An alternative space is an organism. Just like a living being, it grows, develops and dies. Organizers of the alternative space are in fact similar to caretakers of a cemetery. They decorate the grave stones, serve and take care of the visitors who come and if necessary move the graves when the cemetery becomes over populated. The shifting idea of the function of the alternative space, in my experience, is caused by situations outside of the space itself, namely; political, economic, and social situations. This clearly suggests that the existence of such spaces depends on the situations outside its white walls. The story below can perhaps describe this situation.

The Shifting Guest Spaces

In the 90s, alternative spaces grew like mushrooms in the rainy season. It was as if the big cities of Indonesia were competing to build at least one alternative art space for their cities. The rampant development of alternative spaces can be directly related to the repression of politics at the time, which caused the need of such spaces for people to express their ideas freely. It was unintentional (and not planned by the organizers) that the alternative spaces in fact were able to function as a buffer for political tension.

The spaces gradually disappeared and were replaced by commercial spaces. The change seemed to be influenced by the May Revolution in 98. This event caused the fading of the state repression, a more open expression space and ironically, a kind of requim for alternative spaces.

People were able to shout how they like in the streets. There was no longer a need for secret spaces where people would whisper.

It is indeed true that the majority of alternative spaces in the 90s were secret and exclusive spaces. They were alive and kicking because of a group of people who were supporting its existence. These people were not united by their economic or social status but their similarities in ideology. They were guests who came to visit, and lead to the guest room. The owner of the house moved the sofa and coffee table to the corner of the room. Yes, the alternative space was a house with its function shifted. It was a private space with functions changed into a public space. The only planned shift in the structure was the shift of space, the change in ideology was intuitive. The Javanese would say “flowing like water.”

The urge for change had directed more towards the demand of the public, a space where people were free to discuss any issues.  Art was only a reason to get together. Just like at shadow puppet performances, people know how the stories go; their reason to still go was so that they can meet people who were of the same vision.

Guest room Space turned Trading Office

The first comodification of alternative spaces started in the early 2000s. The spirit of post-colonialism had spread! All of the galleries and large museums in Japan and Australia had sensed the phenomenon from the establishment of these alternative spaces as a form of opposition towards the repressive state domination. Along with artists who raise political issues, big museums brought them around the world like a circus. The local curators were practically like tour guides who take international curators to artist studios and alternative spaces.

The consequence of this tour was the establishment of the international network, which later will influence the way the spaces view its communities. Slowly the spaces become trade administration offices, where intuition no longer has a place.

Comodification that took place caused the establishment of network in the provision of fresh funds. An institution, which at the beginning had been designed to be independent, were suddenly “forced” to be dependent on large funds.

Whether we liked it or not, the dependency on fresh funds from donor countries had influenced the design of programmes, and even more importantly, the mentality of its executors. These programmes, which were initially simply designed, suddenly had to change into something sophisticated and “useful” for the community. An independent institution in its own right changed into a non-governmental organisation, which whether we liked it or not, was expected to work in an administrator way, like a clerk in a trades office.

Besides that, the temptation of funds covered the realities that happened in Indonesia, a rich but poor country, the majority of its people are unemployed (recent records state that about 40 million people are unemployed, including real and disguised unemployment). Because these institutions were caught in a trap of fund sufficiency, their programmes seemed unfamiliar, irrelevant and politically biased. They (including myself as actor) have in fact been trapped in a fatamorgana of wealth.

Alternative spaces very seldom carry out trial periods self-financing and not fully dependent on foreign donors. It may well be that institutions do not necessary have to free themselves from donor institutions. What is needed is a stable distance between independency and foreign assistance which allows independency to continue. Singapore is an example of how artists are very dependent on the government, which causes a censor system through political funding. It is difficult for artists in Singapore to start a project without funds from the state. Because of this dependency, that they were unaware that they started to conduct projects suited to the state policies.

The economic independence is the toughest and most challenging art project I’ve experienced in managing an alternative space. In this context, being independent did not only have to do with concept, being subsistent but also taking nationalism, a term which sounds old fashioned now, into consideration.

Gallery to Paragallery

I adopted the concept of Paragallery referring to Jerzy Grotowski’s (toward poor theatre) concept of Paratheatre. In general, paratheatre is meant to return theatre to its collective situation. It was a concept where additional decoration was not necessary, returning theatre to its actors and audiences and abandoning the ‘secularisation’ of theatre caused by theatre’s inferiority with its new media. Theatre was returned to its substance.

Paragallery tries to place galleries in its main social functions; as a continuation of artist studio, art academy and community hall. In its function that abandons the commercial values of an art work and gallery, this concept whether we like it or not, would have to be supported by the gallery’s ability in self funding. However, this self funding is not an economic concept separated from its artistic one. It, rather, completes each other.

If we are to return the gallery to its social function, we would have to depart from a local context. It all starts form the mapping of cultural, social, geographical and possibly political problems that exist where the gallery is located. This art environment will determine the aesthetic discourse and later determine the economic strategy for the sustainability of the gallery. For example, a gallery in the rural environment should develop an aesthetic concept based on the agricultural culture. It should also develop an economic concept based on agricultural cultivation. A gallery located in the tourism area of a city should develop a global aesthetic concept and economic concept based on tourism.

