Entering its 15th edition, Indonesian Contemporary Art & Design (ICAD) returns to enliven Kemang with an art and design exhibition. With the theme of Earth Society, ICAD 15 will run from 10 October to 9 November 2025 at the Grandkemang Hotel, South Jakarta.
Involving more than 50 participants divided into five categories, Earth Society presents a variety of works by creative practitioners from various disciplines. One of ICAD 15’s highlights is the latest works by the sixth President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who interprets Earth Society through a personal and reflective approach.
This year, ICAD also presents a Special Appearance by Professor Emeritus Imam Buchori Zainuddin, a pioneer of Indonesian product design, showcasing his thoughts, works, and stories. The In Focus category presents the works of sculptor Yani Mariani Sastranegara and senior designer Ghea Panggabean.
Through the Featured category, Earth Society showcases works by creative practitioners from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, the United States, and many more countries. One of them is Wishulada Panthanuvong, an artist-activist from Thailand who transforms unused materials into high-value artworks.
There is also the Open Call category, which highlights issues such as climate, social, political, and urban crises. Kreaby, a Jakarta-based creative studio for autistic artists, presents works on the importance of green spaces in cities. Gevi Noviyanti and Arka Kinari share their findings on the still-exploited sea.
Collaborating with artists, creative practitioners, associations, and foreign cultural centres, ICAD 15 also presents various public programmes in the form of talk shows, workshops, performance art, and film screenings. They will be held in the hotel lobby, on a stage specially designed by architect and scenographer Trianzani Sulshi to be a space that emphasises conflict and contrast, as a reminder that collectivity is built through negotiation of differences.
In the workshop ‘Knowing Co-Existence’ by MOTE, a multidisciplinary art and design collective, visitors are invited and guided to create their own petridish art. As in previous years, ICAD 15 also organises the ICAD Student Tour, in collaboration with 20 schools ranging from primary schools to universities, to visit ICAD and meet curators and a number of artists. To participate, interested groups can schedule their visit by contacting ICAD via email or the official website.
“Earth Society is a place for artists, designers, and various creative practitioners from within and outside the country to re-examine our relationship with nature and the communities around us through sustainability, awareness, and collectivity as experimentation and real action,” wrote Prananda L. Malasan and Jerrey David Aguilar, curators of Earth Society, in the exhibition’s curatorial text.
“ICAD has always been a meeting place for art, design, and society. At ICAD 15, we want to reaffirm the spirit of togetherness and collaboration that is at the heart of this festival, not only in celebrating creativity, but also in dialoguing about our shared future,” said Edwin Nazir, ICAD Festival Director.
This exhibition invites participants and visitors to reflect on local, regional, and global conditions regarding the loss of livable space amid changes to the earth and conditions in society, through cross-disciplinary dialogue.
For further information, visit arturaicad.com or follow @icadartura on Instagram.
