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//1
2//
what we have here perceived as truth
we shall some day encounter as beauty
A SOLO SHOW BY FX HARSONO
CURATED BY HENDRO WIYANTO
//3
KOLOFON
COLOPHON
what we have here perceived as truth
we shall some day encounter as beauty
Jogja National Museum, Indonesia, July 1 - 22, 2013
PAMERAN TUNGGAL SOLO EXHIBITION OF
FX HARSONO
Kurator pameran Exhibition curator
Hendro Wiyanto
Manajer pameran Exhibition manager
Ratna Mufida
Instalatur pameran Exhibition display
Ditya Sarasiastuti
Penyelenggara pameran Exhibition promotor
Galeri Canna
Tim desain dan komunikasi Design and communication team
Hyphen —
KATALOG CATALOG
Penyusun dan penyelia Composer and editor
Grace Samboh
Penerjemah Translator
Rani Elsanti (for Hendro Wiyanto and FX Harsono)
Mita Siregar (for Tommy and Inge of Galeri Canna)
Juru foto Photographer
Budi Laksono, Dian KM, Dwi Oblo and the artist himself
Diterbitkan oleh Published by
Galeri Canna
Jl. Boulevard Barat Raya Blok LC 6 No. 33-34
Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara, Indonesia 14240
p (62-21) 4522536 f (62-21) 4534666 e [email protected]
Dicetak 500 eksemplar di Printed 500 copies at
Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2013
4//
DAFTAR ISI
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
04 Kolofon
04 Colophon
05 Daftar isi
05 Table of contents
06 Dari Galeri Canna
06 From Galeri Canna
10 Kuratorial: Kebenaran, keindahan, dan pencarian FX Harsono
10 Curatorial: Truth, beauty and FX Harsono’s quest
28 Panduan pameran
28 Exhibition guide
30 Karya dalam pameran
30 Exhibited works
86 Pernyataan seniman: Menulis Kembali Sejarah
86 Artist’s statement: Rewriting History
98 Tentang FX Harsono
98 About FX Harsono
104 Penghargaan
104 Acknowledgement
//5
DARI GALERI CANNA
FROM GALERI
CANNA
Galeri Canna dengan senang hati dan bangga kali ini bekerja
sama dengan FX Harsono. Hal ini sejalan misi Galeri Canna
untuk bekerja sama, baik dengan seniman muda berpotensi
maupun seniman senior dengan rekam jejak internasional.
Galeri Canna sudah mengenal FX Harsono sejak awal kami
mendirikan galeri. Namun baru sekitar dua tahun yang
lalu Harsono berbincang-bincang dengan kami, mengenai
keinginannya bekerja sama dan berpameran lagi di Jakarta.
Sebagai seniman senior yang selalu bekerja dengan landasan
catatan historis dan penelitian; Harsono kemudian segera
mengajukan rancangan karya dan konsep pamerannya kepada
kami.
Dalam hal relasi dengan seniman dan kurator, kami selalu
menempatkan diri sebagai mitra, yakni berupaya menampung
harapan dan keinginan mereka dalam merancang pameran.
Kami ingat, bagaimana pada mulanya Harsono mengajukan
Galeri Nasional Indonesia sebagai tempat pameran karyanya,
kemudian gagasannya berkembang. Ia ingin mencari rumah
bernomor berapa pun, asalkan lokasinya berada di Jalan
Cendana, Jakarta sebagai tempat pamerannya. Menurutnya,
berpameran di Jalan Cendana cukup sesuai dengan konteks
beberapa karyanya karena lokasi jalan itu mempunyai relasi
dengan penguasa di masa Orde Baru yang terkenal dengan
kebijakan politiknya terhadap kebudayaan Tionghoa. Maka
kami pun sibuk menghubungi housing agent dan temanteman yang kami kenal yang barangkali saja memiliki rumah di
Jalan Cendana yang bisa digunakan sebagai tempat pameran
Harsono. Beberapa menyebutkan pernah memiliki rumah di
jalan itu, tapi sudah dijual.
Kami lalu menyusuri Gedung Arsip, Gedung Chandranaya,
Toko Merah, Kuntskring, dan sejumlah gedung di Jakarta
yang bernilai sejarah. Tapi kami kemudian tahu, tak ada ruang
pameran yang memadai untuk menampung karya-karya
Harsono. Akhirnya diputuskan bersama, pameran diadakan di
Jogja National Museum (JNM), Yogyakarta di mana Harsono
6//
With our utmost pleasure and honor, this time around
Galeri Canna is working together with FX Harsono. It is in
accordance with our mission, to work together either with
potential young artists or with a senior who already had
international records.
Galeri Canna has known FX Harsono since the very beginning
of our establishment. However, only until at least two years
ago Harsono deliberated to us, his desire to work together
and exhibit in Jakarta. As a senior artist whose work based on
historical notes and researches; Harsono immediately submits
the art work plan and exhibition concept to us.
In relating with artists and curators, we always put ourselves
as partners, which is we try to accommodate what they yearn
and needs in designing exhibition. We remember how in the
beginning Harsono pulled up Galeri Nasional Indonesia as the
place for exhibiting his works. Then the idea grows, he wants
a house with any number as long as it’s in Cendana Street,
Jakarta, as the place to exhibit. As he thinks that exhibiting
in there parallels with the context of some of his works. And
because in that street lives the leader from the New Regime
era whose famous with the policy on Chinese ethnics. Thus
we became busy contacting housing agents and some friends
that may have or known somebody who has a house there.
Some claim they used to have one, but were sold.
We trace away Gedung Arsip, Gedung Chandranaya, Toko
Merah, Kuntskring, and some other historical buildings in
Jakarta. We then realized that there is no decent space
available to accommodate Harsono’s works. Together we
reached a conclusion to hold the exhibition in Jogja National
Museum (JNM) also used to be known as ASRI or Indonesia
Academic of Arts. And it is where Harsono has spent several
years for studying arts.
Most of Harsono’s exhibited works are installations and videos
that he has been preparing for the last two years. Harsono
//7
pernah kuliah selama beberapa tahun ketika gedung ini masih
bernama Akademi Seni Rupa Indonesia (ASRI).
Karya-karya Harsono yang dipamerkan ini sebagian besar
berupa karya instalasi dan video yang mulai disiapkannya
sejak lebih kurang dua tahun silam. Harsono melakukan riset
dan ziarah ke beberapa kuburan massal orang Tionghoa di
Blitar, Tulungagung, Muntilan, Yogyakarta, dan lain-lain untuk
mencatat, menggoreskan lagi jejak nama-nama mereka yang
dikorbankan. Ia memproduksi puluhan ribu huruf berbahan
keramik di Plered (Jawa Barat); membangun kapal kayu,
mereproduksi ranjang peranakan, dan sebagainya. Kami
mengikuti dan menghargai semua kerja keras dan idealisme
seniman dalam berkarya untuk pameran ini, meski tidak selalu
mudah pula menampung dan menfasilitasi ide-ide seniman
maupun kurator. Tapi, sudah menjadi idealisme Galeri Canna
untuk membangun galeri yang berkualitas dan berwacana.
Kami berharap, pameran Harsono ini bisa memaparkan
dan merekam jejak sejarah yang tidak bisa dihapuskan
dan akan selalu ada. Bukan untuk membangkitkan amarah,
melainkan untuk sama-sama belajar, berbesar hati dan
jiwa sebagai bangsa yang besar dengan azas kebhinekatunggal-ikaan. Kami juga berharap, pameran Harsono ini bisa
memperoleh apresiasi dan tanggapan secara nasional maupun
internasional. Walaupun harus diakui, menjadi suatu tantangan
tersendiri bagi Galeri Canna untuk mempromosikan karyakarya sebagai kebutuhan akan pengoleksian karya seni.
Terima kasih kami sampaikan kepada FX Harsono; Hendro
Wiyanto; Grace Samboh dan Ratna Mufida dari Hyphen; staf
Galeri Canna; tim Ditya Sarasiastuti, AB Harnawa, dan kawankawan; Jogja National Museum; serta teman-teman media
massa; dan kolektor yang selalu mendukung sekaligus sebagai
mitra penyemangat kami.
Dengan kasih dan hangat kami persembahkan pameran ini,
what we have here perceived as truth/ we shall encounter
some day as beauty.
Jakarta, Juni 2013
Tommy dan Inge
8//
also visited Chinese’s mass graveyard in Blitar, Tulungagung,
Muntilan, Yogyakarta and several other places to do research,
make new notes and to inscribe the name of those who has
been sacrificed. He produced tens of thousands alphabetical
ceramics in Plered (West Java); built wooden ships,
reproduced half caste bed, etc. We follow and value all of the
idealism and hard work of the artist on making the artwork for
this exhibition, although it’s not always easy to accommodate
and facilitate the ideas of neither the artist nor the curator.
Yet, it has always been the idealism of Galeri Canna to build a
gallery of discourse and having certain quality.
We hope Harsono’s exhibition can expose and record the
traces of history that cannot be abolished. Not to evoke
anger, but to learn together and elate the soul as one big
nation with the principle of Unity in Diversity. We also hope
that Harsono’s exhibition can obtain both national and
international appreciation. Although we must admit it is a
challenge for Galeri Canna to promote the artworks as a need
of art piece collections.
We would like to thank FX. Harsono; Hendro Wiyanto;
Grace Samboh and Ratna Mufida from Hyphen; the staffs of
Galeri Canna; the team of Ditya Sarasiastuti, AB Harnawa
and friends; Jogja National Museum; our friends from the
mass media; and fellow collectors who always support and
encourage us.
With the warmest affection we present to you this exhibition,
what we have here perceived as truth/ we shall encounter
someday as beauty.
Jakarta, June 2013
Tommy and Inge
//9
KURATORIAL:
CURATORIAL:
KEBENARAN, KEINDAHAN, DAN PENCARIAN FX HARSONO
TRUTH, BEAUTY AND FX HARSONO’S QUEST
“What we have here perceived as beauty// we shall some day encounter as truth”
- Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805).
Untuk apa kiranya FX Harsono mengingat-ingat, bahkan terkesan giat menggali kembali
sesuatu yang terkait dengan apa yang disebut sebagai latar ke-Cina-an atau ke-Tionghoaan?1) Jika pertanyaan itu diajukan kepada Harsono, saya membayangkan bahwa sang seniman
akan memberikan paling tidak dua jawaban telak kepada kita. Pertama, dia akan mengatakan
bahwa sejatinya dia bahkan tak cukup tahu apa yang disebut sebagai akar atau latar ke-Cinaan semacam itu. Tapi, itulah cap—laksana bayangan setia—yang selama ini memang selalu
menguntitnya ke mana pun pergi, yang pernah membuatnya gentar di masa silam, dan yang
kerap melahirkan keambiguan, bahkan rasa minder berkepanjangan di kemudian hari.
Kendati begitu, ada sesuatu yang tak bisa disangkalnya: Ia memang tampak lebih sebagai
seorang Cina ketimbang “pribumi”. Ke-Cina-an Harsono disematkan justru oleh pihak lain,
kesadarannya dihidup-hidupkan oleh mereka—dan berbagai peristiwa—yang seakan terus
memandangnya sebagai warga “kelas dua”. Pegawai kantor imigrasi, benda kecil ajaib yang
bisa berarti seluruh hidup kita—namanya KTP—, kerusuhan anti-Cina, sampai perkosaan
terhadap perempuan Tionghoa, justru selalu menyodoknya kembali: Ia “nonpri”. Peristiwaperistiwa itu subjek, ganas, aktif, sedangkan dia adalah objek, pasif.
Yang kedua, berhubungan dengan “kenaifannya” sebagai seorang Indonesia keturunan
Tionghoa yang sama-sekali tak paham dan tak pernah menyoal identitas kediriannya sendiri.
Jika identitas seseorang sedikit-banyak ditentukan oleh latar budaya, atau kebudayaan
digembar-gemborkan sebagai pengusung paling canggih kejatidirian, maka kebudayaan apa
gerangan yang telah mencetak identitasnya selama ini? Dulu, ia adalah Oh Hong Boen, lalu
berganti nama sebagai FX Harsono. Dulu ia dianggap Cina, peranakan, atau Tionghoa, lalu
suatu ketika berubah “menjadi” orang Indonesia. Begitulah, kita tahu, beratus ribu orang
Tionghoa di Indonesia memilih seperti Harsono dan beribu yang lain menempuh takdir
berbeda. Tiap gonjang-ganjing itu ada dokumen resminya. Tapi, semua dokumen itu tentunya
tetap bisu untuk menjelaskan kerumitan di balik cara memaknai latar budaya dan kedirian.
Lalu, apa yang bisa ditelusuri atau ditengarai sebagai ciri “kebudayaan” sampai sejauh ini?
Dengan kata lain, Harsono sebenarnya nyaris tak memberi jawab apa-apa kepada kita. Ia
justru balik bertanya, mengajak kita menyangsikan seraya melucuti asumsi-asumsi mengenai
keesensialan, tanpa membawa-bawa gagasan perihal ketunggalan cara pandang. Dia ingin kita
lebih dekat menyaksikan dan menandai proses, pertemuan, persinggungan, peleburan, dan
perjalanan seseorang yang lebih-kurang kabur. Sedikit mengingatkan kita akan semacam etik
Sokratik, ia malah balik menuding: Bagaimana mungkin saya bilang saya Cina kalau tak paham
10//
Why is it that FX Harsono keeps on revisiting the background of “China-ness”—and it even
seems that he has been persistently re-exploring the issues that are related to it?1) If one is
to pose that question to Harsono, I imagine that the artist will provide us with two veracious
answers. First of all, he would say that, in essence, he is not even adequately aware of what
it is that we call the root or the source of such “China-ness” background. That background,
however, is the “brand” that loyally follows him everywhere like a shadow; one that has
disheartened him in the past and often given rise to a sense of ambiguity and even prolonged
self-doubt within him.
