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Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Jeffrey Bernstein Ph.d
Tarik Cyril Amar
Rachel Marsden
Omar Mohammed
Muhannad Ayyash
Jens Thurau
Younger, Bolder and Determined to Grow: The Rise of the Indonesian Contemporary Art Market
A visitor at Museum MACAN in Jakarta. Photo by GOH CHAI HIN/AFP via Getty Images
There is no doubt that the Indonesian art market is one of the strongest in Southeast Asia. At art fairs all over Asia and Europe, we see an increasing number of big-name artists and collectors hailing from the art capitals of Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Bandung. Private museums, galleries and studios are cropping up across the vast archipelago.
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See all of our newslettersSome attribute the growing success of the Indonesian art ecosystem to gotong royong, the nation’s trademark spirit of mutual assistance. “Just like in the art world, where more successful artists help the less fortunate, this communal approach extends to collectors as well,” one of Indonesia’s most cutting-edge art collectors, Wiyu Wahono, told Observer.
With a collecting approach influenced by his time in Germany, Wahono has become a trendsetter in the Indonesian collecting scene. “For me, the artwork must reflect the spirit of the era, and each acquisition must strengthen my collection as a whole. Profit in the art world is irrelevant,” he said. His unconventional collection includes performance art, sound sculptures and works exploring science and technology.
“We Indonesian collectors are very warm to each other,” he added. “We share the names of interesting artists, our recent purchases, and even recommend friends collect the same artists we collect. We don’t see each other as competitors.”
When another famed Indonesian collector Aan Andonowati asked Wahono to judge the Bandung Contemporary Art Awards (BaCAA)—a competition that has helped spotlight emerging talents since 2009—he quickly said yes and has returned for many editions.
Art awards are an important part of discovering talent in Indonesia’s art world because........
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