UNEXPECTED, the 14th edition of the festival Indonesian Contemporary Art and Design (ICAD), is a place where artists, designers, and thinkers are invited to interrogate the present conditions of our society by imagining alternative ways of looking at and dealing with them. Or, we might ask: What should our concerns and creations gesture towards, given the distorted and unforeseen realities that surround us?
As curator, I emphasised during the press conference that the exhibition seeks to offer more than just aesthetic pleasure. Merely presenting visually striking works is not the main intent. Instead, viewers may find themselves surprised by the discovery of lesser-known realities and works designed to mobilise change.
What does “change” look like through the lens of art and design? This question lay at the heart of the curatorial process involving me, my co-curator Prananda L Malasan, and the participating artists and designers.
ICAD: A bird’s-eye view
Each yearly edition of ICAD challenges and delights audiences with several different categories. This year, the Special Appearance takes us into the world of Indonesian painter A.D. Pirous: a teacher and a leader, a visionary and an artist. For the first time, ICAD has also initiated a Special Appearance Region, dedicated this year to Borneo and featuring artists and collectives whose works uncover often overlooked narratives from the island.
Additionally, this year’s In Focus category highlights prominent artists from Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand, who in their own unique voices offer critical thoughts on Southeast Asian identities and politics today.
Placed across four different zones, the selected Featured and Open Submission participants reveal concerns that shape our current times. The first zone presents works that use absurdity and fantasy as instruments to look beyond reality, history, and reason. Continuing the visit, the public will encounter works that offer attention to lesser-known narratives, including indigeneity, diasporic identities, and disability. Another section allows us to reimagine our relationship with nature. Finally, the exhibition’s second floor houses creations that address uncertainties and the need for survival.
Other areas for visitors to discover include a Family Room, presenting interactive works for children and adults. The Special Zone is a multifunctional communal space by Hardiman Radjab and Tomy Herseta, serving as both artwork and stage, and surrounded by a unique chair exhibition by 18 designers and artists — a communal space where many of the performances at ICAD 14 take place.
Last but not least, the Collaboration category brings together artists, cultural institutions, and industry players, facilitating creative dialogues between diverse roles and perspectives. Many of the works in this category offer reflections on social realities in an evolving world, addressing issues of disability, public space, environmental change, and more.
Spotlight on Borneo
In particular, the Special Appearance Region features seven individuals and collectives with varied connections to Borneo. Some are native to the island, others come from afar but maintain strong bonds with its communities, and one belongs to the diaspora. Together, they remind us that Borneo is a shared concern. Borneo belongs to all of us.
As Icha Rosyidi writes for ICAD: “Borneo, with its rich nature and diverse inhabitants, united by traditions and cultures with common roots, is an island with numerous potentials and serves high significance to both its two biggest nations, Indonesia and Malaysia. Alongside the urbanites and industrialists, the land of Borneo is home to many indigenous communities, collectively called the Dayaks.”
The researchers and curators involved in realising this zone are especially interested in revealing long-overlooked indigenous perspectives, as well as the urbanisation, extraction, and exploitation of the land. Through the imaginative lens of the artists and collectives, we are encouraged to confront our assumptions — to see Borneo as more than simply a geographic or cultural entity, but as a complex and layered region with pressing issues and shared concerns. Here, each artist brings a unique perspective, unveiling sides of Borneo often obscured by dominant narratives and commercial interests.
Culture, community, activism
In connectedness — An Incomplete Observation on Borneo (2024), Berlin-based creative Evey Kwong’s series of woven pieces, tools, and video footage reflects a society where care and activism coalesce, presenting Borneo as a place where humans and nature are co-creators of shared spaces. Weaving together materials and stories to highlight our interconnectedness with the land, the work urges us to reconsider the ways we categorise ourselves and the natural world, challenging the perceived separation between human and non-human agents. Through a multidisciplinary design and research approach, Kwong offers insight into how collective, community-focused actions can reshape our environmental and social crises.