There is, however, something that he cannot deny: He does look more like a Chinese than an
“indigenous” Indonesian. Harsono’s China-ness has been labeled on to him by others; his selfawareness vivified by those —as well as by a variety of events—who seem to be viewing him
always as a second-class citizen. Staff at the immigration office; the small, magical object that
can mean our whole life—the ID card; the anti-China riots; and on to the raping on Chinese
women. All those hit him repeatedly in the face: He is “non-indigenous”. The events are
subjects, ferocious and active, while he is an object, passive.
The second thing he might say has to do with his “naïveté” as a Chinese-Indonesian who does
not understand his own self-identity; and neither did he ever question it. If a person’s identity
is more-or-less determined by his or her cultural background, or if culture is celebrated as
the most sophisticated underpinning of self-identity, what culture, then, that has shaped his
identity thus far? He was Oh Hong Boen, then he changed his name to become FX Harsono.
He was seen as a Chinese, a peranakan, and then he “became” Indonesian. Such is the story
that we all know: hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Indonesia chose to be like Harsono,
and thousands other experienced a different fate. There are official documents about every
chaos, every furor. All those documents, however, remain understandingly silent when it
comes to explaining about the complexity that lies behind the ways to give meaning to
cultural background and self-identity. What, then, can we trace or consider as the features of
“culture”?
In other words, Harsono in fact provides us with virtually no answer. Rather, he asks us back,
encouraging us to doubt the assumptions about the essentials and dismantling them, without
touching upon the idea about the singleness of perceptions. He would like us to be more
closely watching and recording the vague processes, meetings, encounters, assimilation
and the journey of a person. This might remind us of a kind of Socratic ethic: he points the
finger back at us. How can I say that I’m Chinese if I understand nothing about China-ness?
It seems that I’m not a Javanese either, because even though my grandmother is Javanese,
I don’t understand enough about Java. What culture, then, that I have with me? Or how am
//11
apa pun tentang ke-Cina-an? Tampaknya saya juga bukan Jawa, karena meski nenek saya
Jawa, saya tak cukup mengerti tentang Jawa. Lalu, kebudayaan apa itu yang ada pada saya?
Atau, bagaimana saya mesti memberi nama kebudayaan saya? Kiranya kita teringat jawaban
Harsono beberapa waktu yang lalu, bahwa baginya (praktik) kebudayaan, yang agaknya akan
terus dihidupinya, datang dan akan terus bersilangan antara masa silam dan masa kini. Tak ada
yang bisa dianggap sebagai esensial-selesai pada kebudayaan, karena kebudayaan mencakup
juga perubahan cara orang berpartisipasi dan bereaksi di dalamnya. Bahkan, kebudayaan juga
datang dari masa depan.
Omongan seperti itu tentu saja tak biasa. Definisinya, boleh jadi, dianggap cukup kabur
karena melawan kecenderungan yang normatif. Apalagi melibatkan istilah “kebudayaan”,
yang umumnya mau menegaskan sesuatu bobot atau isi, semacam nilai-nilai tetap, bukan
cuma beberapa baris definisi yang terlalu luas dan samar. Harsono bukan tak sadar bahwa
jawaban itu tak bakal memuaskan. Yang ia percaya, realitas pasti tampil lebih kaya makna,
mengandaikan keragaman asal-mula, sekaligus lebih menakjubkan dibanding dengan muatan
“esensial” kebudayaan. Kebudayaan tidak identik dengan realitas itu sendiri, sedangkan
realitas sebaliknya selalu mengandaikan sumber-sumber pengayaan dan rujukan bagi
kebudayaan.
Sejamak apa pun soal yang dihadapi, orang toh mesti memulai dari sesuatu andaian. Bagi
Harsono, andaian itu tak lain adalah sekeping realitas, pengalamannya sendiri yang tercecer di
masa lalu. Ia teringat pernah mengalami sesuatu dulu, yang bahkan pernah dianggap tak punya
arti apa-apa, nyaris dilupakan atau memang sengaja ditindas begitu saja. Tapi, yang sepenggal
itu sedikitnya bisa menerangi realitas campur-baurnya, kepercayaannya pada serangkaian cara
dan proses yang kedengaran seperti kabar burung.
Sesuatu yang tercecer itu adalah nama kecilnya sendiri, bapak-ibunya, kampung Cinanya di
Blitar. Tapi, kalau semua itu ditarik lebih jauh, paling-paling ia hanya akan sampai ke sosok
neneknya yang mengaku Jawa, pengagum tokoh sejarah maupun fiksi, pengikut Katolik dan
penggemar teosofi. Sebutlah semua itu memantulkan semacam praktik “kebudayaan” keluarga
dekatnya, sejauh ia bisa menggunakan istilah itu. Foto-foto keluarganya pernah diumbarnya,
dibesarkan, dijejer-jejerkan, dilukis lagi, dan dipamerkan. Selain cerita masa kecilnya,
dibeberkan juga tempat-tempat, tetangga, teman, dan guru-guru sekolahnya yang dulu. Fotofoto lama didudah dan ditampilkan bersama yang baru. Melalui semua itu, Harsono merasa
menemukan bayangan etnografisnya sendiri yang tidak satu dan sedikit lebih nyata. Sebagian
besar dari pengalaman yang silam itu memang tinggal cerita, bahkan lebih banyak lagi yang
tak meninggalkan bekas apa-apa. Tetapi, ingatan adalah sesuatu yang tetap nyata bagi mereka
yang tak berhenti memberinya makna. Pendeknya, realitas yang berjarak dari keesensialan itu
agaknya lebih cocok dengan gambaran kejamakan kebudayaan yang diutarakan Harsono.
Yang mengguncang Harsono dan memandunya keluar dari labirin romantik untuk sekadar
mengingat-ingat dan mencintai masa lalu adalah album foto berdebu di ruang keluarga
rumahnya, di Blitar. Selama berpuluh tahun, semua orang di rumah seakan tak ada yang
berani menyentuh benda itu. Atau mungkin tak peduli. Album itu berisi bukti-bukti karya foto
bapaknya sendiri yang “tukang” potret, dibuat awal tahun limapuluhan, di sekitar Blitar, Jawa
Timur, abad lalu. Puluhan tengkorak para korban yang digali-gali atau didudah dari lubang
12//
I supposed to give name to my culture? We would be reminded of Harsono’s answers some
time ago, that to him the (practices of) culture that he would apparently keep on practicing
and reinvigorating comes both from the past and the present, and the two will keep on
coming together. There is nothing that we can consider as essential-and-finished in culture,
as culture also encompasses the changes in how people are taking part and reacting within it.
Culture can even originate from the future.
Such comments are of course unusual. The definitions presented might be considered as too
vague as they go against the normative tendency—especially as it involves the term “culture”,
which generally wishes to lay the emphasis on certain weighty contents, a kind of fixed values,
instead of mere definitions that are too vague and generic. Harsono is aware of the possibility
of his answers’ being seen as unsatisfactory. He believes that reality will inevitably present
itself as richer in meanings, presupposes the multiplicity of origins and is more astounding
than the “essential” content of culture. Culture is not identical with reality, while reality, on
the contrary, invariably presupposes sources for enrichment and reference for culture.
No matter how common the problems that people might face, they must invariably begin from
something, an assumption. To Harsono, that would be fragments of reality, or an experience
of his that he has left behind in the past. He remembers that he has experienced something
in the past, something that had once been considered as meaningless, virtually forgotten
or deliberately suppressed. Such fragments, however, are at least able to shed a light on
his hybrid reality, his belief in a succession of methods and processes that might sound like
rumors.
These salvaged fragments are his nickname, his mother and father, and his former Chinatown
in Blitar. Should he try to trace these further back, however, he would only arrive at the figure
of his grandmother, who claimed to be Javanese, an admirer of historical or fictional figures,
a Catholic and simultaneously a devotee of Theosophy. One can say that all those reflect a
kind of “cultural” practices of his immediate family, insofar as he can use the term “culture”.
He has explored pictures of his family, enlarging them, placing them side by side, repainting
them and exhibiting them. Apart from the stories of his childhood, he also revisited his
erstwhile neighbors, friends and teachers, as well as places that he had been to. He exhumed
old photographs and presented them alongside new ones. Through it all, Harsono felt that he
has found his own ethnographic shadows, which are not monolithic and a tad more real. Most
of the past experiences remain only as stories; others do not even leave any single mark.
But memories remain real to those who never cease assigning meaning to them. In short, the
reality that is distanced from the essentials appears to be more suitable to the idea of the
multiplicity of culture as Harsono conveys.
What has shaken Harsono and led him out of the romantic labyrinth of mere reminiscing and
cherishing the past is a dusty photo album in his Blitar home’s family room. For years and
years, it seems that everyone at his home has been afraid to touch it. Or perhaps they did
not care enough. The album contains works that his father made in the early fifties around
Blitar, East Java. His father was a town photographer, and the pictures reveal scores of skulls,
unearthed or exhumed from graves. Whose “grand work” was that? What barbaric stories that
had been silenced, buried in the graves?
//13
kubur, “karya agung” siapakah itu? Kisah kebiadaban apa yang senyap terkubur di dalamnya?
Kartu pas Harsono
Passenstelsel dan wijkenstelsel adalah politik isolasi yang dulu pernah sukses dipraktikkan
oleh Pemerintah Hindia Belanda untuk memisah-golongkan penduduk melalui sistem
kampung. Itu aturan kolonial abad ke-19 yang mengesahkan berlakunya pas, tanda bukti
kaum minoritas yang keluyuran keluar dari ghetto. Sistem ini dianggap efektif sebagai batu
sandungan asimilasi bagi orang Tionghoa, malah menancapkan pengaruh pada masyarakat
di Jawa sampai belakangan ini.2) Wijkenstelsel memaksa orang keturunan tinggal di ghettoghetto, adapun passenstelsel mengawasi keluar masuknya golongan ini di wilayah isolasi yang
perlu izin khusus pejabat kolonial. Sistem diskriminatif ini baru dicabut pada 1918.3)
Kampung ala ghetto bagi Harsono di masa kecil sampai remaja di kota kelahirannya, Blitar,
bernama Gang Tjoe Tien.4) Kartu pas pertamanya untuk keluar dari lingkungan ini adalah
seni rupa. Sejak geger politik di Jakarta yang merembet ke mana-mana (1965)—nyaris
membaptisnya sebagai algojo ala adegan dalam The Act of Killing—ia sudah yakin bakal
jadi seniman, bukan preman maupun tentara. Pada awal 1970-an, Yogyakarta bahkan
memperkenalkannya pada bau kerevolusioneran ala seniman nasionalis yang khas. Di gedung
lama STSRI “ASRI” tempat pameran ini juga, hampir empat dasawarsa lalu, ia menelan stigma
ke-Cina-an atau kecurigaan “non-nasionalis-nya” yang pertama. Tapi, di masa itu, bagi Harsono
lebih penting mengurus seni sosialnya yang baru, yang tengah menggebu-gebu, ketimbang
rasa minder atau kegentaran personalnya. Toh tak ada yang tahu bahwa ia memang minder.
Pas kedua adalah peristiwa kerusuhan Mei 1998 yang membuatnya—dalam kata-kata Amanda
Katherine Rath—merasa benar-benar “dikhianati”. Peristiwa ini ternyata adalah “rahmat” untuk
menggembalakan sekaligus dua segi atau penanda baru bagi praktik kesenimanan Harsono.
Yang pertama, menjadi surat jalan pengesahan bagi kegeramannya atas penistaan terhadap
orang-orang Tionghoa (atau Cina). Yang kedua, mencetuskan kesadaran estetik baru pada
Harsono pada cara-cara memandang praktik seni rupanya sendiri selama ini. Ia ternyata tak
cuma warga-transitif seni rupa, sesosial atau seterlibat apa pun seninya, melainkan juga tetap
warga ghetto Gang Tjoe Tien yang peka.
Pendeknya, peristiwa 1998 membuka jalan lebar Harsono untuk melihat kesahihan diri sebagai
makhluk historis dan biografis. Ia bukan objek-pasif setumpuk dokumen negara, melainkan
saksi aktif peristiwa, yang lugas menyorongkan rasa penasaran yang lama dipendam tentang
misteri “penciptaan” karya agung yang melahirkan ribuan korban tanpa nama, terhapus dari
waktu dan sejarah. Album foto karya bapaknya itu tentu saja cuma salah satu saksi mati.
