The exhibition of “international exchanges” can no longer attract the attention of the current art world. It has been a while since giant international exhibitions, under the rubric of the Biennale, have been repeatedly dominated by almost the same artworks and artists. For this reason, I would like to pay attention to a series of exhibitions held at the Arko Art Center in 2017 (selected as “the excellent exhibition” of the year 2017 by Korean Arts Council), the Yunseul Museum at the Gimhae Arts and Sports Center in March 2018, the National Gallery of Indonesia and finally, the Jakarta History Museum in September and October. The international exhibition of Project 7 1/2 is the culmination of the organizer Oh Sun-young’s communication with Korean and Indonesian artists for the last two years. Notably, as part of the exhibition, Indonesia’s Village Video Festival has been in close contact with local people for the past decade or so in the impoverished region of Jatiwangi—proving the right direction of international exchanges in our time. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to determine how much audience-participating, the nomadic exhibition will inform the Korean and Indonesian audiences of the history, especially that of the underprivileged, and will draw social attention—as the curator has expressed her concern in the preface of the exhibition,

Looking at the exhibitions as part of the Project 7 1/2 across Seoul, Gimhae, and Jakarta, I will concentrate on different social backgrounds in which collaboration with artists and the local people, rather than on works themselves. Similar to Gimhae, where the exhibition is taking place, the Jatiwangi in Indonesia is home to the traditional tile industry and where the colonial-era land seizures occurred. In order to bring that historical memory, “Mixrice” spent a month living in Jatiwangi and held a workshop with local people in Jatiwangi as part of their preparation for the “National Gallery of Indonesia” exhibition. At the main entrance of the exhibition hall, a video of the traditional Korean folk song arranged by an Indonesian musician “Lair” will appear, with villagers singing along with the local people. Mixrice’s Gossary (bracken in Korean) with the song implying the shared message of living difficulties can be regarded as a positive example of humanism that tries to overcome cultural differences. Sunah Choi extracted common denominators out of the woven patterns of countries, including Korea and Indonesia, to create a “universal” model. However, despite the professionalism and sincerity of Mixrice, the “cohabitation” of Indonesians and Korean artists does not seem to be comfortable: What is like the relationship between Indonesian locals and Korean writers?; what does this project mean to the local people or audiences involved?

To me, the differences were more noticeable than the similarities between colonial history in Indonesia and Korea. The Jakarta History Museum was the city hall of the Dutch government, which ruled Indonesia from the 18th century until 1913; there is the basement space, located at the backyard, for keeping female prisoners while the statue of Hermes, the goddess of war, remains today in the middle of the same backyard. The museum displays coins, furniture left behind by Dutch merchants and includes the story of the mixed-race people together with the purpose of embracing its colonial history as part of Indonesia’s modernization. Elephant in the Room, the project by 7 1/2 at the Jakarta History Museum, is aimed at concentrating on the lives and stories of the decolonized who has disappeared from such historical representation. (In 2019, Oh Sun-young is planning to conduct a project continuously with Indonesian historians and Jakarta History Museum to investigate Jakarta contemporary history since the 20th century.) In Beribu Budak, Irwan Ahmet and Tita Salina let street artists in the North Jakarta (Kota Tua) reproduce the images of slaves, who have been forgotten in the official history of Indonesia, and attach them on the panels to place these works throughout the Museum. “Beribu Budak” called by Dutch, are Indonesian slaves who were in charge of various chores during the Colonial Period. Sanghee Song’s GEEGERS, You and I make contrasts between the past and present images of Indonesia, as well as those of Gyungsung, the city of Seoul under the Japanese Occupation–using postcards’ collection in Gyungsung and that belong to the Dutch. The pictures on the postcards are usually tourist attractions frequented by the colonizers in the colony. The purpose of the work is to assist ordinary Indonesian audiences, who rather understand the history from colonization to modernization as a smooth transition, to look at their environment and history from a critical vantage point.

Thus, A Tale of Two Cities: Narrative Archive of Memories, exhibitions by 7 1/2 encompasses the history of Seoul, Gimhae, and Jakarta, highlighting clashes of “good” intentions and various perspectives due to cultural differences. For instance, I was impressed by Ahmet and Salina’s Currency (2017), which shows an enlarged image of Indonesian migrant workers’ hands in Ansan turning into the image of flowers. The same work has been shown in Seoul, Gimhae, and Jakarta, but each time, I have very different feelings toward the work. At the National Gallery of Indonesia in Jakarta, in particular, I became curious about how Indonesians react to the image of Indonesian migrant workers in Korea, because, above all, I could not help but more emotionally responding to the images of migrant workers-when I see them surrounded by Indonesians. The thought comes upon me that the Indonesian migrant workers in Currency might be family members of some of these audiences. Therefore, for whom, is this story of the two cities are intended to? The nomadic international exhibition by the Project of 7 1/2 is significant as, among other things, it enables us to rethink about ‘cultural universalism’ that has been artificially forged in a globalized art scene. It also raises questions about how and for whom the classification of Southeast Asia, East Asia, etc. was created in the global art world. This is the concern that the contemporary art scene, where international exhibitions have become prevalent, must seriously examine.

A Tale of Two Cities: Against ‘Cultural Universalism’

Koh Dong-Yeon (Art historian/Critic)