity or image of the self. The mirror is not

directed merely at the artist herself, but is also used to interact with the audience.

Erika invited the audience to expose themselves by looking at the mirrors. The

psychoanalysis theory of the French thinker Jacques Lacan (190-81) about mirrors

might be significant here. According to Lacan, humans' act of looking at the mirror is

Violett50 x 65 cm

water colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

In another work, Erika records bodies hung upside-down around their houses, whose

sources of water have been polluted by industrial waste. The bodies become the

symbol of a condition of being threatened, as well as of death and helplessness. The

work is presented in video and digital photographs. The act to record the performance

and re-present it again in a medium is often done in the contemporary art world,

especially in Asia.

According to art researcher Thomas J. Berghuis in his book, Performance Art in

China, the recording of a performance act as the second representation of the acting

body reveals the latest development in Asia today. The body in performance art is

presented as both the subject and the object, re-presented through video, new media, 6digital photography works, as well as through paintings or sculptures.

Other works by Erika, a neon box and stainless steel skulls, are symbols of the issue

that she is dealing with: death. Meanwhile, water is still presented as a means to talk

about the cultural degradation caused by human's actions. The body here might be

the manifestation of the Body without Organs that Gilles Deleuze once mentioned,

signaling about the degradation of the environment. The body is a sub-part of, and 7linked with, other elements of nature such as the Earth itself and all its contents.

In Erika's works, water as the main element of life and death is presented in a

fearsome images, akin to flash flood or tsunami that might occur all of a sudden,

wash away houses and everything that stands in its way. Water can be very

dangerous and it might take our lives. At the same time, we need water and it is

impossible to separate water from the nature and from our lives. By presenting the

other face of water, the exhibition “Ruhe In Freiden” might serve as a timely warning

about the social and cultural changes that are taking place, which might result in

disasters or death.

Erika Ernawan reveals a contemporary art practice that is socially involved as she

presents her critical views regarding the social situations surrounding her. At the same

time, she is able to summarize the problems and present them in a series of intriguing

and entertaining symbols and metaphors, thereby smoothly communicating with the

public. It is heartening to see how a young artist shows an interest in social and

environmental issues. We know that many young artists have emerged lately,

especially from Bandung. Not many of them, however, are engaged in the practice of

socially-involved art, which requires the artist to make direct observations and interact

with her surrounding. +++

done continuously and unceasingly because there is a tendency among humans to

observe themselves. The mirror becomes a magic window for us to peer through our

self identity.

According to Donny Gahral Adian in his introduction to the book Jacques Lacan,

Diskursus, dan Perubahan Sosial (Jacques Lacan, Discourse, and Social Change),

during the mirror stage, a person starts to grasp the idea about the Other and

understands otherness as a structuring principle or concept, before he or she forms

the concept about the 'self'. The 'self' as viewed in the mirror is actually the Other, but

it is mistakenly identified as 'I'. The truth is, what one sees in the mirror is only an

image. The relation between the person and the other in the mirror, which he or she

recognizes as the 'I', is a symbolic relation, the center of the linguistic awareness that 4is determined by the Other/phallus/name-of-the-Father/law/power.

The mirror in Erika's works, therefore, is aimed to confront the 'self' or the 'other'. The

Other is “anyone who is not I, who is different from me, but who are my

fellows”—wrote the poet Goenawan Mohamad on Twitter on August 24, 2010. For

Erika, the mirror is a medium that enables her to reflect on life and art in order to 5understand them better.

In her work of installation, Erika stacks up skulls at the entrance to the exhibition

space. She has given the skulls a chrome coating so that they reflect images and thus

serve like mirrors. The audience will be forced to step on the skulls as they enter and

see their reflections there. The bones and skulls show distinct reflections and images,

fragmented and alien. The otherness of our self-images as reflected by those skulls

does not only serve as a metaphor as we are literally unable to recognize ourselves

there. The skeleton installation hints at death. The audience will come across a phrase

presented as a neon sign, proclaiming “Leben Ist Entstehen Und Vergehen”—life is the

beginning and the end.

