This year’s Jakarta Biennale is set to open on Saturday at Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem in South Jakarta and will adopt “Jiwa” as its artistic concept. The concept of jiwa, which roughly translates to a soul, symbolizes the spirit of the event; which will be full of all-encompassing energy and creative spirit that flows from the past to the present and into the future.
A departure from previous years, this year’s Biennale will feature bissu, the androgynous shamans from South Sulawesi who will perform blessings at the opening of the event. Also set to feature at the art exhibition are Balinese artists Ni Tanjung and Dwi Putro.
The exhibition will also include contemporary artists such as the late Hendrawan Ryanto, who was a renown craftwork artist, and the late Semsar Siahaan. There will also be pieces by foreign artists such as Belgian Luc Tuymans and the Russian painting collective of Alexey Kluyjkov, Vasil Aartamonov and Dominik Forman.
One of the unique features of this year’s event is video from female filmmakers such as Ximena Cuevas (Mexico), Gabriela Golder (Argentina) and Kiri Dalena (Philippines). The Biennale will also include a symposium held at IFI on November 13 and 14 with keynote speakers from Asia and Europe as well as performances by Ho Rui An and Choi Ka Fai.