Dengan pas kedua yang terasa menonjok itu—kini semua pemerhati seni rupa di Indonesia
tahu—salah satu konteks penting yang melatarbelakangi kancah wacana kekaryaan
Harsono pasca-1998 adalah perhatiannya yang khidmat pada cerita-cerita kecil disertai
rasa kesejarahannya yang mencuat. Yang terasa pada periode ini adalah upaya Harsono
untuk melampaui atau mengatasi isu dan kesadaran yang semata-mata estetik pada (karya)
seninya. Tentu saja itu bukan ihwal baru bagi praktik seni rupanya. Untuk meminjam bahasa
Gadamer, seni bukan sesuatu yang nirtempat (placeless), juga tidak nirwaktu (timeless). Seni
justru menagih tempat, dan bertolak dari seni itu sendiri, mendedahkan ruang terbuka bagi
14//
Harsono’s passes
Passenstelsel (the pass regulation), along with the wijkenstelsel (zoning regulation), was a
manifestation of the isolation politics that had been successfully implemented by the Dutch
East Indies government to segregate citizens in distinct kampongs or villages. It was a colonial
regulation of the nineteenth century that formed the legitimate basis of the pass system: an
identification pass system permitting the minority to step out of the ghetto. The system was
considered effective to hamper the assimilation of the Chinese, and was even successful
to create a lasting effect on the Javanese community to this day.2) The wijkenstelsel forced
citizens of foreign-descendants to live in ghettos, while passenstelsel controlled the comingand-going of these communities in and out of the isolation zones, where they would need
special permits from assigned collonial officials. The discriminatory system was abolished only
in 1918.3)
Harsono’s ghetto-like village from the time of his childhood to adolescent was called the Tjoe
Tien Alley, in Blitar, East Java. Art was his first pass to go out of the area. Since the political
commotion in Java that went on to spread across Indonesia in 1965—which almost branded
him as an executioner like we would see in the film The Act of Killing—Harsono was convinced
that he would be an artist, instead of a militiaman or an army officer. In the seventies,
Yogyakarta introduced him to the characteristic revolutionary fervor of nationalistic artists.
In the old building of the Indonesian Academy of the Arts STSRI (“ASRI”)—which is also the
place where this exhibition is held—almost four decades ago, Harsono had to bear the stigma
of his China-ness, fell under the suspicion of being “non-nationalist”. At the time, however, it
was more important for him to take care of his socially-engaged art that he just passionately
started, rather than to worry about his personal fears or lack of confidence. No one knew that
he was lacking confidence, anyway.
His second pass was the Mei 1998 riot that made him feel—in Amanda Katherine Rath’s
words—truly “betrayed”. It turned out to become a “blessing” in disguise, giving rise to
simultaneously two new aspects or marks for Harsono’s artistic practice. First, it became a
pass, a legitimate basis, for his indignation about the abuse that the Chinese have suffered.
Second, it triggered a new aesthetic awareness in him about the ways he perceives his art
practices. It turned out that he was not only a citizen of the art world, no matter how sociallyengaged his art has been. He is also still a sensitive resident of the Tjoe Tien Alley ghetto.
One can thus say that the 1998 event gave rise to a wide open path for Harsono to perceive
himself as a historical and biographical creature. He is not a passive object of a pile of official
documents; rather, he is an active witness of an event, who is conveying in a straightforward
manner his long-held curiosity about the mystery behind the “creation” of a massive work that
resulted in thousands of nameless victims, wiped out from time and from history. His father’s
old photo album is obviously just one of the silent witnesses.
Today, all art observers in Indonesia are aware that it is with the second striking pass that
Harsono arrived at an important context that would serve as the basis for Harsono’s creative
discourse after 1998: his solemn attention to the small stories and his strong sense of history.
In this period, one could sense that this was about Harsono’s efforts to overcome or go
beyond the purely aesthetic issues and awareness in his (works of) art. Obviously, this was not
//15
kita. Maka, soal utama pada agenda ini adalah mencari jalan untuk memperoleh lagi sebuah
cakrawala yang meliputi seni dan sejarah. Begitulah bunyi kritik hermeneutis atau “peritiwa
bahasa” bagi estetika modern ala Gadamer.5)
Rasa dan situasi “kesejarahan” muncul dari upaya geregetan Harsono untuk menyingkap
“kebenaran” di luar yang estetis itu. Inilah musim semi seniman yang ditandai oleh
kesibukannya merenungi epitaf dan menandai baris nama pada dinding nisan. Keterlibatan
Harsono sejak lama pada relasi antara seni dan diskursus sosial-politik menggerakkan
intuisinya lebih dalam. Berhadapan dengan fakta korban, ia menyadari pentingnya apa yang
bisa disebut sebagai “kebenaran kronikel” sebuah peristiwa. Yakni, “apa”, “bila”, “di mana”, dan
“siapa” para korban yang sebagian besar tak bernama itu.6)
Apakah ada jalan keluar dari keremang-remangan selain menciptakan imajinasi mengenai
batas gelap dan terang, antara langit dan bumi? Di manakah pernah tersedia cara lain untuk
memupus rasa minder di luar keterusterangan di depan altar pengakuan?
Tentang teks dan tekstualitas
Di pameran ini, Harsono antara lain mulai dengan membayangkan kembali sebuah “teks
dunia” dari perlintasan global orang-orang Cina daratan pertama yang mengarungi gugus
antah-berantah, kelak ditengarai sebagai India, Srilangka, dan Jawa. Ia membayangkan
wacana kekuasaan, konfrontasi, penaklukan, tetapi juga arus perpindahan, persambungan,
dan pertukaran. Ini tentunya berlaku ganda: Sebagai fajar bagi kisah asimilasi yang panjang
dan berliku nyaris seluas wilayah Nusantara, tapi sekaligus juga berarti awan gelap yang
merundung panggung diskriminasi, kekerasan, dan geger orang-orang Cina yang kelak
berulang-ulang diendus oleh Harsono.
Menjiplak kembali nama-nama para korban yang terpahat samar pada batu nisan kuburan
massal seakan menggugah kembali ingatannya pada nama kecil atau “aslinya” sendiri yang
membuatnya pangling. Sudah lama lafal semacam itu mesti dibungkam, menjadi bagian dari
sejarah senyap. Suatu ketika ia menerima sebuah dokumen sangat berharga, Memorandum,
Outlining Act of Violence and Humanity Perpetrated by Indonesian Bands on Innocent
Chinese before and after the Dutch Police Action was enforced on July 21, 1947. Teks itu
mengungkapkan fakta mengenai sejumlah kuburan massal yang tersebar di Blitar, Tulungagung,
Kediri, Nganjuk, Yogya, sampai Muntilan.7) Seperti ketidaktahuannya mendefinisikan apa
praktik dan “golongan” kebudayaan campurannya dulu, Harsono pun buta mengeja ratusan
nama itu. Ia menggosok di atas berlembar-lembar kain blacu, “menghidupkan” aksara
mati, menegaskan yang samar, memindahkan rasa dan blabar tulisan itu ke dalam goresan
monokromatik tangannya sendiri. Ini adalah dokumen performatif yang bersifat sublim dari
sang seniman, seni yang berupaya memberi tempat kembali pada mereka yang terbungkam,
mengandaikan dan memulihkan kesetaraan bagi elemen-elemen ganjil yang selama ini seolaholah saja dihitung (part-of-no-part)
Tulis Rancière, hakikat politik tampil tatkala yang politis (politics) ini menginterupsi distribusi
yang sensibel dengan menyertakan mereka yang tidak dihitung dalam keseimbangan persepsi
yang dibutuhkan pada sebuah komunitas. Maka, yang politis mengubah ranah kemungkinan
(relasi antara) yang estetis-politis itu sendiri. Mereka yang tanpa nama, yang selalu saja tak
16//
something new for his art practices. To use Gadamer’s expression: art is not something that
is placeless; neither is it timeless. Instead, art demands a place and, from art itself, lies open
a place for us. The main thing in this issue, therefore, is to seek a way to regain the horizon
of art and history. Such is the hermeneutic criticism or the “linguistic event” for the modern
aesthetics as Gadamer proposed.5)
The “historical” sense and situation have arisen from Harsono’s persistent effort to reveal
the “truth” beyond the aesthetics. This is a spring time for the artist, marked by his relentless
observations on epitaphs, marking the names that appear on tombs. Harsono’s long
engagement with the relation between art and socio-political discourses moves his intuitions
further. Facing the truth of the victims, he realized the importance of what we might call the
“truth of the chronicle” of an event; namely the “what”, “when”, “where” and “who” of the
mostly-nameless victims.6)
Is there any way out of the shade apart from creating imaginations about the boundaries
between dark and light, the sky and the earth? Where can we ever find any other way to do
away with our sense of insecurity apart from our honesty before the altar of confession?
About text and textuality
In this exhibition, Harsono began from re-imagining a “text of the world” from the global
crossings of the first people from the mainland China who had embarked on a journey
traversing the lands of neverwhere, which we would later call India, Srilanka and Java. He
imagined the discourse of power, confrontation, conquer, but also of movement, encounters
and exchanges. These things, of course, worked both ways: as the dawn of the long and
winding stories of assimilations that went across almost the whole archipelago, but they
simultaneously also meant the dark clouds hovering over the stage of discrimination, violence
and furors about the Chinese, to which Harsono would later repeatedly return.
Tracing victims’ names that had been engraved on the tombs of the mass grave seemed to
rekindle his memories on the name he had as a child, his “original” name, which has been
unfamiliar to him. It has been silenced for such a long time, becoming a part of the silent
history. Then there was a time when he received an invaluable document, Memorandum,
Outlining Act of Violence and Humanity Perpetrated by Indonesian Bands on Innocent
Chinese before and after the Dutch Police Action was Enforced on July 21, 1947. The
text reveals facts about a number of mass graves in Blitar, Tulungagung, Kediri, Nganjuk,
Yogyakarta, on to Muntilan.7) Just as he had been ignorant about the practices and “category”
of his hybrid culture, today Harsono was at loss as he tried to spell out those hundreds of
names. He made tracing on layers upon layers of unbleached cotton fabric, “rekindling” dead
alphabets, affirming the vague, transferring the emotions and the strokes of the texts into the
monochromatic strokes of his own making. It is a sublime performative document of the artist,
a work of art that tries to give a place to those who had been silenced, bringing equality to
the peculiar elements that have so far been only ostensibly considered (part of no part).
Rancière wrote that the essence of politics emerges when the politics interrupts the sensible
distribution by including those who have not been considered or accounted for in the balance
of perceptions that a community would need. The politics, therefore, changes the realm of
//17
Tata duduk Badan Pelaksana Umum Persiapan Kemerdekaan
Indonesia. Dokumen dalam foto ini milik FX Harsono dari
“Naskah Persiapan Undang-undang Dasar 1945” yang ditulis
oleh Prof. Mr. Hadji Muhammad Yamin.
Seat allocation of the Committee of the Preparatory Work
for the Indonesian Independence. The document belogs to FX
Harsono from “The Drafting of the 1945 Constitution“ written
by Prof. Mr. Hadji Muhammad Yamin.
18//
//19
tampak dan suaranya tak terdengar oleh kita, hanya dapat melakukan penerobosan tatanan
politik (police) melalui moda subjektivisasi yang akan mengubah keseimbangan estetik di
dalam komunitas itu dengan mempraktikkan pengandaian universal perihal yang politik
(politics), bahwa kita semua adalah setara.8)
Inilah yang disebut sebagai rezim estetik yang mengidentifikasi seni tidak melalui pembagian
cara kerja atau modus menciptanya, tetapi melalui produk artistik dengan pembedaan cara
mengada yang spesifik. Di situ sejatinya terletak kekuasaan yang majemuk. Rezim estetik
mengidentifikasi seni melalui yang singular dan membebaskannya dari kaidah spesifik apa pun,
dari hierarki subject-matter seni maupun jenis-jeni seni (genres). Untuk mengisolasi kekhasan
ini, rezim estetik telah menghancurkan kriteria pragmatik.9) Inilah yang disebut Rancière
sebagai yang “estetik” pada inti yang politik.10)
Dulu, Harsono melukiskan simbol dan praktik kekuasaan yang adigang-adigung, memuncaki
rasa marahnya dengan melabrak cermin dan mengayun-ayunkan gergaji mesin besar,
menyemburkan hawa panas api. Seninya melumat, membabat, dan membakar seperti
peristiwa kerusuhan massal yang disaksikan dengan mata pedihnya sendiri. Kini, di pameran
ini kita melihat pancuran yang dingin, guyuran air pada dinding kaca yang memantulkan
kekaburan dan ketakstabilan raut mukanya sendiri, menggenangi dan menghapus goresan
nama dengan kuas Cinanya. Monumen manusia baginya selalu wujud campuran, sebuah
rakitan berbentuk ranjang peranakan dengan isian yang kompleks dan teks-teks yang
menakutkan. Di tengah-tengah keindahan bentuk peraduan itulah, seakan kita bisa
membayangkan kembali isu sangat kritikal dan narasi-narasi “kebenaran” asimilasi, strategi
minoritas dan mayoritas kekuasaan, “peranakan” versus “asli”.11)
Harsono seakan mau mematok, memasang tegas sebuah tapal atau patok, seakan-akan ada
ilusi mengenai batas wilayah yang tegar. Dia meletakkan lambang kekuasaan di darat dan di
laut, seonggok kursi dan perahu kayu, sang pilot yang memandu pelayaran mencengangkan di
masa silam. Tapi, yang menyembur dari sana sejatinya adalah sebuah narasi yang menggugah
hasrat berkisah kita sendiri.12) Gunung teksnya adalah tekstualitas, keacakan, bukan
sehimpunan makna yang bisa langsung kita cerna. Teks dan tekstualitas dipersandingkan
di pameran ini, dengan huruf-huruf yang bergerak dan tumpukan puluhan ribu aksara yang
kaku dan diam. Tekstualitas memiliki kondisi cair yang terus mengalir, medium favorit yang
digunakan oleh Harsono di pameran ini. Tekstualitas menggerogoti teks, karena tekstualitas
adalah sekaligus eksterior dan interior, apakah tampak sebagai sesuatu yang tekstual, visual,
konseptual, atau pun sebaliknya.