Another work shows a recording of Erika's performance as she hung herself upside-

down with a spinning rope; right below her head is a stainless steel tub containing

colorful mouthwash liquid. In this exhibition, the recording is presented alongside a

human skeleton, colorful mouthwash liquid, and a series of alphabets forming the

sentence “Die Umwelt ist der Lebensraum des Menschen, der 'Tiere' und der Pfla das

Geld”, which means “the environment is the living space of humans, 'beast', and

money”. The work voices Erika's criticism regarding the imbalance in the relationship

between humans and their economic activities and the nature. Humans are exploiting

the nature without considering the damage they inflict on the environment and other

fellow humans.

Footnotes:1. Erika Ernawan's statement, accessed on February 10, 2012.2. Ibid.3. Ibid. 4. Ibid.5. Introduction by Donny Gahral Adian and closing essay by Kurniasih in the book Jacques Lacan,

Diskursus, dan Perubahan Sosial: Pengantar Kritik – Budaya Psikoanalisis (Jacques Lacan,

Discourse, and Social Changes: Introduction to Psychoanalysis Cultural Criticism) by Mark

Bracher, translated by Gunawan Admiranto. Published by Jalasutra (Yogyakarta; 2009)6. Thomas J. Berghuis. Performance Art In China. Published by Timezone 8 (Hong Kong; 2006) 7. Bruce Baugh. Body: The Deleuze Dictionary. Edited by Adrian Parr. Edinburgh University Press.

(Edinburgh; 2005)

Schwarz 0150 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

14 15

Recently, Indonesia had a fever; a biennale fever, with biennales in Yogyakarta and

Jakarta. Sometimes, a fever can be benign, as was the case in Yogyakarta. However,

the Jakarta biennale was far too chaotic and disorganized to offer a platform to

appreciate artworks and explore recent developments in the arts.

At the 2011 Jakarta Biennale, the chaotic display, for example, of wall texts none at

all, containing only minimal information (merely the name of the artist and the title of

the work) or wrong translations (and perhaps there were also wall texts attached to

the wrong artworks) was certainly a major annoyance. However, this raises a

question: since when has it become custom to have extensive wall texts interpreting

the displayed works at art exhibitions and to see these texts as necessary? The works

by Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondrian to name the three most

important artists from Dutch art history are not accompanied by extensive wall texts.

Are the works by these artists unlike contemporary artworks considered self-

explanatory? And can wall texts also form a distraction by guiding exhibition visitors

too much?

At the 2011 Yogyakarta Biennale, Albert Yonathan's installation 'Cosmic Labyrinth: The

Bells', Jompet Kuswidananto's 'Site of Gods' installation and Nurdian Ichsan's

installation work 'Linkage' were some of the highlights of this wonderful biennale in an

equally wonderful city. The very last artwork I came face to face with certainly belongs

to my personal shortlist. Somehow, the work reminded me of an earlier encounter I

had with work by the German neo-expressionist painter Georg Baselitz, whose work I

saw in the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, the Netherlands, ten to fifteen years

ago. And in my enthusiasm and fascination, I overlooked the wall text. Only later that

night, in the train on my way back home, when I was going through to the catalog, I

noticed that this captivating work is by Erika Ernawan ('Mirror Sees Me' series).

On the night train on my way to Yogyakarta, I read James Elkins' book What

happened to art criticism. Elkins states: “Art criticism is massively produced, and 1massively ignored.” How to write sensibly about art? Of course, to write in such a

way that it makes sense to artists and artworks. But, perhaps more importantly, it is

also a matter of writing about the arts and artists in such a way that it captivates an

audience and invites them to actually explore art exhibitions. The first time I came

across an instance of bad art writing was the catalog of Documenta X (curated by

Catherine David in 1997), as it overintellectualized art instead of appealing to the

proverbial heart as well (even if the image of a mind makes sense, the mind is

embodied).

