Also-Space, From Hot to Something Else : How Indonesian Art Initiatives Have Reinvented Networking

Although contemporary art in Indonesia is completely integrated within the global art discourse, the fundamental context of Indonesian artists is in fact quite different from that of the contemporary Western artistic practice—in which notions of individuality and “autonomy” play a key role. Indonesian initiatives tend to include more of an awareness of local networks, and a contextual (as opposed to purely conceptual) way of thinking and acting. This softcover book, Also-Space, From Hot to Something Else, focuses mainly on a Jakarta-based artists’ initiative called ruangrupa, and—to a lesser degree—on a number of other Indonesian artists and initiatives, as case studies of how Indonesian artists organize and manifest themselves individually and collectively. Reinaart Vanhoe (b. 1972, Belgium) lives in both Rotterdam (Holland) and Jakarta (Indonesia); his practice consists of research-based activities that Vanhoe translates into books, exhibitions, installations and films.