Tekstualitas adalah kondisi tidak berada di pusat (off-centre), tanpa batas, yang disebut oleh
Derrida sebagai sudah selalu tersembunyi dan bersifat tak pasti, mengandaikan proses-proses
dekonstruksi yang pada gilirannya memungkinkan penundaan tafsir.13)
Saya sudah menyebut sedikit mengenai “rasa sejarah” pada karya Harsono di pameran ini. Di
kedalaman keterlibatannya dengan bayang-bayang tekstual yang menyeruak di sekujur karyakaryanya, sebenarnya menganga semacam perasaan berkabung. Sejarah akan kelihatan baikbaik saja kalau kita melihatnya dari luar, kalau kita tidak ikut terlibat merasakannya. Terlibat
ke dalam rasa sejarah, termasuk memasuki kisah dan nama orang-orang biasa yang tak kita
20//
possibilities (the interim relations) of the aesthetics-politics. The nameless ones, who always
remain invisible and whose voices remain unheard, would only be able to break through the
political order (the police) through a mode of subjectivization, which will change the aesthetic
balance within the community by practicing a certain universal imagination about the politics
that we are all equal.8)
This is what we call the aesthetic regime that identifies art not through the segregation of
methods or the modus of creation, but rather through artistic products with specific mode of
being. This is, quintessentially, where manifold power lies. The aesthetic regime identifies art
through the singular and frees it from any specific rule, from the subject-matter hierarchy of
art or genres. To isolate such characteristic feature, the aesthetic regime has destroyed the
pragmatic criteria.9) This is what Rancière called “the aesthetic” at the heart of the politics.10)
Harsono used to depict the symbols and practices of pompous power, topping off his anger
with an attack on a mirror, swinging a chainsaw and expelling hot, fiery air. His art annihilated,
shattered and razed, just like the mass riots that he saw with his own pained eyes. Here in
this exhibition we see a cold fountain, splashes of water on the glass wall that reflects the
vagueness and instability of the expressions on his face, flooding the strokes of Chinese
characters that he has made with his Chinese brush, washing them away. To him, human
monuments are always hybrid, a mixture of diverse manifestations, an installation of a hybrid
bed with complex contents and fearful texts. As we confront the bed’s beautiful shape, we
seem to be returning to the critical issues and narratives of “the truth” of assimilation, the
minority strategy and the power majority, “hybrid” versus “original”.11)
It seems that Harsono wants to create a firm boundary, as if there is an illusion of rigid
borders. He places the symbol of power on land and at sea, a pile of chairs and a wooden
boat, the pilot that had guided the astonishing sea journey in the past. What comes forth from
it is essentially a narrative that rekindles our own desire to tell stories.12) The mountain of texts
is textuality and randomness instead of a collection of meanings that we can immediately
grasp. Texts and textuality are presented side by side in this show, with moving alphabets as
well as a pile of silent and rigid alphabets, scores of thousands of them. Textuality has a fluid
condition that keeps on flowing, like Harsono’s favorite medium for his works in this exhibition.
Textuality gnaws at the text, as textuality is both the exterior and the interior, no matter
whether it appears as something that is textual, visual, conceptual or the opposite.
Textuality is the condition of not existing at the center but rather off center, without borders,
which Derrida calls as something that has always been hidden and uncertain, presupposes
processes of deconstruction that in turn enables the delay of interpretations.13)
I have talked a bit about the “sense of history” in Harsono’s works in this exhibition. In his
profound engagement with the textual shadows that seem to burst out of the entirety of his
works, a gaping hole actually exists out of a feeling of sorrow. History seems to be fine if we
view it from outside, if we are not involved and invest our feelings in it. To Harsono, being
engaged with the sense of history, delving into the stories and names of the unknown lay
people is like looking into the inner layers of our own clothing. There are different clothes—
cheongsam, dresses, kabaya, man and female clothes, all of them made of simple unbleached
//21
kenal, bagi Harsono seperti menjenguk ke dalam lapisan dalam baju kita sendiri. Ada baju
ciongsam, rok, kebaya, baju lelaki dan perempuan, seluruhnya berbahan kain belacu putih
yang bersahaja digantung di salah satu ruang pameran. Jahitan baju itu didedel dan ditautkan
kembali untuk mengintegrasikan sejumlah tulisan di lapisan baliknya yang tersembunyi.
Dalam tafsir-menafsir, yang terpokok bukanlah rekonstruksi atau restorasi, melainkan integrasi,
tulis Gadamer. Apakah kita bisa dengan sekadar melabeli sekaligus mencari “makna” melalui
proses rekonstruksi? Bisakah kita memiliki pemahaman yang pasti dengan tindakan re-kreasi
yang tampak serupa dengan asali? Tidak, tulis Gadamer, karena “makna karya tergantung pada
pertanyaan yang kita ajukan di masa kini”.14)
Penutup
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), penyair dan filsuf Jerman dari masa Romantik pernah menulis
dalam satu puisinya, “Die Künstler” (Sang Seniman) bahwa keindahan yang kita rasakan
sekarang ini suatu saat kelak akan kita alami sebagai kebenaran. (“Was wir als Schönheit hier
empfunden/ Wird einst als Wahrheit uns entgegengehn”/ “What we have here perceived as
beauty/ We shall some day encounter as truth”)
Bagi penyair dan filsuf ini, seni memiliki ideal keindahan, maka seni menjadi kebahagiaan yang
bisa direproduksi dalam hidup masyarakat. Berbeda halnya dengan filsafat dan agama yang
keduanya juga berkepentingan dengan kebenaran. Filsafat sering sangsi akan kebahagiaan
dan agama cuma menjanjikannya saja, ya, kelak di akhirat. Maka, hanya senilah yang menjadi
pratanda bagi tidak mustahilnya kebenaran. Di situlah letak pentingnya pendidikan estetik
untuk memahami relasi antara keindahan dan kebenaran. Bagi Schiller, “masalah politik” di
dalam tata masyarakat yang lebih baik pun mengandalkan jalan estetik, dan melalui keindahan
pula kita akan sampai pada kebebasan.15 )
Kita telah melihat bahwa Harsono justru mencoba menerobos apa yang tidak diketahuinya,
yang absen dalam dirinya, soal identitas budayanya sendiri yang serba-tercampur sampai
pencarian fakta mengenai korban melalui Memorandum yang mengguncangnya. Ia bertanya,
mengapa banyak orang Tionghoa dibunuh, siapakah para korban itu, bagaimana mereka
dibunuh, dan kenapa banyak hal disembunyikan dan tidak menjadi terang dalam apa yang
kita anggap sebagai sejarah? Mengapa pula ia tidak berhasil menjelaskan identitas dirinya
sendiri dalam paradigma budaya? Jalan yang ditempuh Harsono tentu saja bukan jalan atau
cara-cara “estetik”. Ia ingin mulai dari “kebenaran kronikal” sejarah, tapi ia tak tahu akan
becermin dari sejarah yang mana kalau sejarah justru tidak menjadi suluh yang menerangi
pencariannya. Ia mencoba menyusuri “kebenaran-kebenaran” kecil itu dari orang-orang,
beribu nama yang ada dan tidak pernah dikenalnya. Ia ingin kelak merayakan musim semi
pencariannya sendiri, melalui seni rupa yang pernah mengkhianatinya. Jika sejarah kelak juga
boleh mengalami musim seminya, meninggalkan kegersangan dan tanah keringnya, boleh jadi
kita akan memandang keindahan seni dalam sejarah dan keindahan sejarah dalam pencarian
seni. Mungkin itulah yang dibayangkan oleh Harsono.
Kebenaran tidak diperoleh dengan cara metodis, tetapi dengan bertanya atau secara dialektis,
kata Gadamer. Metode tidak mampu menyingkapkan kebenaran yang baru; metode hanya
melukiskan secara eksplisit jenis kebenaran yang sudah ada secara tersirat pada metode itu
22//
cotton, hung in one of the exhibition rooms. He broke the seams of the clothes and reattached them to integrate within its hidden underlay a number of texts.
In interpretations, the most important thing is neither the reconstruction nor the restoration,
but rather the integration, so wrote Gadamer. Are we able to seek “meaning” through the
process of reconstruction as we are assigning labels? Can we have a certain meaning with
acts of re-creation that seem to be similar to the original? No, wrote Gadamer, because “the
meaning of a work depends on the question that we are posing today.”14)
Closing
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), a German poet and philosopher from the Romantic era once
wrote in one of his poems, “Die Künstler” (The Artist), that the beauty that we perceive today
will be understood later as truth. (“Was wir als Schönheit hier empfunden/ Wird einst als
Wahrheit uns entgegengehn”/ “What we have here perceived as beauty/ We shall someday
encounter as truth”)
To the poet-cum-philosopher, art has the ideals of beauty, and thus art becomes the
happiness that can be reproduced in people’s lives. This is unlike philosophy and religion,
which also have their own interests in truth. Philosophy often doubts happiness, while
religions make promises about it, something for later in the end of days, indeed. It is only art,
therefore, that serves as a beacon for the possibility of truth. Herein lies the importance of
aesthetic education to understand the relation between beauty and truth. To Schiller, even
the “problem of politics” in a better societal order will also relies on the path of the aesthetic,
and it is also through beauty that we will arrive at freedom.15)
We have seen how Harsono precisely tries to break through what he does not know, to
come out from what is absent within him; the issues of his hybrid cultural identity on to the
search for the facts about the victims by means of the Memorandum that has shaken him.
He asks: why have so many Chinese been murdered? Who were the victims? How were
they killed? And why are so many things hidden and remain vague in what we perceive as
history? Why has he not been successful in his attempts at explaining his self-identity in the
cultural paradigms? Of course, the path that Harsono takes has not been an “aesthetic” path.
He wants to start from the “truth of the chronicle” of history, but he does not know which
history that he will use as a mirror if history does not become the beacon that illuminates
his journey. He tries to trace down those small “truths” from people, thousands of names
that exist, people that he never knew. He wants to be able to celebrate the springtime of his
quest, through the art that has once betrayed him. If history may later experience its own
springtime, leaving behind the desolation and the barren land, we might then perceive the
beauty of art within history, and the beauty of history in an art quest. Perhaps this is what
Harsono imagines.
Truth is not achieved through methodical methods, but instead by posing question or through
dialectical ways, so wrote Gadamer. Methods are not capable of revealing new truths:
methods will only describe explicitly the kinds of truth that are implicit in the methods
themselves... In this interpretative situation, the questioner realizes that he or she is the one
targeted by the issue. The determining factor is not the intent of the artist, neither is it the
//23
sendiri… Sang penanya, dalam situasi interpretatif ini menyadari dirinya sebagai yang dicecar
oleh pokok masalah itu. Yang menentukan memang bukan maksud seniman, bukan karya itu
sebagai benda pada dirinya sendiri di luar sejarah, melainkan “apanya” yang muncul secara
berulang yang bertahan dalam perjumpaan historis.16)
Barangkali, ya, barangkali saja, itulah “keindahan” yang bisa mempertemukan seni dan sejarah.
Surabaya, 20 Juni 2013
Hendro Wiyanto
Kurator Pameran
Catatan:
1.
Penggunaan istilah “Cina” dan “Tionghoa” dalam tulisan ini dimaksudkan memiliki arti
setara. Meski demikian, makna kedua kata itu akan tetap terasa berbeda. Ini terkait dengan
penggunaan kata “Cina” di masa Orde Baru yang terdengar sebagai bentuk ungkapan
merendahkan.
2. Lihat, misalnya Onghokham, Riwayat Tionghoa Peranakan di Jawa, kata pengantar oleh David
Reeve, Komunitas Bambu, 2009; hal. 30-31.
3. Sistem ini untuk menjamin langgengnya bisnis candu yang menguntungkan pihak kolonial. Di
abad ke-19, pemerintah kolonial memonopoli impor candu dari sumber utamanya, yakni India,
dan negara menjamin monopoli lokal sampai ke desa-desa melalui para pengecer Tionghoa
peranakan. Kedua stelsel itu berguna untuk mengawasi saingan berat dari pedagang Tionghoa.
(Tjamboek Berdoeri, Indonesia dalem Api dan Bara, Pen. Elkasa, Cetakan kedua, 2004,
pengantar Benedict ROG Anderson, Arief W.Djati, Stanley; hal. 8)
Tjamboek Berdoeri adalah nama samaran Kwee Thiam Tjing, menulis kesaksian dan laporan
mengenai kekerasan dan pembunuhan terhadap orang-orang Cina di Surabaya dan Malang,
pada bulan-bulan terakhir kehadiran penjajahan Belanda (kembali) di Indonesia, sampai 1947.
Bagi Ben Anderson, dialah “djagoan bahasa Melajoe dengan gaya orisinil dan memoekaoe”,
“yang terheibat sesudah Pramoedya Ananta Toer”. (Tjamboek Berdoeri, ibid., hal. 2). Harsono
berulang kali membaca buku ini.
4. Mengenai riwayat Harsono, saya tuliskan pada Re: Petisi/ Posisi, Langgeng Art Foundation,
2010.
5. Lihat, Richard E. Palmer, Hermeneutics, Interpretation Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey,
Heidegger, and Gadamer, Northwestern University Press, 1969; hal. 171.
6. Taufik Abdullah, “Masalah Kontemporer Ilmu Sejarah dan Historiografi“, Jurnal Kebudayaan
KALAM, edisi 10, 1997; hal. 76
7. Baca pertanyaan Harsono pada tulisannya di katalog ini.
8. Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics, La Fabrique- Editions, 2000; hal. 3.