When I returned to Bandung, I was eager to find out more about Erika Ernawan's

work. I read quite a few curatorial and review essays. Subsequently, all my enthusiasm

ROY VORAGEN

A BODY OF ART

“The body is to be compared, not to a physical object, but rather to a work of art.”

– Maurice Merleau-Ponty

“My paintings are smarter than me.”– Gerhard Richter

“There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. There's your answer.”

– Gertrude Stein

16 17

for this work was drained out of my body. For me, those writings resulted in the

opposite of what the writers wanted to achieve, as all these writers were unequivocally

positive about Erika Ernawan's artworks. Below I cite a few examples I found in

curatorial and review essays on Erika Ernawan's work. My quarrel is not with

particular authors but with styles of writing. I could cite dozens of other instances like

the ones here, including from other authors. We writers always have to deal with

limited space and tight deadlines, the perfect essay is therefore close to impossible to

accomplish. But we have to try. And if we fail, we try again (to paraphrase Samuel

Beckett).

1. Carla Bianpoen: Erika Ernawan “refutes the male gaze or anyone else's voyeuristic 2tendencies […].”

32. Angela Dewan: “Erika Ernawan is a courageous young feminist.” 43. Icha Annisa: “In one piece, a bare woman's body is covered in paint.”

4. Andi Yustana: “The exhibition titled 'My Body' then is intended to receive a picture

of the representation of contemporary Indonesian women artists on their own 5body.”

5. Asmudjo Irianto: “The things we witness in her pieces contradict her tender and

mostly feminine daily disposition. The Erika of her artworks is not the Erika we 6know, sweet natured and well mannered.”

There are several issues at hand here: omission (1), factual errors (2 and 3), and

irrelevance (4 and 5).

Let me get the factual errors out of the way first. In the third quote it is implied that

Erika Ernawan is a body painter, which she is not. This is not a trivial comment,

because it shows that many of us have a habit of looking at art naturalistically: the

image resulting from applying paint on canvas, for example, is a woman's body.

On numerous occasions Erika Ernawan explained that she does not consider herself a

feminist (the second quote). This does not mean, however, that her work cannot be

considered feminist, such a claim, though, would require further explanation.

Why is it relevant to add 'women' and 'their own body' in the fourth quote? Why call

Erika Ernawan a female artist if men are not called male artists? Compare her work

with, for example, Tisna Sanjaya's work and we will notice that they receive different

treatments by curators and art critics. He employs his own body in his artworks as

well, but no one is claiming that these works are just about the artist himself.

Moreover, by employing the adjectives 'woman' and 'female', the artist and her works

are solidly kept in a safe-deposit and the potential political implications are made

harmless.

In the fifth quote matters are made worse by referring to the artist's refined demeanor.

Again, Tisna Sanjaya would never receive such a treatment. At best it is irrelevant and

at worst it could be considered as sexism, which is in contradiction of the statement

in the first quote.

Finally, the first quote: many curators and art critics make use of theories

(philosophical, sociological, etc.) such as the 'male gaze' or Jacques Lacan's writings 7in dealing with Erika Ernawan's work. And this could be a way to make sense of her

work to an audience. There are several problems here though. A cursory use of a

theory does not clarify; the theory of the 'male gaze', for example, is complex and

related to, for example, Edward Said's writings on orientalism and John Urry's writings 8on the tourist gaze. A theory also comes with a long history of ideas and their cultural

connotations (how do Jacques Lacan's writings relate to the writings of white,

Western men like Georg Wilhelm Hegel, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and Martin

Heidegger?).

