Returning for its 14th edition, Indonesian Contemporary Art & Design (ICAD) invites artists and visitors to embrace the ‘unexpected’. Held at Grandkemang Hotel as per tradition, this annual showcase features the works of 74 local and international artists, each offering diverse interpretations of the theme while delving into the realities and issues of today’s world and societies.
Paintings and tapestries to furniture and sound art are dispersed throughout the hotel’s lobby, café, and second-floor rooms, each portraying the many layers of ‘unexpected’. “The theme can scale from personal to communal,” said Amanda Ariawan, lead curator of ICAD. “And the works go beyond symbolism; they don’t just aim for understanding—they actively respond to the theme. Some of these artists propose imaginative ways and solutions to navigate and survive in an unpredictable world.”
Some artists use absurdity and fantasy as instruments to look beyond reality and history. Some draw attention to lesser-known narratives, such as diasporic identities and disabilities, inviting participants to discover the realities that people may not often be exposed to; while others reimagine the relationship between humans and nature.
The ‘Muara Gembong is Speaking’ (2024) installation by the Bandung-based collective Labtek Apung and architecture and research studio pppooolll is a fine example of the latter. For this project, they developed water distillation equipment to address the clean water crisis in Muaragembong in Bekasi. By recomposing the chemical makeup of the waterway, participants can observe—and hopefully, reflect—its ecological state firsthand.
The installation also raises a question: What roles do you and I unknowingly play in shaping Muara Gembong? As if giving voice to the river and its living entities, the work also includes a paper contract, inviting participants to read, or even add their own terms, and propose new ways for human beings to coexist with nature.
There’s also a distinct focus on Borneo, as part of the exhibition’s ‘Special Focus’ segment that touches on lesser-known stories of cultural identities. From highlighting the close-to-extinction traditional musical instrument of kadedek (also known as mouth organs) from the Kebahan community and other indigenous groups in Kalimantan in ‘Lawing’ (2020) by Pontianak musician and composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah, to listening to the sounds of rotating stones taken from Mahakam River in Samarinda in the work ‘Verses of Stones’ (2024) by Muarasuara; these unexpected objects are used to comment on the impact of natural resources exploitation on local life, driven by development projects that neglect the city’s history and geography.
Highlighting inclusivity, Dutch designer Laura Luchtman presents three jacquard-woven textile tapestries that raise awareness about visual limitations in design. Working with people with colour vision deficiency, Laura and her chromatic atelier studio Kukka explored how colours are perceived. Each tapestry combines graphic compositions and textures to help distinguish colours catered to different types of colour blindness, creating a visual presentation accessible to everyone.
And then, there are chairs. Sat across the hotel’s lobby area, many of them come in different forms, materials, and manners; a wood-rattan low-seating chair by Wisnu Wardhana is inspired by the tradition of lesehan (sitting on the floor) to highlight the social hierarchy of chairs embedded in Javanese history. Another chair, ‘Chopu Seat’ by O’Hara Studio is based on a simple arched form to mimic an aquatic wave, named after one of the world’s heaviest waves in Tahiti, Teahupoo.
Within the frame of ‘unexpected’, what do these chairs represent? “For one, chairs are something intimately familiar to all of us,” Amanda explained. “But there’s also something special about them. In the design world, we admire their form and craftsmanship. We wanted to play with that idea by showcasing chairs in ways that defy expectation.”
ICAD 14: UNEXPECTED is running until 10 November 2024. Click here for more information on the exhibition.