9. Jacques Rancière,ibid., hal. 23-24
10. Jacques Rancière, ibid., hal. 13
11. Asimilasi – menghilangkan identifikasi sebagai anggota golongan minoritas- misalnya saja dengan
berganti nama (Indonesia), tidak serta-merta menghilangkan diskriminasi. Inilah tesis utama
Onghokham, yang percaya bahwa anggota minoritas “dapat memperbaiki kedudukan sosialnya
sebagai perseorangan tetapi ia tak mungkin mempertahankan atau memperbaiki kedudukan
minoritas sebagai golongan (als groep)”. Diskriminasi muncul karena masih ada yang disebut
sebagai minoritas dan mayoritas. Ia menunjuk “salah paham” Liem Koen Hian (alm) yang giat
mempromosikan asimilasi dan memperjuangkan kemerdekaan Indonesia, tetapi ia kemudian
memilih kewarganegaraan Tiongkok karena menganggap masih ada diskriminasi. …Menurutnya,
soal minoritas dan mayoritas atau soal “peranakan” versus “asli” baru muncul dengan berdirinya
24//
work as an object in itself external to history, but rather the “what” that repeatedly appears
and remains in historical encounters.16)
Perhaps, indeed, just perhaps, that is the “beauty” that will be able to bring art and history
together.
Surabaya, June 20, 2013
Hendro Wiyanto
Exhibition curator
Notes:
1.
The Indonesian version of this essay use the terms “Cina” and “Tionghoa” interchangeably to
refer to the Chinese, perceiving them as having equal meanings. However, there seems to be
different perceptions in regards to the meanings of the two words. This has to do with the use
of the word “Cina” during the New Order time that sounded demeaning.
2. See, for example, Onghokham, Riwayat Tionghoa Peranakan di Jawa (The History of the
Chinese Descendants in Java), with an introduction by David Reeve, Komunitas Bambu, 2009,
page 30-31.
3. The system was established to ensure the continuity of opium business that had been
bringing profits for the colonial ruler. In the nineteenth century, the colonial government had
a monopoly on opium imports from its main source, India, and the state ensured that the
monopoly even reached villages through Chinese retailers. The two stelsel or regulations
had been useful to keep watch on the competition posed by the Chinese traders. (Tjamboek
Berdoeri, Indonesia dalem Api dan Bara, Elkasa, second print, 2004, with an introduction by
Benedict ROG Anderson, Arief W. Djati, Stanley; p. 8)
Tjamboek Berdoeri (literally: Spiked Whip) was the pen name of Kwee Thiam Tjing. He wrote
his testimony and reports on the violence and murders of Chinese in Surabaya and Malang,
in the last months of the return of the Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia until 1947. To Ben
Anderson, he was the “champion of the Malay language with an original and enchanting style”
(djagoan bahasa Melajoe dengan gaya orisinil dan memoekaoe), “the best after Pramoedya
Ananta Toer” (Tjamboek Berdoeri, ibid., p. 2). Harsono reads the book repeatedly.
4. I write about Harsono’s biography in Re: Petisi/Posisi, Langgeng Art Foundation, 2010.
5. See Richard E. Palmer, Hermeneutics, Interpretation Theory in Scheiermacher, Dilthey,
Heidegger, and Gadamer, Northwestern University Press, 1969; p. 171.
6. Taufik Abdullah, “Contemporary Issues in History and Historiography“, KALAM Cultural
Journal, edition 10, 1997; page 76
7. Read Harsono’s questions in his essay for the catalogue.
8. Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics, La Fabrique- Editions, 2000; p. 3
9. Jacques Rancière, ibid., pp. 23-24
10. Jacques Rancière, ibid., p. 13
11. Assimilation—the erasing of one’s identification as member of the minority, for example by
changing the name (into “Indonesian” name)—does not necessarily mean the erasure of
discrimination at the same time. This is Onghokham’s main thesis, proposing that members of
the minority group “can improve their social standings as individuals, but they will never be
able to maintain or improve the standing of the minority group itself as a group (als groep).”
Discrimination appears because there are those that we call the minority and majority.
He referred to the “misunderstanding” of (the late) Liem Koen Hian, who was advocating
for assimilation and fought for Indonesia’s freedom but then chose to become a Chinese
citizen because he believed that discrimination still existed. Onghokham was of the opinion
//25
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
26//
Republik Indonesia. (Lihat, Onghokham, ibid., hal. 155- 159).
Liem Koen Hian (1896-1952), “orang Indonesia tanpa peci”, adalah salah satu contoh ironis
sosok Tionghoa peranakan dalam sejarah Indonesia. Tokoh ini—dan AR Baswedan, sosok
keturunan Arab—pernah menjadi anggota BPUPK (Badan Penyelidik Usaha-usaha Persiapan
Kemerdekaan), 1945; memimpin surat kabar Sinar Soematra dan Sin Tit Po (Surabaya), pada
1930-an tapi kemudian dituduh menanggalkan kewargaan Indonesia, bahkan dianggap kiri
dan ditahan oleh pemerintah Indonesia pada 1952. Koen Hian, tulis Ahmad Syafii Maarif
adalah “tragedi dalam sejarah modern Indonesia”. (lihat, “Liem Koen Hian dan AR Baswedan”,
KOMPAS, 16 April 2011).
Amrus Natalsya menampilkan karya pemandangan Kota Jakarta lama yang mengisahkan
pelayaran Cheng Ho. Goenawan Mohamad menyebut karya pahatan kayu itu sebagai “realisme”
(dalam tanda “kutip”). Baginya, “realisme” adalah “sesuatu yang bergerak sebagai narasi.” Cerita,
dalam lukisan Djoko Pekik dan Amrus Natalsya, tulisnya, “tak hidup dari temanya… Mereka
mengundang kita melanjutkan sendiri kisah yang tak seluruhnya terungkapkan itu, menarik
kita masuk ke dalam proses imajinasi yang baru, yang bukan mereka kuasai.” Meminjam istilah
Lukacs, “realisme” semacam itu adalah “erzahlen”, bukan “beschreiben”, berkisah, bukan
mendeskripsikan. (Lihat, Goenawan Mohamad, “Realisme dan Emansipasi”, dalam Marxisme
Seni Pembebasan, TEMPO dan PT GRAFITI, Cetakan Pertama, 2011, hal. 113).
Lihat, misalnya Art and Text, Black Dog Publishing, 2009; hal. 213.
Lihat, Richard E. Palmer; h. 186
Lihat, Herbert Marcuse, Negations, Essays in Critical Theory, Penguin Books, 1968, hal. 117-118;
lihat pula, Friedrich Schiller, Letter on the Aesthetical Education of Man, Letter II, Echo Library,
2006, h. 18).
16. Richard E. Palmer, hal. 164- 165.
that issues of minority and majority, or about “hybrid” vs. “original”, emerged only with the
establishment of the Republic of Indonesia. (See Onghokham, ibid, pp. 155-159).
Liem Koen Hian (1896-1952), “the Indonesian without the peci”, served as one of the ironic
examples of Chinese figures in the Indonesian history. The man—along with AR Baswedan, an
Arab descendant—was a member of the BPUPKI (Committee of the Preparatory Work for the
Indonesian Independence) in 1945, led Sinar Soematra and Sin Tit Po dailies (in Surabaya, East
Java) during the thirties, but had then been accused of renouncing his Indonesian citizenship,
perceived as being leftist and was even jailed by the Indonesian government in 1952. Ahmad
Syafii Maarif wrote that Koen Hian was “a tragedy of the Indonesian modern history”. (See:
“Liem Koen Hian and AR Baswedan”, KOMPAS Daily, April 16, 2011)
12. Amrus Natalsya presented a work depicting the landscape of old Jakarta, “narrating” a story
about the sea-journey of the Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho. Goenawan Mohamad calls the
woodwork as “realism” (in quotation marks). To him “realism” is “something that moves as a
narrative”. Goenawan Mohamad goes on to say that narratives in the works by Djoko Pekik
and Amrus Natalsy, “are not animated by the theme... They invite us to continue on our own
the story that has not been completely revealed, drawing us into a new process of imagination,
one that is not under their power.” To borrow Lukacs’ terms, such “realism” is “erzahlen”
instead of “beschreiben”, narrating instead of describing. (See Goenawan Mohamad, “Realisme
dan Emansipasi”, in Marxisme Seni Pembebasan, TEMPO and PT Grafiti, first printing, 2011, p.
113.)
13. See, for example, Art and Text, Black Dog Publishing, 2009; p. 213
14. See Richard E. Palmer, p. 186
15. See Herbert Marcuse, Negations, Essays in Critical Theory, Penguin Books, 1968, pp. 117-118.
See also, Friedrich Schiller, Letter on the Aesthetical Education of Man, Letter II, Echo Library,
2006, h. 18
16. Richard E. Palmer, pp. 164-165
//27
EXIT
BACK GATE
<<
<<
<<
7//
6//
PERJALANAN
WAKTU (2013)
LIGHT EMITTING
DIODE (LED)
RUNNING TEXT
VARIABLE
DIMENSION
SISI-DALAM
KEHIDUPAN (2013)
UNBLEACHED
COTTON, THREAD
AND INK
VARIABLE
DIMENSION
<<
28//
4//
WRITING IN THE
RAIN (2011)
WOODEN CHAIR
AND DESK, 24” TV,
SINGLE CHANNEL
VIDEO 6’ 11”
(LOOPING)
VARIABLE
DIMENSION
<<
<<
5//
RANJANG HUJAN
(2013)
WOODEN BED,
STAINLESS STEEL,
PUMP MACHINE,
WATER, CERAMICS,
FABRIC AND LIGHT
EMITTING DIODE
(LED) RUNNING
TEXT
200x250x200 CM
2//
1//
REWRITING ON
THE TOMB (2013)
PASTEL RUBBED
ON FABRIC
VARIABLE
DIMENSION
BERZIARAH KE
SEJARAH (2013)
SINGLE CHANNEL
VIDEO
13‘ 40“ (LOOPING)
<< excerpted
interview (video
documentation)
excerpted >>
interview (video
documentation)
<<
<<
2//
REWRITING ON
THE TOMB (2013)
PASTEL RUBBED
ON FABRIC
VARIABLE
DIMENSION
<<
<<
3//
<< the artworks’
production (video
documentation)
MASA LALU DARI
MASA LALU/
MIGRASI (2013)
BOAT, ELECTRIC
CANDLE,
EARTH WARE,
WOODEN CHAIR,
LAMPSHADE
VARIABLE
DIMENSION
ENTRANCE
MAIN GATE
//29
1//
BERZIARAH KE SEJARAH (2013)
VIDEO PERFORMANS SATU KANAL
13’ 40”(DIULANG)
30//
//1
BERZIARAH KE SEJARAH (PILGRIMAGE TO HISTORY, 2013)
SINGLE CHANNEL VIDEO
13’ 40” (LOOPING)
//31
32//
//33
Blitar//
Tulungagung//
34//
Yogyakarta//
Muntilan//
Kediri//
//35
2//
REWRITING ON THE TOMB
(MENULIS ULANG PADA MAKAM, 2013)
GOSOKAN PASTEL DI ATAS KAIN
MATRA BERVARIASI
36//
//2
REWRITING ON THE TOMB (2013)
PASTEL RUBBED ON FABRIC
VARIABLE DIMENSION
//37
38//
//39
40//
//41
42//
//43
44//
//45
46//
//47
48//
//49
3//
PERJALANAN KE MASA LALU/MIGRASI (2013)
PERAHU, LILIN ELEKTRIK, TERAKOTA, KURSI KAYU, KAP LAMPU
MATRA BERVARIASI
50//
//3
PERJALANAN KE MASA LALU/MIGRASI
(JOURNEY TO THE PAST/MIGRATION, 2013)
BOAT, ELECTRIC CANDLE, EARTH WARE,
WOODEN CHAIR, LAMPSHADE
VARIABLE DIMENSION
//51
52//
//53
54//
//55
4//
WRITING IN THE RAIN (MENULIS DALAM HUJAN, 2011)
KURSI & MEJA KAYU, TELEVISI 24”,
VIDEO SATU KANAL 6’ 11” (DIULANG)
MATRA BERVARIASI
56//
//4
WRITING IN THE RAIN (2011)
WOODEN CHAIR & DESK, 24” TELEVISION,
SINGLE CHANNEL VIDEO 6’ 11” (LOOPING)
VARIABLE DIMENSION
//57
58//
//59
60//
//61
5//
RANJANG HUJAN (2013)
TEMPAT TIDUR KAYU, BAJA TAK BERKARAT, MESIN POMPA, AIR,
KERAMIK, KAIN, DAN TEKS BERGERAK DALAM
DIODE PANCAR CAHAYA
200 X 250 X 200 CM
62//
//5
RANJANG HUJAN (THE RAINING BED, 2013)
WOODEN BED, STAINLESS STEEL, PUMP MACHINE, WATER,
CERAMICS, FABRIC AND LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED)
RUNNING TEXT
200 X 250 X 200 CM
//63
64//
//65
66//
//67
6//
SISI-DALAM KEHIDUPAN (2013)
KAIN BLACU, BENANG, DAN TINTA SABLON
MATRA BERVARIASI
68//
//6
SISI-DALAM KEHIDUPAN (THE INNER SIDE OF LIFE, 2013)
UNBLEACHED COTTON, THREAD AND INK
VARIABLE DIMENSION
//69
70//
//71
72//
//73
7//
PERJALANAN WAKTU (2013)
TEKS BERGERAK DALAM DIODE PANCAR CAHAYA
MATRA BERVARIASI
74//
//7
PERJALANAN WAKTU (COURSE OF TIME, 2013)
LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED) RUNNING TEXT
VARIABLE DIMENSION
//75
76//
//77
78//
//79
80//
//81
82//
//83
84//
//85
MENULIS KEMBALI SEJARAH
REWRITING HISTORY
Identitas
Awal mula aku mempertanyakan identitasku sebagai orang Tionghoa-Indonesia, aku mencoba
melakukan pendekatan budaya. Aku pikir, pendekatan ini adalah cara yang benar untuk
melihat diriku sebagai bagian dari masyarakatku. Sejak awal, aku selalu mencoba meletakkan
diriku sebagai bagian dari masyarakat. Rasanya, aku tak pernah melihat diriku sebagai diriku
sendiri, atau sebagai individu. Kesadaran bahwa diriku adalah bagian dari komunitas ini yang
selalu mendorongku untuk menciptakan karya-karya yang berangkat dari persoalan-persoalan
sosial, hal-hal yang berada di luar diriku.