Making good use of a theory could lead to a more critical stand towards Erika

Ernawan's work. Her work is surely worthy of praise, however, art criticism without

criticism does not live up to its name. Theories of the gaze sexist, orientalist or tourist

gazes can only become systematic if all involved are affected by internalizing its

implications; reflexivity instead of reflectivity is, therefore, a better concept to describe

this (indeed, I am too brief here). In addition, some authors not only use certain

theories, they also try to write in the same style as Jacques Lacan (or Jacques Derrida 9or Slavoj Zizek), which obfuscates rather than clarifies.

Ruhe in Frieden42 x 156 cmneon2012

18 19

If a theory is used, it should be done modestly and grounded in the reality at hand: the

particular artworks of a certain artist. An alternative to theorizing is an attempt to offer

an art historical context to an artist and her work. I realize that contemporary art 10suffers from amnesia, and this is further complicated by the fact that no Indonesian

university offers an art history program. Still, it could be insightful, because an artist is

knowingly and unknowingly influenced by other artists. Erika Ernawan mentioned to 11me Marina Abramovi· as a source of influence. Marina Abramovi· had a long-time

12collaborator: Ulay. How did they influence one and another through collaborating? 13This question also applies to Erika Ernawan, she is married to the artist Erik Pauhrizi.

How does their mutual influence materialize in their artworks? Erika Ernawan's work

could also be put in a context by comparing her work to the works by Mella Jaarsma 14or Jill Magid.

The question remains: how to write about art without reducing a work to a clear-cut

definition that fits a post-it or bumper sticker?

Don DeLillo writes in his short story “Looking at Meinhof” about the series 'October

18, 1977' by Gerhard Richter. Day after day, a woman visits the same series of

paintings, every day she sees more. On the third day, a complete stranger urges her to

express what she sees and explain why she is fascinated by this particular series of

paintings:

“Tell me what you see. Honestly. I want to know.”

[…]

“I realise now that the first day I was only barely looking. I thought I was

looking, but I was only getting a bare inkling of what's in these paintings. I'm

only just starting to look.”

They stood looking, together, at the coffins and trees and crowd. […]

“And what do you feel when you look?” he said.

“I don't know. It's complicated.”

“Because I don't feel anything.”

“I think I feel helpless. These paintings make me feel how helpless a person

can be.”

“Is that why you're here three straight days? To feel helpless?” he said.

“I'm here because I love the paintings. More and more. At first I was15confused, and still am, a little. But I know I love the paintings now.”

16The closing words of this dialog are illuminating: “I love the paintings now.” And she

returns the next day. How to gain such a level of intimacy? It requires effort and close

attention by spending time with artworks in an exhibition space. It took me years to

appreciate Piet Mondrian's work, for instance. Time after time, I returned to his

paintings and particularly his final, unfinished piece: 'Victory Boogie-Woogie', which I

love now.

As said, it is not that easy to employ a theory philosophical or otherwise in a

curatorial or review essay, and there is another limitation to be aware of. Art and our

experiences of the arts can go where logics (and epistemology) stops making sense.

So writes Ludwig Wittgenstein: “What we cannot speak about we must pass over in 17silence.” He is addressing philosophers; what philosophers cannot should not speak

about can be passed over to artists. Ludwig Wittgenstein is drawing the limits of

logical thought; he is, obviously, not implying that the world comes to a standstill

when philosophers put their pen down.

Art does not state arguments let alone coherent, consistent and rational arguments

with hypotheses, premises and conclusions that can be verified. Art does not pose

questions if a question can be posed at all, an answer could be offered. To return to

the social system of the male gaze: such a system will not break down by valid

arguments. It requires, on the other hand, seeing our world in a different light by

bringing into play new metaphors (novels dealing with anti-colonial nationalism are a

good example as well). And no matter how sound the arguments offered in favor of

an artwork are, an artwork is more than its elements: the poetic glue.

If we want to experience art fully, we have to get rid of a centuries old tradition (at

least dating back to Plato): the mind-body dualism, in which the mind (or self, spirit or

soul) is rational (at least for men, most of these theories are sexist) and in charge of

the body, which is considered at best a blunt tool and at worst a prison. The mind-

body dualism leads to a closing-off of a whole range of valuable experiences and thus

knowledge.

