Ministry of Culture-Performance Venues & Architectural Heritage

The Jakarta Biennale 2021, which will run until Jan. 21, has been launched with the theme of "ESOK (Tomorrow)." Seven Taiwanese artists and art groups have been participating under its Ring Project: Metaphors About Islands, participating in dialogues with art collectives in Indonesia and other Asian countries through their art creations. 

Supported by Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation, the project is a result of interlocal collaborative art projects initiated and co-curated by independent curator Lo Hsiu-chih (羅秀芝) and Gudskul, an educational knowledge-sharing platform in Jakarta.

The participating Taiwanese artists include Rahic Talif (拉黑子．達立夫), Yuma Taru (尤瑪 ．達陸), Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中), Hou I-ting (侯怡亭), Zhang Xu-zhan (張徐展), Lin Yu-chi (林羿綺), and Lightbox Library+.

Lo Hsiu-chih pointed out that the project pairs 20 artists and art collectives from 42 Asian countries. Since March 2021, it has been an attempt at adaptation, healing, and solidarity within art realm, wherein global pandemic triggered them to seek new cycle for inter-local works.

After nearly a year of collaboration, the artists have come up with 20 new creations, hoping to use the metaphorical imagination from the perspective of islands to map out an alternative relationship between Asia and the world.

She said that the project focuses on several issues such as COVID-19 situations, geopolitical challenges, virtual Internet world, business opportunities in the space industry and competitions for power maps, extreme climate events, environmental, and ecological problems.

Not only does the project pay attention to individual differences, but also a new community discourse drawn on the axis of politics, ethics and aesthetics, she added.

The main exhibition of the Jakarta Biennale was kicked off at the National Gallery of Art in Jakarta on Jan. 7, which will run until Jan. 21. Since last year, the Biennale has also been held in Taipei and Malaysia.

For more information, please visit the Jakarta Biennale 2021's website.