Michael Eko’s Adiu: Forest Is Our Mother (2020) is a profound homage to the Punan Adiu indigenous community. Through photography and interactive elements such as websites and postcards, allowing people to respond to the issues raised, Eko puts forward the community’s resilience in safeguarding their ancestral forest, an ecosystem they have long protected and depended on. His installation immerses viewers in the realities of indigenous land struggles, depicting a community that is anything but passive. The work calls attention to the active role of indigenous peoples in conservation and their ongoing fight for land recognition, challenging narratives that cast them as marginal figures rather than central, empowered stewards of biodiversity.
Saring: Reclaiming Dusun Identity (2024), by the Sabah artisanal brand Sang Tukang, bridges tradition and modernity through the Dusun ethnic group’s ancestral brassworking techniques. More than an exhibition of beautiful objects, the installation serves as a powerful act of cultural reclamation, showcasing Dusun heritage through tools, photographic documentation, and brass pieces that capture their artistry.
With, for instance, a brass cuff depicting a paddy field motif, Sang Tukang emphasises the deep connection between humans, land, and spirituality. Their presentation reflects a reverence for craft, the wisdom of the ancestors, and the resilience of cultural identity.
In an audio-centric experience, composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah’s LAWING (2020) combines music and installation to highlight environmental degradation through the kadedek, a traditional drone instrument of the Kebahan community. Using an air machine to amplify the instrument’s sound, he illustrates the sonic richness of indigenous music. A video accompanying the installation focuses on Abang Bunau, the last remaining kadedek craftsman, and his delicate relationship with the forest resources crucial to his craft. The work is a poignant reminder of how cultural traditions are inextricably tied to the natural environment and threatened by corporate encroachments on communal land.
Kisah Timon dan Pohon Tua (2024) is an installation by Sepatokimin Initiative, an organisation that empowers marginalised communities through craft production and mentorship. Evoking rattan craft and traditional agroforestry cycles, the work takes us into the world of the Dayak Bidayuh Jagoi community. A narrative piece inspired by field notes and local folklore tells the story of Timon, Rattan, and the Old Tree, metaphorically exploring themes of reciprocity and interdependence. This work reveals the complexity of indigenous identities in Borneo, positioned at the borders between Indonesia and Malaysia, and their relationship with the land that sustains them.
Supported by the British Council, the performance and sound art collective Muarasuara presents Verses of Stones (2024), a sound installation of rolling stones orbiting a central axis that reimagines the urban landscape of the city off Samarinda. Symbolising the voices of Samarinda, the stones emit sounds as they collide — the oft-silent cries of a city shaped by natural resource exploitation.
During the exhibition, the installation is further enriched by live performances from various artists, inviting us to listen to the environment’s response to unrestrained development, and reminding us of the power of sound in articulating ecological and cultural concerns.
Lastly, Borneo Laboratory’s Serumpun (2024), presented in collaboration with Paperina, is an undulating installation displaying excerpts from a publication that investigates cross-border crafts across Kalimantan, Sarawak, and Sabah. Through the concept of serumpun — which signifies unity despite separation — the work pays homage to the shared cultural roots that bind Borneo’s crafts. By highlighting these creative practices that transcend political borders, Borneo Laboratory encourages us to see harmony and exchange, rather than division.
Voices of Borneo
The Special Appearance Region zone thus hopes not only to bring Borneo’s voices to the forefront, but also to actively engage visitors in the profound questions posed by these artists, musicians, designers, and, above all, thinkers. They ask us to imagine a world where traditional knowledge and practices are celebrated rather than marginalised, where ecological transformations are recognised, and where borders can be sites of collaboration rather than separation. Here, Borneo is more than a place on a map — it is a shared concern, and a testament to collective resilience.
___________________________________
ICAD 14 runs until 10 November 2024 at the grandkemang Jakarta hotel. Find out more at arturaicad.com.
Header image: Ragil Dwi Putra, Ada Bentang di Permukaanmu (2024), installation, mark making, sound, and performance, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of ICAD and the artist.
Plural Art Mag is a media partner of ICAD.