Setelah Soeharto jatuh, aku melihat perubahan besar dalam segala sektor kehidupan di negeri
ini. Era reformasi, begitu orang-orang dan para pemimpin ini menyebutnya, yang ternyata tidak
jelas arahnya. Tapi, setidaknya arus informasi memaksa pemerintah mulai terbuka terhadap
kritik. Dalam perubahan ini, aku mulai mempertanyakan arah kesenianku. Lalu, terbersit
pertanyaan kecil yang tajam, "Siapa aku, sehingga aku harus selalu mengaitkan kesenianku
dengan situasi sosial dan politik?” Pertanyaan itu memaksaku untuk mencari jawaban.
Aku sadar bahwa aku mulai masuk ke wilayah yang mempertanyakan identitas (karya di
sebelah kanan adalah Point of Pain, cat akrilik di atas kanvas 120x120 cm, 2008). Maka, cara
yang aku anggap paling mudah adalah melalui kebudayaan dimana aku berasal dan aku hidup.
Semasa kecil, aku tinggal bersama nenekku yang kupanggil Mak Hong –karena dia adalah istri
kakekku Oh Djie Hong (foto di sebelah kanan). Aku mulai melihat bagaimana pemahamanku
terhadap budaya Tionghoa. Ternyata, aku tak paham. Aku sudah tidak terlibat dengan budaya
Tionghoa sejak aku berumur 9 atau 10 tahun. Kemudian aku mencoba melihat diriku dalam
konteks budaya Jawa, karena sejak kecil aku tinggal bersama nenekku di kampung dan ia
seorang Jawa. Nenekku seorang Katolik tapi juga Kejawen. Katanya, dia mengagumi Aidit
sebagai pembela rakyat kecil. Setelah nenekku meninggal, ketika itu umurku sekitar 10 tahun,
aku mulai sepenuhnya ikut kedua orang tuaku. Dari pengalamanku tinggal bersama nenekku
dan bergaul dengan teman-teman di kampung, ternyata aku juga tak paham budaya Jawa. Aku
gagal mencoba menelusuri identitasku melalui pendekatan budaya.
Aku mulai menelusuri diriku sebagai individu. Artinya, sudah saatnya aku mencoba melihat
sejarahku dan keluargaku. Penelusuran ini ternyata membuahkan penemuan-penemuan yang
menarik. Ayahku seorang tukang potret. Ia punya studio foto di kota Blitar. Ibuku sekolah di
HCS (Hollandsche Chineesche School). Beliau fasih berbahasa Belanda. Seperti nenekku,
beliau juga seorang Katolik, maka sejak bayi aku telah dipermandikan sebagai seorang Katolik.
Mulai dari sejarah
Aku dilahirkan dan dibesarkan di kota Blitar. Aku tinggal di jalan kecil bernama Gang Tjoe
86//
Identity
When I first started
questioning my identity as a
Chinese Indonesian, I tried
to take the cultural approach.
I thought that this approach
would prove to be the right
approach to see myself as a
part of the society. Since very
early on, I have always tried
to situate myself as a part of
the society. I think I’ve never
viewed myself only as my own
self or as a lone individual.
It is the awareness that I
am a part of the community
that always encourages me
to create works that have
as their points of departure
social issues, the things that
are external to me.
After Soeharto had been
ousted, I saw big changes
happening in all sectors
of life in this country. The
Reformation Era—that was
how people and those leaders
welcomed the new era, which
turned out to be none the
better in relation to the clarity
of direction in which it would
take. Still, at least the flow of
information has forced people
to be more open to criticism.
In these changes, I started
to question the direction in
which my art was taking. A
//87
Tien. Tanah di mana rumah-rumah itu dibangun adalah milik seorang tuan tanah yang bernama
Oei Tjoe Tien. Ada sekitar 14 rumah di dalam jalan kecil itu. Rumah-rumah itu terbagi dalam
dua deretan. Masing-masing deretnya berdempetan. Seluruh penghuni rumah itu adalah
keluarga Tionghoa.
Aku masih ingat sebuah album foto berwarna hitam yang selalu diletakkan di ruang keluarga.
Album itu berisikan foto-foto yang dibuat oleh ayahku tentang penggalian mayat-mayat
orang-orang Tionghoa yang tinggal kerangka. Foto ini dibuat pada 1951. Ayahku selalu secerita
tentang peristiwa pembunuhan orang-orang Tionghoa di desa-desa sekitar kota Blitar pada
1947 hingga 1949, yang dikenal sebagai masa clash yang kedua.
Foto itu berukuran 6x6 cm, ada sekitar 60-an foto (seperti yang di atas halaman ini). Di
setiap foto, ada keterangan waktu, nama-nama desa di mana korban-korban itu ditemukan,
dan jumlah korban. Saya tidak tahu mengapa foto-foto itu masih tersimpan dengan baik,
sementara foto-foto lain yang berhubungan dengan kegiatan-kegiatan komunitas Tionghoa
telah dibakar oleh ayahku setelah 1965. Album itu aku simpan dan sudah aku pindai dengan
kualitas yang baik, sehingga sampai saat ini bisa terdokumentasi dengan baik di komputerku.
nDudah
Berangkat dari foto-foto itu, aku mulai menelusuri peristiwa yang terjadi pada 1947 hingga
1949. Kebiasaan melakukan riset sebelum membuat karya membuatku tidak mendapatkan
kesulitan dalam mempertemukan sejarah dan karya seni rupa. Selain bahan bacaan,
wawancara, dan penelusuran lokasi di mana mayat-mayat orang Tionghoa itu diketemukan,
aku juga menemukan kuburan massal di pemakaman orang Tionghoa di Karangsari, Blitar.
Kuburan ini dikenal dengan sebutan Bong Belung—gabungan dari bahasa Cina "bong" yang
artinya kuburan dan bahasa Jawa "belung" yang artinya tulang. Di kuburan massal ini memang
hanya tulang-belulang yang dikuburkan.
88//
small, shrewd question emerged then: “Who am I? What is it in me that always drives me to
relate my art with the social and political situations?” The question forced me to go out and
seek the answer.
I realized that I was entering the realm in which identity was being questioned (eg. the
artwork on top right previous page, Point of Pain, acrylic on canvas 120x120 cm, 2008).
Therefore, the easiest way for me to take would be through the culture from which I came,
and in which I grew up. As a child, I lived with my grandmother whom I called Mak Hong—
because she was married to my grandfather, Oh Djie Hong (photographs on previous page). I
started to see how I understood the Chinese culture. It turned out that I did not understand
it at all. I’ve had nothing to do with the Chinese culture since I was nine or ten. I then tried
to see myself in the context of the Javanese culture, because as a child I lived with my
grandmother in the kampong and she was a Javanese. My grandmother was a Catholic but
also a devotee of the Javanese traditional belief of Kejawen. She said she admired Aidit,
whom she saw as a defender of the commoners. After my grandmother died—I was around
ten at the time—I began to live with my parents. My experience of living with my grandmother
and played with my friends in the kampong turned out to have given me no understanding of
the Javanese culture. I failed to try to trace down my identity through the cultural approach.
I started to see myself as an individual. It was time for me to try to revisit my history and the
history of my family. The search led to intriguing discoveries. My father was a photographer.
He had a photo studio in the town of Blitar. My mother went to a Catholic school that used
to go by the name of HCS or the Dutch Chinese School. She spoke fluent Dutch. Like my
grandmother, she was also a Catholic. I had been christened as a Catholic when I was a baby.
Starting from history
I was born and grew up in the town of Blitar. I lived on a small lane called Tjoe Tien Alley. The
//89
Dari penelusuran ini, aku menemukan 10 orang saksi mata peristiwa pembunuhan 1949 itu.
Mereka yang kami jumpai, menyebutnya sebagai peristiwa nDudah; penggalian kembali
kuburan-kuburan orang-orang Tionghoa yang dibunuh dan dikuburkan tanpa nama dan
dikuburkan di mana saja. Pada 1951, Chung Hua Chung Hui membentuk tim untuk mencari
kuburan massal yang berserakan di sekitar kota Blitar. Ayahku sebagai tukang foto menjadi
bagian dari tim untuk mendokumentasi penggalian. Tim ini dibantu oleh penduduk setempat
yang mengetahui lokasi di mana para korban dikuburkan.
Berangkat dari penelitian ini, lahirlah karya-karyaku yang mengangkat masalah sejarah
pembunuhan orang-orang Tionghoa. Pada awalnya hanya pembunuhan di sekitar kota
Blitar. Kemudian aku mulai mendapatkan informasi dan data dari beberapa teman tentang
pembunuhan di kota-kota lainnya. Stanley Adi Prasetyo memberiku sebuah dokumen yang
berjudul Memorandum: Outlining act of violence and humanity perpetrated by Indonesia
band on innocent Chinese before and after the Dutch Police Action was enforced on July
21, 1947 (gambar di sebelah kanan). Dokumen ini mendorongku untuk mencari lagi kuburankuburan massal di kota lainnya.
Video performans Berziarah ke Sejarah (2013) adalah ziarahku ke beberapa kuburan massal
yang telah aku temukan. Sampai saat ini, aku baru menelusuri beberapa kota di Jawa Timur.
Aku menemukan kuburan massal di Blitar. di sana, dimakamkan 191 korban; di Tulungagung 73
korban; di Kediri 310 korban; di Nganjuk 784 korban; di Jogja 26 korban; dan, di Muntilan 17
korban. Semua dikuburkan dalam kompleks pemakaman orang Tionghoa.
Integrasi
Kuburan massal ini mulai ramai dikunjungi oleh keluarga mereka untuk melakukan ziarah
pasca-2000, setelah runtuhnya rezim Soeharto. Masyarakat Tionghoa mendapatkan rasa
aman untuk berziarah setelah pemerintahan presiden Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur). Hal ini
dikemukakan oleh Cek Djoen Kiem petugas yang merawat dan mengurusi kuburan orangorang Tionghoa di Karangsari, Blitar (gambar di halaman berikut). "Setelah zaman Gus Dur,
keluarga korban mulai berani datang dan berziarah setiap Ceng Beng atau Qingming—dalam
bahasa Mandarin. Hari Pembersihan Pusara adalah hari untuk mengingat dan menghormati
nenek moyang. Setiap orang berdoa di depan kuburan nenek moyang, menyapu pusara, dan
bersembahyang. Upacara ini dilakukan pada awal musim semi.
Dalam penelusuran sejarah orang Tionghoa, aku telah melakukan banyak wawancara,
membaca buku, dan mencari arsip. Aku sampai pada suatu kesimpulan bahwa banyak hal yang
berhubungan dengan permasalahan orang-orang Tionghoa disembunyikan atau dihapuskan
dalam penulisan sejarah Indonesia. Apakah itu terkait dengan peristiwa tragis seperti
pembunuhan atau diskriminasi; juga yang berhubungan dengan hal-hal yang positif, seperti
partisipasi masyarakat Tionghoa terhadap kemerdekaan dan pembangunan kebangsaan
Indonesia.
Seperti yang dikatakan oleh orang Tionghoa bahwa, orang Tionghoa bukan semuanya
malaikat, tetapi sebaliknya juga bukan semuanya setan. Artinya, masyarakat Tionghoa tidak
bisa disama-ratakan sebagai masyarakat dengan stigma negatif. Saya mendapatkan buku tua
yang berjudul Naskah - Persiapan Undang-undang Dasar 1945, yang ditulis oleh Prof. Mr. Hadji
90//
land on which the houses stood was owned by a landlord
named Oei Tjoe Tien. There were fourteen houses on the
small lane. The houses were built in two lines, standing backto-back. All the residents were Chinese.
I remember that there was a black photo book that was
always placed at the sitting room. The photo album contained
pictures my father took of the exhumation of the bodies of
the Chinese. Only the bones remained. The pictures were
taken in 1951. My father often told me stories of the killings
of the Chinese in the villages around Blitar from 1947 to 1949,
during the period that we know as the second Clash.
The photographs are of the size of 6x6 cm (as seen on
previous page). There were around 60 photographs. On each
picture there was the information about the time when the
picture was taken, the names of the villages in which the victims were found and the number
of victims. I don’t know why the pictures remain intact while, sometime after 1965, my father
burnt down the other pictures related to the activities of the Chinese community. I took
the album and I’m fortunate that I was able to scan all the pictures, making good-quality
electronic copies and so to this day I am able to store them neatly on my computer.
nDudah
Using the photographs as a point of departure, I started to trace down the events that took
place in 1947 to 1949. The habit of doing research before creating a work made it easy for me
to bring history and art together. Apart from books, interviews and the effort to trace the
locations where the Chinese graves had been found, I also found a mass grave in the Chinese
cemetery in Karangsari, Blitar. People called the place “Bong Belung”—a hybrid phrase from
the Chinese word of ‘bong’, meaning burial, and the Javanese word of ‘belung’, meaning
bones. What had been buried in the mass grave were only the bones.
From the quest, I found ten eye witnesses of the 1949 killing. Those we met called the event
“nDudah”, the excavation of the tombs of the Chinese who had been murdered and buried
without anyone’s knowledge about their names. They had been buried in just any one place.