My criticism of an overly intellectual approach to the arts does not mean, however,

that I favor a romantic, sentimentalist, mystical, intuitive, instinctive or anti-intellectual

approach (I am, after all, an intellectual). Embodied experience of the arts emphasizes

that we are situated and relational sentient beings. Embodied knowledge of the arts is

situated in and related to experiencing specific artworks in physical art spaces (our

body is then a space in a space). And this is an unstable relationship: visiting the

same exhibition space for the same artwork can result in different experiences (as in

Don DeLillo's short story above).

The best interpretation of an artwork is another artwork with its own ambiguities.

However, most of us lack the time, technical skills and poetic sensibilities to be an

artist in this sense (a comfort: we can still aspire to the art of living virtuously). In the

20 21

1. James Elkins, What happened to art criticism (Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003), p.4.

2. Carla Bianpoen, “Erika Ernawan shatters theconventional,” the Jakarta Post, 23-4-2011; <http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/04 23/erika-ernawan-shatters-conventional.html> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

3. Angela Dewan, “Starting with the woman in the mirror,” the Jakarta Globe, 15-4-2011; <http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/arts/starting with-the-woman-in-the-mirror/435635> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

4. Icha Annisa, “Erika Ernawan Art Exhibition,” <http://www.kemangbuzz.com/content/previssu /view.php?edisi_id=14&art_id=159> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

5. Andi Yustana, “preface,” in My Body, 43 Woman Artists, exhibition catalog (Jakarta: Andi's Gallery, 2009);<http://www.andisgallery.com/exhibition/ ev/id/17/title/My%20Body> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

6. Asmudjo Irianto, “Der Spiegel: curatorial essay,” in Der Spiegel, exhibition catalog (Jakarta: Vivi Yip Art Room, 2011); <http://viviyipartroom.com/1287/del-spiegel-2> (accessed on 17 February 2012).

7. That the artist uses the term 'male gaze' in titles does not warrant a merely cursory reference by an art critic or curator in her or his writings.

8. Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1994). John Urry, The Tourist Gaze (London: Sage, 2005). John Urry writes (on p.1)

that the “gaze is socially organized and systemized [… and it] varies by society, by

social group and by historical period. […].” The gaze, therefore, is not given by nature, but because it has become a part of our culture over the centuries it can be considered as our second nature. Internalized orientalism is seeing oneself as the exotic other. Orientalism is also at play in the reception of art from Indonesia abroad; it is not shown alongside Western art, but is grouped according to nationality, supposedly so Westerners can learn something about Indonesian culture. Even worse, sometimes, contemporary art from Indonesia is shown in ethnographic museums, which is condescending. For example, Indonesian artists Heri Dono and Oscar Motuloh had exhibitions in the Tropenmuseum recently (ethnographic museum in Amsterdam);<http://www.tropenmuseum.nl//MU /6313/Tropenmuseum/Tentoonstellingen/Tentoo stellingen-Archief> (accessed on 3 January 2012).

9. The ways Slavoj Zizek puts the writings of Georg Wilhelm Hegel, Karl Marx and Jacques Lacan to use is playful but very hard to replicate. This criticism does not apply to the citations above.

10.That we could claim that we are living in post traditional times does not mean that we are living in post-historical times, let alone that influence no longer matters. That a tradition is no longer the single most important authority does not mean that artists create something out

of nothing. See Anthony Giddens, “Living in a Post-Traditional Society,” in Reflexive

Modernization, Politics, Tradition, and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order, Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994).

