Art

The opening of ARTJOG 2026, Indonesia’s premiere contemporary art festival at the Jogja National Museum (JNM), Yogyakarta, June 19, 2026 was marred by spectacle and controversy. An activist from the ArtJokes collective threw red paint at the JMN entrance art installation, proclaiming, “Literature is dead, art is dead. Intellectuals without a sense of rebellion are

Memori Kosmik (Cosmic Memory), forged from the stone of Indonesia’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi, is an imposing, figurative sculpture standing over two metres high. It depicts an astronaut designed as a mythic Hindu god: one hand clutches a globe of the earth, the other raised in a sacred mudra. Its golden, luminescent visor, reflecting

There are 150 faces in Rajata Hakim’s Terlihat / Terasa, and almost as many reasons to distrust what a face seems to reveal. Now showing at The Darmawangsa Square, Second Floor, Unit 66, Kebayoran Baru, the multidisciplinary artist’s exhibition pairs portraits with anonymous recorded voices and historical figures, letting recognition repeatedly slip into uncertainty. Opened

William Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Japanese theatre director Tadashi Suzuki, will make its first Jakarta appearance at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta on 16 and 17 September 2026 at 8pm. Led by Indonesian actor Jamaluddin Latif in the title role, the production brings performers from eight countries into Suzuki’s stark reworking of Shakespeare’s ageing king, placing

ARTSPACE at ARTOTEL Gelora Senayan opens its 2026 exhibition programme with Mirage, a group exhibition presented in collaboration with J+ Art Awards 2026 by Connected Art Platform. On view until 24 October, the exhibition brings together ten works by nine artists, each approaching contemporary life from a different perspective. The works touch on a wide

Contemporary art today appears obsessed with bigger is better. Academic training encourages emerging artists to express themselves in large format painting and sculptural compositions.  Colour, form and movement infatuates, mesmerises, fascinates and hypnotises our consciousness. Artists are well aware of the power of aesthetic allure, however it also can gloss over, pretend, promise and lie.

Mount Penanggungan, in Mojokerto, East Java, is the keeper of ancient secrets. It lies forty kilometres southwest of Surabaya. It has been recognised as the sacred mountain Pawitra since the 10thcentury, and the spiritual heartland of the 13th-16th-century Majapahit empire. Indonesia’s last Indianized maritime kingdom, based in East Java, the empire encompassed almost the entire

Art journal RUANG// is reframing everyday experiences through artist perspectives. What happens when nickel is pulled from the earth until landscapes collapse, or when colonial portraits continue to shape identity long after the empire has gone? What stories do forests tell when cameras catch the flicker of animals moving through the night? These are questions

The dramatic rise of women artists in Indonesia over the past two decades has enabled the recalibration of national art and cultural narratives. Significant discourse has heightened public awareness and recognition of the valuable roles women have played, and continue to play, in shaping the modern Indonesian identity and forging exciting future prospects for emerging

Few objects capture Indonesia’s rich heritage like the keris. Distinctive to Java and Bali, this dagger is more than a weapon — it is a ceremonial cultural symbol. Keris are used in many different respects: as weapons, as talismans with magical powers, as sanctified heirlooms, as equipment for court soldiers, as an accessory for ceremonial

If you have been looking for a way to experience the city’s creative pulse without the stiff atmosphere of a traditional gallery, Art Jakarta Gardens 2026 is exactly where you need to be. Now entering its fifth edition, this event has transformed Hutan Kota by Plataran into a sprawling, open-air gallery, running from May 5