In 1951, Chung Hua Chung Hui established a team to find the mass graves spread around the
town of Blitar. My father, the town photographer, was a part of the team documenting the
excavation. The team was assisted by the locals who were aware of the locations where the
victims had been buried.
The research gave rise to the works that I made in which I talk about the killings of the
Chinese. In the beginning it was only about the killing that took place around the town of
Blitar. I subsequently obtained further information and data from friends about killings
that had taken place in other towns. Stanley Adi Prasetyo gave me a document titled
Memorandum: Outlining act of violence and humanity perpetrated by Indonesia band on
innocent Chinese before and after the Dutch Police Action was enforced on July 21, 1947 (top
right image). The document encouraged me to find other mass graves in other towns.
//91
Muhammad Yamin, dimana di dalam buku itu terdapat peta tempat duduk persidangan Badan
Oentoek Menjelidiki Oesaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan, atau yang dikenal dengan BPUPKI.
Pada denah tempat duduk itu terdapat empat nama orang Tionghoa. Mereka adalah Liem
Koen Hian, Tan Eng Hoa, Oei Tjong Hauw, dan Oeij Tiang Tjoei. Pada rapat Panitia Persiapan
Kemerdekaan Indonesia, terdapat nama Yap Tjwan Bing. Keterlibatan orang-orang Tionghoa
ini tidak pernah disinggung dalam sejarah Indonesia.
Dalam tulisannya "Mendulang Nasionalisme Aktivisme Politik Orang Tionghoa PascaSoeharto", dalam buku Setelah Air Mata Kering, I. Wibowo bilang, "Kalau ditarik kebelakang
lagi, ada empat orang Tionghoa dalam pembacaan teks Sumpah Pemuda 28 Oktober 1928,
yaitu Kwee Thiam Hong, Oey Kay Siang, John Lauw Tjoan Hok dan Tjio Djien Kwie. Namanama ini walau tidak dihapus dalam catatan, seakan-akan hilang dalam wacana tentang
pembangunan negara dan bangsa".
Sejarah menentukan arah
Sejarah yang kuhadirkan dalam karya seni sering dicurigai sebagai keinginan untuk selalu
mengungkit-ungkit masa lalu masyarakat Tionghoa yang pahit. Pertanyaan yang diajukan:
Mengapa tidak membicarakan bagaimana peran orang Tionghoa dalam menyongsong
masa depan bangsa Indonesia? Aku agak terperanjat dengan pertanyaan itu. Maka muncul
kecurigaanku, apakah pertanyaan ini berhubungan dengan keinginan untuk melupakan dan
menyembunyikan identitas diri kita sendiri sebagai orang Tionghoa atau yang dikenal dengan
keinginan untuk merepresi ke-Tionghoa-an sebagai upaya mempertahankan eksistensi mereka
sebagai oarng Tionghoa? Atau, anggapan bahwa mengangkat kembali sejarah yang pahit
dianggap sebagai mengembalikan ingatan pada persoalan identitas ke-Tionghoa-an yang
seolah-olah telah dihapuskan oleh peraturan untuk mengganti nama.
Pertanyaan ini terasa kontradiktif dengan upaya untuk bisa melihat dan menemukan arah
yang jelas dari peran orang Tionghoa untuk bisa berpartisipasi dalam proses pembangunan
kebangsaan Indonesia kedepannya. Arah partisipasi kita tidak mungkin jelas tanpa melihat
kembali dan memahami sejarah. Membaca kembali sejarah berarti memahami siapa diri kita.
Aku sadar bahwa aku adalah orang Indonesia dengan memahami sejarah. Tanpa pemahaman
sejarah yang kuat, maka dengan mudah aku hengkang dari Indonesia dan menjadi bangsa lain.
Atau, dengan mudah, menukar nasionalisme ke-Indonesia-an dengan yang lainnya.
92//
The video performance of Berziarah ke Sejarah (Pilgrimage to History, 2013) shows my
pilgrimage to a number of mass graves that I have found. So far I have only made the search in
several towns in East Java. I found a mass grave in Blitar, where 191 victims had been buried; in
Tulungagung, with 73 victims; in Kediri, 310 victims; Nganjuk, 784; Yogyakarta, 26; Muntilan, 17.
All had been buried in the Chinese cemeteries.
Integration
Family members only started to visit the mass graves after 2000, after Soeharto fell down.
The Chinese felt save to do the pilgrimage after Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) became
president. Cek Djoen Kiem, a keeper who took care of the Chinese cemetery in Karangsari,
Blitar, affirmed this (top left image). “After Gus Dur took office, family members of the victims
felt brave enough to come every Ceng Beng, or Qingming in Chinese. This is the TombCleaning Day, a day to remember the ancestors and pay respect to them. Everyone prays
before the grave of the ancestors, cleaning the grave and praying. The ritual took place in the
beginning of spring.”
In my quest to trace the history of the Chinese, I have done a lot of interviews, read books
and searched the archives. I came to the conclusion that many things related to the issue of
the Chinese had been hidden or removed from the writing of the Indonesian history, whether
this is related to tragic events like murders or discrimination, or to positive things such as the
participation of the Chinese in the Indonesian struggle for freedom and the development of
the nation.
The Chinese have a saying, “not all Chinese are angels; neither are they all devils.” It means
that we cannot see all Chinese the same, as a monolithic group or community with a negative
stigma. I came across an old book entitled Naskah – Persiapan Undang-Undang Dasar
1945 (The Drafting of the 1945 Constitution), written by Prof. Mr. Hadji Muhammad Yamin.
In the book, there is a map outlining the seats of the members of the Committee for the
Preparatory Work for the Indonesian Independence, or the BPUPKI. On the map, we can see
that there are four Chinese names. They were Liem Koen Hian, Tan Eng Hoa, Oei Tjong Hauw
and Oeij Tiang Tjoei. During the meeting of the Committee for the Preparation of Indonesian
Independence, we see the name of Yap Tjwan Bing. The involvement of these Chinese is
never mentioned in the Indonesian history.
//93
Kesadaran sejarah
Memang sulit posisi orang Tionghoa dalam menentukan arah dan tujuan politik sebagai bagian
dari bangsa Indonesia. Stigma yang melekat sulit untuk dihapus. Ditambah lagi absennya
nama-nama Tionghoa dalam kegiatan apapun selama proses pembangunan setelah mereka
mengganti nama menjadi nama Indonesia. Di sini seolah-olah orang Tionghoa tidak pernah
mempunyai andil apa-apa dalam proses pembangunan ini. Kesulitan ini ditambah dengan
ketidak-jelasan konsep kebangsaan Indonesia. Apakah yang dianggap sebagai bangsa
Indonesia hanyalah mereka yang benar-benar asli? Sementara Indonesia bukan hanya terdiri
dari etnis asli, tetapi juga ada Arab, India, Tionghoa, beberapa dari bangsa Asia lainnya dan
sedikit Eropa. Kenyataannya, hanya keturunan Tionghoa yang mendapat perlakuan khusus
yang bersifat diskriminatif dan harus menjadi "seolah-olah" asli agar bisa diterima sebagai
bangsa Indonesia.
Posisi pembentukan proses kebangsaan dituliskan oleh Leo Suryadinata:
Sesudah Indonesia merdeka, konsep bangsa yang lebih modern pun dianut
oleh segelintir tokoh politik Indonesia. Drs. Muhammad Hatta, misalnya,
memberikan batasan bangsa Indonesia dalam arti politik: seorang demokrat
sejati yang berwarga negara Indonesia tanpa melihat keturunannya. Namun,
rupanya konsep Hatta ini pun tidak banyak penganutnya.
Seluruh permasalahan orang-orang Tionghoa memang tidak mungkin dilepaskan dari sejarah
perjalanan dan peran orang Tionghoa dalam proses pembangunan bangsa Indonesia. Namun
proses integrasi, setelah bangsa Tionghoa yang telah tinggal di Indonesia sejak berabad-abad
yang lalu, tidak pernah tuntas. Berikut tulis I. Wibowo:
Salah satu masalah yang dianggap paling fundamental dan perlu diselesaikan
terlebih dulu adalah pengakuan eksistensi kelompok etnis Tionghoa sebagai warga
negara sejak dulu hingga sekarang. Karena tiadanya pengakuan ini, demikian analisis
mereka, kelompok etnis Tionghoa mendapatkan perlakuan yang tidak sama dengan
warga Negara lain, Sebagai indikator terpenting adalah hilangnya nama-nama
Tionghoa dalam buku sejarah nasional Indonesia. Kelompok etnis Tionghoa dianggap
sebagai kelompok yang tidak mempunyai sumbangan bagi pembangunan bangsa dan
Negara Indonesia.
Sejarah bukan saja telah memberikan inspirasi pada penciptaan karya-karya seni rupa yang
aku buat, tetapi juga memberikan kesadaran baru tentang bagaimana cara mengabdikan diri
pada manusia dan bangsa Indonesia. Melihat dan mengangkat kembali persoalan-persoalan
yang dihadapi oleh masyarakat Tionghoa di Indonesia, bukan berarti tumbuhnya keinginan
untuk menggugat, melakukan reviktimisasi atau sekedar romantisisme belaka, melainkan
keinginan untuk mengkritisi dan belajar agar kita tak melupakan dan tidak mengulang kembali
kesalahan yang pernah terjadi pada masa lalu. Suatu bangsa menjadi dewasa bukan karena
peristiwa-peristiwa gemilang yang pernah dicapai, tetapi juga bagaimana bangsa itu dengan
besar hati mau mengakui kesalahan yang telah pernah dibuat dan dijadikan pelajaran agar tak
diulang kembali.
Marilah kita mencoba untuk jujur mengakui bahwa sejarah hampir selalu ditulis oleh
pemenang. Mereka yang kalah harus menyerah atau menunggu sampai giliran mereka tiba.
94//
In his essay, “Mendulang Nasionalisme Aktivisme Politik Orang Tionghoa Pasca-Soeharto”
(“Harvesting the Nationalism of Political Activism of the Chinese in Post-Soeharto Era”) in
the book Setelah Air Mata Kering (After the Tears Have Dried), the scholar I. Wibowo said,
“If one looks back even further, there were four Chinese men who attended the reading of
the Youth Pledge on October 28, 1928. They were Kwee Thiam Hong, Oey Kay Siang, John
Lauw Tjoan Hok and Tjio Djien Kwie. The names remain on the record, but they seem to have
disappeared in the discourse about the development of the country and the nation.”
History determines the direction
The history that I present in art is often suspected as the desire to keep on bringing back
the bitter past of the Chinese community. There is the question of: Why don’t you just talk
about the role of the Chinese as we are welcoming the future of the Indonesian nation? I’m a
bit surprised with that question. I then had the suspicion of whether the question has to do
with the desire to forget and hide our self-identity as Chinese, or to fulfil what we know as
the wish to repress the China-ness in order to survive as Chinese? Or perhaps there is this
assumption that to revisit the bitter history is akin to recalling the memory of the Chinese
identity, which has looked as if it has been erased by the regulation to change names.
The question seems to be contradictory to the effort to find and see a clear direction for the
role that the Chinese could be playing in the nation-building process for Indonesia in the days
to come. It will be impossible to have a clear sense of direction in our participation without
looking back at history and understand it. Re-reading history means understanding who we
are. I realize that I am an Indonesian through my understanding of history. Without a strong
understanding of history, it will be too easy for me to go out of Indonesia and become a part
of any other nation, or exchanging my Indonesian nationalism with another thing.
Historical awareness
It is indeed a difficult position that the Chinese have in trying to determine the direction that
we should be taking, as well as the political objectives that we should be achieving as a part
of the Indonesian nation. It is difficult to erase the old stigma. Compounding the problem is
the fact that there has been an absence of Chinese names in any activities that have taken
place during the development process of the country ever since the Chinese have changed
our names with Indonesian names. This would make it seem as if the Chinese never plays
any role in the development process. Furthermore, there is also the lack of clarity in regards
to the concept of Indonesian nationhood. Are only the “indigenous” groups who would be
considered as the true members of the Indonesian nation? Indonesia does not only consist
of indigenous ethnic groups: there are also those of Arab, Indian and Chinese descendants,
some also come from other Asian nations, and some of us are of European descendants.
The fact is, it is only the Chinese descendants who have had to suffer the discriminatory
treatment and been forced to become “ostensibly” indigenous in order to be accepted as a
part of the Indonesian nation.
Leo Suryadinata writes about the process how the Indonesian nationhood has been
established:
After the Indonesian independence, a modern concept of nationhood has been
embraced by a few of Indonesian political figures. Drs. Muhammad Hatta, for
//95
Nah, sekarang masalahnya apakah kita hanya menyerah pada mereka yang berkuasa dan
menunggu atau mencoba untuk menuliskan kembali dengan cara kita masing-masing? Aku
lebih memilih untuk menuliskannya kembali melalui karya-karyaku. Kini, bagiku, bukan lagi
persoalan identitas, tetapi bagaimana sejarah yang telah ditulis dikritisi untuk menunjukkan
adanya kebenaran. Setidak-tidaknya, aku menunjukkan kepada khalayak bahwa ada sejarah
lain yang juga benar-benar terjadi.
Jakarta, Juni 2013
FX Harsono
96//
example, defined the Indonesian nationhood in political terms: a true democrat
with Indonesian citizenship, without looking at their ancestry. Apparently,
however, Hatta’s concept saw only a few proponents.
It is indeed impossible to detach the problems of the Chinese from the history about the
journey and roles that the Chinese have taken and played during the Indonesian development
process. The integration process, however, has never reached its conclusion even after the
Chinese have been living in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries. I. Wibowo wrote:
One of the problems that are seen as fundamental and need to be solved
first has been the recognition for the existence of the Chinese ethnic group
as Indonesian citizens, from the time long past and to this day. Because of
this lack of recognition—such goes their thinking—the Chinese suffers distinct
treatments that are different from any other citizen. The most significant
indicator for this is the disappearance of Chinese names in the books of
Indonesian national history. The Chinese is seen as a group without any
contributions to the development of the Indonesian nation and state.
