30 August 2024, 12:00-13:00 (GMT + 10:00) | Online

In this presentation, Edwin will explore how Indonesian contemporary arts have promoted ecological awareness from the late 1960s to the early 2020s. This period covers Indonesia’s rapid urban development under the totalitarian New Order regime (1967–1998) as well as the enhanced freedom of expression, alternative development models, and environmental problems under the democratic governments since 1998. He applies the concept of ‘artivism’ to refer to the vital role of art in activism. He seeks to identify and contextualise both the potential and limits of environmental artivism in Indonesia, a country whose vibrant art scenes and monumental social transformations provide a productive laboratory for exploring the power of creativity as a social and political change agent.

Edwin Jurriëns is Deputy Associate Dean International-Indonesia and Associate Professor in Indonesian Studies at the Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne. His main research and teaching interest is in socially engaged forms of creativity. His recent publications include the monographs The Art of Environmental Activism in Indonesia: Shifting Horizons (Routledge, 2023) and Visual Media in Indonesia: Video Vanguard (Routledge, 2017) and the edited volume Digital Indonesia: Connectivity and Divergence (ISEAS, 2017). He can be contacted at: edwin.jurriens@unimelb.edu.au


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Image: Setu Legi, Harapan Jaya (detail), 2014, life-sized sculpture, mixed media and terracotta, from the exhibition ‘Tanah Air’ (19 December 2014–5 February 2015), Ark Galerie, Yogyakarta, photo: Edwin Jurriëns.