Before going too far, the gallery mentioned above does not have to mean a physical space. A gallery or alternative space is possibly built without a definite description of space.  However, the idea of an autonomous region managed in a democratic way and makes it possible for anyone to access it is the gallery itself. It may well be that the white rectangular room space is located in our brain chamber.

Economic independency is in deed very difficult to carry out tightly. In certain situations, it is difficult to do. We need a continuous creative breakthrough, in the effort of keeping it as a small, flexible institution, where anything can be changed fast with a little luck(?).

A Laboratorium from Intuitive Actions

Based on the assumptions above, we have carried out some experiments since 1996, and very intensively after 2000, to be precise after the global tension (the cold war between Islam and the West). It started with a restaurant that was bankrupt, located in the tourist area, in the outskirts of the town of Yogyakarta. We named it Kedai Kebun Forum, a gallery, performance space and restaurant.

We started by opening a gallery that functioned as an exhibition space for young artists. This space was in fact not only used for exhibitions but in turns, artists from the discipline of art performance, also started to use the space. The activities in this space gradually disturbed the visitors who were eating there. Once, a visitor complained of a “crazy man running around holding a snake” (that crazy man was an actor playing a role in the play “Waiting for Godot”. Due to this “conflict”, we decided to separate the spaces between; art and business.

The new two storey spaces clearly separated the two functions above. After running it this way for several years, we realized the separation made both art and business dry. Boring.

In the last several years, we started to combine the two. We joined the spaces we had separated back together again by creating art projects that involved not only artists but the wider public. We had started from addressing art issues but then went to more grounded issues such as; the city, sexuality, globalization etc. With the decreasing trust we had towards art, we decided to use the performance space on the top floor of the building as a sport room. We invited everyone interested in playing badminton to join in. So, if they get bored or hated art, they could play badminton instead. 

We also slowly turned our gallery to a class room. Since then, we always start our art projects from classes. This class included artist studio classes, where they or whoever was going to hold exhibitions exhibited their designs and ideas. For several meetings, we invited people from several circles of society to give suggestions and ask questions to artists about the work they will create. This session in class was designed to provoke the artists with facts, sets of data and new possibilities. The archive exhibition, pre-work, concept and class itself lasts two or three months. The last activity of the whole process was an exhibition, which lasted a month. We will be looking for a new strategy in the coming months, who knows there will be some interesting things to find. But it is clear that artists or people who work using visual art media, start working using data or facts. The visitors of the exhibitions are able to see the artists’ work process; test the facts, research findings, and failures. Exhibitions, in the end, are burying ceremonies, with bright lamps, clanging of beer glasses and billow of cigarette smoke.

We funded all of the projects from the restaurant profit. The projects always start form the available funds and tend to be small but long termed. However, this is not an obstacle at all. These difficulties create conditions for us to learn about art management. The country has never greeted us. Practically we have forgotten about that. However, the never ending crisis has made us think again, and it makes it difficult for me to sleep.

Alternative Spaces Faces the Dead Country

The Country is dead, at least dying.

What I mean by the concept of dead country here is different from the neo liberal concept altogether, which “kills” the country by force in order to support the free trade system’s authority. A dead country is a country that is no longer able to provide the basic needs for its population; food, education, health and security. Indonesia is in this kind of position. In this context, the alternative spaces managed by artists have to stay alive. The effort of artificial respiration carried out by alternative spaces uses genuine approaches, and always only looks at the nearest local problems. Without pretensions of becoming a super body, the alternative spaces in fact is able to have several functions which will not be possible in the state or wider levels.

An example is how alternative spaces together raise the silent history/ little history theme. The remnants of fascism can be seen from how history was treated. Fascist countries use history as a tool to build the image of power. Several alternative art spaces in Indonesia simultaneously scrutinized this issue to see the residue of power over history. Meanwhile, history faculties at the outstanding universities remained silent towards this historic phenomenon. Several galleries created projects based on this theme; History and trauma, and its effect on the young people, the media and visual art. And the result was quite interesting. By trying several experimental and sometimes speculative approaches, we found several new things which otherwise would not have been thought of. We were able to see traumatic events, which had systematically been hidden by the state through pop culture artifacts, through ghost stories etc. I call this effort by the state as the secularization of history. Yes, history is pure and holy. The history book is the second bible, made and printed massively, learnt by heart and forgotten.

There is a reason behind the alternative space being used to raise sensitive issues. Besides neutrality, the alternative spaces in Indonesia have casual, informal characters, but a strong academic value. These values turned the alternative spaces into a trusted meeting place for almost all the circles of society. An actor and victim can meet and talk openly; swear at each other if necessary, without creating a bigger problem.  

Freedom of expression, which has an effect on the autonomy of art and art space, is still believed even by the hard line groups. It is true that small conflicts have occurred but all have been resolved in court and not through stabbing of swords or bullets.

There are in fact many things that alternative spaces can empower. Every effort of empowerment does not always result in success, but the effort in using visual art as a tool to see non-art problems is an interesting way to make art and its local public. So, visual art does not end only at the creation of new styles or development of media, but more than that.