History does not only serve as a source of inspirations for the creation of my art
works, but also provides me with a new sense of awareness about how to serve
fellow humans and the Indonesian nation. Re-viewing and bringing up again the
problems that the Chinese have suffered in Indonesia does not mean that there
has arisen in me a desire to rebuke, re-victimize or merely romanticize it all. Rather,
there is a desire to take a shrewd look at them and learn from them, so that we do
not forget and repeat past mistakes. A nation matures not because of the brilliant
events and successes, but rather how the nation courageously recognizes their past
mistakes and learns from them.
Let us try to be honest and recognize how history is almost always written by the
victors. Those who have lost have to surrender, or wait for their turn to come. Now,
are we going to simply surrender to the power that be and wait, or would we try to
rewrite history in our own distinct ways? I choose to re-write history using my works.
Today, it is to me no longer a matter of identity, but rather how the written history is
reviewed shrewdly to pinpoint the truth. At the very least I will demonstrate to the
public that there is another version of history that has truly taken place.
Jakarta, June 2013
FX Harsono
//97
RUJUKAN
REFFERENCES
1. Liem Sing Meij, Ruang Sosial Baru Perempuan Tionghoa,
Sebuah Kajian Pascakolonial. Yayasan Obor Indonesia,
Jakarta, 2009, hal. 87, 89, 90, 91, 113, 115, 116, 117, 149, 150, 152
2. Reggie Baay, Nyai & Pergundikan di Hindia Belanda.
Komunitas Bambu, Jakarta, 2008, hal. 243, 237, 239, 240
3. WP Groeneveldt, Nusantara Dalam Catatan Tionghoa.
Komunitas Bambu, Jakarta, 2009, hal. 13, 59
4. Sri Margana, Ujung Timur Jawa, 1763-1813: Perebutan
Hegemoni Blambangan. Pustaka Ifada Khasanah, 2012, hal.
290
5. Leo Suryadinata, Etnis Tionghoa dan Nasionalisme
Indonesia. Kompas Penerbit Buku, Jakarta, 2010, hal. 49
6. Leo Suryadinata, Pemikiran Politik Etnis Tionghoa
Indonesia 1900-2002, hal. 398
7. Arief Budiman, "Cina dan Tionghoa” harian Jawa Pos, 3
September 1998, LP3ES, 2005
8. I. Wibowo (E), “Mendulang Nasionalisme Aktivisme Politik
Orang Tionghoa Pasca-Soeharto”, dalam buku Setelah Air
Mata Kering, Masyarakat Tionghoa Pasca-Peristiwa Mei
1998. Kompas Penerbit Buku, Jakarta, Maret, 2010
9. Tjamboek Berdoeri (Kwee Thiam Tjing), Indonesia Dalem
Api dan Bara. Elkasa, Jakarta, Juni, 2004
98//
1. Liem Sing Meij, Chinese Women’s New Social Space, a
Postcolonial Study. Yayasan Obor Indonesia, Jakarta,
2009, page 87, 89, 90, 91, 113, 115, 116, 117, 149, 150, 152
2. Reggie Baay, Missus & Mistress in the Dutch East Indies.
Komunitas Bambu, Jakarta, 2008, page 243, 237, 239, 240
3. WP Groeneveldt, The Archipelage in the Chinese’s Notes.
Komunitas Bambu, Jakarta, 2009, page 13, 59
4. Sri Margana, The Tip of East Java, 1763-1813: Blambangan
Hegemonic Struggle. Pustaka Ifada Khasanah, 2012, page
290
5. Leo Suryadinata, Chinese and Indonesian Nationalism.
Kompas Penerbit Buku, Jakarta, 2010, page 49
6. Leo Suryadinata, The Political Thought of ChineseIndonesian Ethnic 1900-2002, page 398
7. Arief Budiman, "China and Tionghoa” Jawa Pos daily,
dated 3 September 1998, LP3ES, 2005
8. I. Wibowo (E), “Harvesting the Nationalism of Political
Activism of the Chinese in Post-Soeharto Era” in the
book After the Tears Have Dried. Kompas Penerbit Buku,
Jakarta, March, 2010
9. Tjamboek Berdoeri (Kwee Thiam Tjing), Indonesian in Fire
and Coals. Elkasa, Jakarta, Juni, 2004
//99
ABOUT FX HARSONO
100//
Born in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia (1949), Harsono studied
painting at STSRI ‘ASRI’ - Yogyakarta (1969-1974). He was
expelled due to the radical student movements that he
co-initiated (Black Deember 1975 and Indonesia New Art
Movement 1975-1989). He then finished his bachelor at IKJ
(Jakarta Art Institute), 1987-1991. Since 2005, he started
lecturing in the Faculty of Art and Design, at Pelita Harapan
Uni., Tangerang, West Java.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013 what we have here perceived as truth/ we shall some
day encounter as beauty, Jogja National Museum
2012 Writing In The Rain, Tyler Rollins Fine Arts, New York,
United States of America
2010 Testimonies, Singapore Art Museum
Re:petisi/posisi, Langgeng Art Foundation, Yogyakarta
2009The Erased Time, The National Gallery of Indonesia,
Jakarta
2009Surviving Memories, Vanessa Art Link, Beijing, China
2008Aftertaste, Koong Gallery, Jakarta
2007 Titik Nyeri/ Point of Pain, Langgeng Icon Gallery,
Jakarta
2004Mediamor(e)phosa, Puri Galllery, Malang, East Java
2003 Displaced, The National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta
Displaced, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
1998 Victim, Cemeti Art Gallery, Yogyakarta
1996 Suara (Voice), Cemeti Art Gallery, Yogyakarta
1994 Suara (Voice), The National Gallery of Indonesia,
Jakarta
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED) 2013 Quota 2013, Langgeng Art Foundation, Yogyakarta
Sip! Indonesian Art Today at ARNDT Gallery, Berlin
Indonesian Painting I, Group show at Equator Art
Project, Singapore
2012 Beyond Geography by South Asian Visual Art Centre
(SAVAC) at Art Toronto, USA
What is it to be Chinese? at Grimmuseum, Berlin
//101
Encounter, Royal Academy In Asia, at the Institute of
Contemporary Art, Lasalle, Singapore
Archive-Reclaim doc at the National Gallery of
Indonesia, Jakarta
Migration, ARNDT, Sydney
Contemporary Indonesia at Ben Brown Fine Arts
London, UK
2011 Edge of Elsewhere at 4A, Sydney, Australia
Closing The Gap, Melbourne Institute of Fine Art
(MIFA), Australia
Negotiating Home, History and Nation: Two Decades
of Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia, 1991 – 2011 at
Singapore Art Museum
Beyond The Self at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra,
Australia
Asia: Looking South at ARNDT Gallery, Berlin, Germany
NOW INK: A call for new perceptions A special project
at the 5th SH Contemporary, Shanghai Exh. Center
4th Moscow Biennale Russia
Beyond The East at Macro Museum, Rome, Italy
2010 Contemporaneity/Contemporary Art in Indonesia,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai
Recent Art From Indonesia: Contemporary Art-Turn,
SBinArtPlus, Singapore
Pleasures of Chaos, Inside New Indonesian Art, Primo
Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy
Digit(all): Indonesian Contemporary New Media
Practices, Umahseni, Jakarta
Homo Ludens, Emmitan CA Gallery, Surabaya
2009Beyond The Dutch, Centraal Museum, Utrecht,
Nederland.
Face Value, Exhibition of 4 artists, Agus Suwage, Budi
Kustarto, Astari Rasyid and FX Harsono at SIGIarts,
Jakarta.
TechnoSign, Surabaya Art Link, Surabaya
Milestone, Vanessa Art Link, Jakarta
2008Highlight, ISI, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta
Art With Accent, Group Exhibition four country China,
102//
Japan, Korea and Indonesia, Guang Zhou, China
ALLEGORICAL BODIES, A-Art contemporary space,
Tai Pei City, Taiwan.2008
Res Publicum, Canna Gallery, Jakarta
3rd Nanjing Triennialle, Nanjing, China.
Manifesto, National Gallery, Jakarta
Space/spacing, Semarang Gallery, Semarang
2007 Quota 2007, Langgeng- Icon Gallery, Jakarta
Artchipelago Alert, Tonyraka Contemporary Art
Gallery, Ubud, Bali
Imagine Affandi, National Archive Centre, Jakarta, org.
by Semarang Gallery,
2006Out Now, Singapore Art Museum. Singpore
The Past Forgotten Time, Cemeti Art House,
Yogyakarta
Anti Aging, Gaya Fusion Contemporary Art Space,
Ubud Bali
2005 Quota 2005, Langgeng- Icon Gallery, Jakarta
Taboo and Transgression in Contemporary Indonesian
Art, Herbert F. Johnson of Art Museum, Cornel
University, USA.
Text Me, Sharman Gallery, Sidney, Australia
Eksodus Barang, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta Reformasi, Sculpture Square, Singapore
2003 Exploring Vacuum 2, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta
CP Open Biennalle, Jakarta 2001 Membaca Frida Kahlo, Nadi Gallery, Jakarta
International Print Triennial, Kanagawa, Yokohama,
Japan
Print in The Future, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta 2000 Reformasi Indonesia, Protest in Beeld, Museum
Nusantara, Delft, Netherland.
The Third Kwangju Biennial, Kwangju, Korea.
Setengah Abad Seni Grafis Indonesia, Bentara Budaya,
Jakarta 1999 Art Document 1999, Kanazu Forest Museum, Kanazu,
Japan
Volume & Form, Singapore //103
1998 Meet 3:3 (3 Indonesian artists, 3 Germany artists),
Purna Budaya, Yogyakarta 1997 Slot in the Box, Cemeti Art Gallery, Yogyakarta
International Contemporary Art Festival, Tokyo, Japan
(NICAF) 1996 Museum City Project, Fukuoka, Japan
Tradition/Tension, Asia Society, New York (continued
to Vancouver (Canada), Perth
(Australia), Seoul (Korea) 1995 Asian Modernism, Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan 1994 Jakarta Biennial Contemporary Art Taman Ismail
Marzuki (TIM), Jakarta 1993 Baguio Art Festival, Baguio, The Philippines
Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art,
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 1992 Artist Regional Exchange (ARX 3), Perth, Australia
Artists Week, Adelaide Festival, Adelaide, Australia 1987 Pasar Raya Dunia Fantasi, Seni Rupa Baru (SRB)
Proyek I, TIM, Jakarta 1985 Proses 85, Art on the Environment, Galeri Seni Rupa
Ancol, Jakarta (in coorperation with Walhi and SKEPHI) 1982 Environmental art, Parangtritis Beach, Yogyakarta 1979 Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia (Indonesia Art
Movement III), TIM, Jakarta 1977 Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia (Indonesia New Art
Movement II), TIM, Jakarta 1976 Concept, New Art Movement, Balai Budaya, Jakarta 1975 Established Indonesia New Art Movement (Gerakan
Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia) with 10 young artists
(Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Bandung and
Sekolah Tinggi Seni Rupa Indonesi “ASRI”(STSRI
“ASRI”,Yogyakarta) 1st Exhibition Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru (New At
Movement), TIM, Jakarta 1974 Black December movement in Jakarta
All Indonesia Painting I, TIM, Jakarta
1973 Kelompok Lima Pelukis Muda (KLPM), Yogyakarta,
Solo, Indonesia 104//
ARTIST IN RESIDENCIES
20022003 The Amsterdam Grafisch Atelier, The Netherlands
1992 School of Art, the South Australian University, Adelaide,
Australia PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
Ulen Centre, Beijing, China
Singapore Art Museum
National Heritage, Singapore
National Gallery of Singapore
Sharman Foundation, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia
Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia
OHD Museum, Magelang, Indonesia
The National Gallery of Indonesia
//105
PENGHARGAAN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Sjamsul B. Sutomo
Anita Anggraini
KPH Wironegoro (Jogja National Museum)
Herdar Ari Andi (Jogja National Museum)
Ari ‘Tembong’ (Jogja National Museum)
Olga Hanindito di Malang
Poernomo di Blitar
Bimo Joewono di Yogyakarta
Kwee Yan Ling/Oom Widagdo di Malang
Koni Herawati Tio Teng Liep alias Mbah Slamet di Nganjuk
Didi Kwartanada sebagai teman diskusi
Stanley Adi Prasetyo
Staff Galeri Canna
Yaya Sungkarisma
Ditya Sarasiastuti, AB Harnawa dan tim
Grace Samboh, Ratna Mufida, Amarawati Ayuningtyas,
dan teman-teman di Hyphen
Hesti Purbaningsih, Angela Wika Citra Kesuma, Theodora
Tunjung Sweta, dan Agustinus Satya Alam Imandri
Kepada mereka yang telah membantu karya-karya dalam
pameran ini terealisir
To those who have helped realized the artworks in this
exhibition
• Moelyono dan Sunaryo di Tulungagung
• Endang Lestari dan teman-teman di Teapot Studio
keramik
• Haji Eman di Plered
• Harwan ‘Aconk’ Panuju, Budi Laksono, Dian ‘Ringo’ KM,
Andi ‘Bendot’ Saputro dan teman-teman di X-CODE Films
• Guy Gunawan dan Aam Amerta Kusuma
• Tri Suhariyanto, AA Nurjaman, Kamto, dan Freddy Slamet
106//
//107