11.Interview with the artist, 10 February 2012.12.For more information on their collaboration (and

other artists collaborating) see <http://collabarts.org/?p=156> (accessed on15 February 2012). After years of collaborating, Ulay and Marina Abramovic decided to depart where another interesting collaborative couple's artistic journey had only just begun: RongRong and inri. Ulay and Marina Abramovic traveled from opposite ends on the Great Wall, where they met they said goodbye. A few months ago, I was in Hong Kong and I visited a superb exhibition by RongRong and inri. He is Chinese and she is Japanese, and when he had a solo exhibition in Japan, she first fell in love with his work and then they fell in love with each other. During the first stages of their relationship, they could only communicate through their bodies and their art. See <http://blindspotgallery.com/en/exhibitions/past three-begets-ten-thousand-things> (accessed on 15 February 2012).

13.See their website <http://erikunderika.com/> (accessed on 15 February 2012).

14.I assume that all readers are familiar with Mella Jaarsma's work. Jill Magid participated in the 2011 Singapore Biennale; for more information on her work see <http://www.jillmagid.net/> (accessed on 15 February 2012). Erika Ernawan was not familiar with Jill Magid's work prior to my interview on 10 February 2012, but it can still be helpful to compare an artist and her works to artists she is not familiar with.

15.Don DeLillo, “Looking at Meinhof,” The Guardian, 17 August 2002; <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/aug/1/fiction.originalwriting> (accessed on 14 February 2012). Gerhard Richter's series 'October 18, 1977' can be see here: <http://www.gerhard-richter.com/art/paintings/photo_paintings/detail.php?7687> (accessed on 14 February 2012). I am not comparing Erika Ernawan's work to Gerhard Richter's work. Don Delillo's storyillustrates nicely how difficult it is to givereasons for why we love certain artworks. Gerhard Richter's quote used as a motto shows that a work can be richer than the artist is aware of. Moreover, we should not worry solely about the intentions and motivations of an artist, because it could distract us from the actual artworks.

16.Italics added. Or try to answer this question: why

meantime, we should write about the arts and artists employing as many different

tools as possible: using theories moderately and providing an art historical context (by

comparing artworks to works of other artists, but also by discussing medium and

material uses, and technical and stylistic capabilities). And writing passionately in 18such way that the poetic ambiguities of art are not salvaged for a quest of finality.

For me, it is a struggle that goes on as my love for and engagement with the arts

continues.

Roy Voragen, from the Netherlands, has resided in Indonesia since 2003 and he is a

Bandung-based art writer. He can be contacted at http://fatumbrutum.blogspot.com/.

do you love your partner (including her or his flaws)?

17.Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, trans. D.F. Pears and B.F. McGuinness (London and New York: Routledge, 1999), section 7, p.74. I am aware of the irony: I am using a philosopher to claim that philosophy has its limits.

18.To put it in another way: contemporary culture in general (with a tongue-twister also called 'contemporaneity') and contemporary art in particular is complex and eclectic. How can I write about the practices and products of such a complex eclecticism? I am trying to avoid two traps. First, I try not to reason away perplexities (an artwork is not a text, let alone one with a beginning, middle and (happy) end). And second, I try not to add extra layers of bewilderment.

24 25

Hang 01, 5 cm x 80 cm x 170 cm, digital print on black ryben glass, 2012 Hang 02, 5 cm x 80 cm x 170 cm, digital print on black ryben glass, 2012

26 27

01, diameter 80 cm, digital print on mirror, 2012 Hang 03, 5 cm x 80 cm x 170 cm, digital print on black ryben glass, 2012

22 23

03, diameter 80 cm, digital print on mirror, 2012 02, diameter 80 cm, digital print on mirror, 2012

04, diameter 80 cm, digital print on mirror, 2012 05, diameter 80 cm, digital print on mirror, 2012

28 29

Fragt Was?50 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

Ueberlegt!50 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

Gruen50 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

Blau 0250 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

30 31

Schwarz 0350 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

Blau 0150 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

3332

Rot50 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

Schwarz 0250 x 65 cmwater colour on paper with pH 7,9 and neon2012

36 37

Die Umwelt, variable installation, resin with waste & mouthwash installation, 2012

40 41

ERIKA ERNAWAN Bandung. 21.01.1986

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 2008-2010 Faculty of Fine Art and Design, ITB, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, M.A. , Fine Art. Thesis :

'Mirror Sees Me' 2009 Extension Course Culture and Philosophy, Parahyangan University of Catholic, Bandung, West

Java, 2009 2003-2007 Faculty of Fine Art and Design, ITB, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, 2007. B.A , Fine Art,

Majoring in Painting Thesis: “Body Expression on Mirror as Medium”

AWARD & SCHOLARSHIP 2011 Residency and Studio Project in Berlin, Germany

2nd Winner Bandung Contemporary Art Awards, Lawangwangi Art & Science Estate, Bandung, Indonesia

2008 Magister Program FSRD ITB Scholarship

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 Der Spiegel: Her Space (subvert) His Gaze, Viviyip Art Room, Jakarta Indonesia2012 Ruhe in Frieden, Lawangwangi Art & Science Estate, Bandung, Indonesia

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION 2012 40x40, Dia.Lo.Gue Artspace, Jakarta, Indonesia 2011 Bandung Contemporary Art Awards (BaCAA), Lawangwangi Art & Science Estate, Bandung,

Indonesia Fluid Identity CG Art Space, Jakarta A Room Of Her Own Dimensi Art Gallery, Surabaya, Indonesia DYSFASHIONAL Jakarta #6, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta Homo Ludens #2, Emmitan CA Gallery, Surabaya, Indonesia Biennale JOGJA XI: The Equator #1, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2010 Veduta, BANDUNG INITIATIVE #5, Vanessa Art Link , Jakarta, IndonesiaCurrent(s), Soemardja Gallery, Bandung, Indonesia On Desire, Duet with Erik Pauhrizi, Darga Gallery, Sanur Bali, Indonesia Tribute to Sudjojono, Rumah Proses, Bandung, Indonesia Leisure on Mine, Play Dead #2, Padi Art Ground, Bandung, Indonesia

2009 My Body, Andi?s Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia Fairies, Vivi Yip Art Room, Jakarta, Indonesia

2004 "Rupatorium", ITB, Bandung, Indonesia 2003 Mural "Babakan Siliwangi" , Bandung, Indonesia

ART PROJECT, WORKSHOP & CONFERENCES 2012 Video Sonic #2, Intermedia Studio of FSRD ITB & HBK Braunschweig Germany 2011 Studio Project in Berlin

Workshop Photography in Berlin 2010 Repetitions of Lines and Color, Workshop by I Wayan Sujana, FSRD ITB

Workshop TPB-FSRD, Seminar room, FSRD ITB "Oberhausen", Short Film Festival, Discussion and Presentation by Dr. Lars Henrik Gass, Festival Director / Managing Director of FFP Oberhausen. Moderator: Agung Hujatnikajennong, Bale Handap Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung.

2009 Concept & Medium oleh Mella Jaarsma, Room S2-C and Gallery Soemardja, FSRD ITBShen Shaomin", Room S2, FSRD ITB Art in Berlin by Katerina Paldivia Bruch, Room S2, FSRD ITB Cirebon's Puppet Seminar, Soemardja Gallery, Bandung International Conferences, Gold Dies of ITB, East Hall ITB, BandunG

BIBLIOGRAPHY Catalogue for Erika Ernawan "Der Spiegel ; Her Scape (Subvert) His Gaze", published by Viviyip Art Room, Jakarta, Indonesia : April, 2011 C-Arts Magazine : Asian Contemporary Art and Culture : June, 2011 Dewi Magazine : June, 2011 Tempo Magazine : April 18, 2011 Thebuzz (http://www.kemangbuzz.com) , Volume 2 Number 8 : May 2011 The Jakarta Globe : April 15, 2011 The Jakarta Post : April 23, 2011