The 16th Biennale Jogja will be held from 6 October to 14 November 2021 with the title “Root < > Routes” curated by Elia Nurvista and Ayos Purwoaji. 

Director of the Jogja Biennale Foundation Alia Swastika shared that one of the foundation’s missions is to redefine the global art discourse that is still centralised in Europe and America. This year’s biennale is deemed special because it marks a decade of the Biennale Jogja the Equator series, which focuses on the art and artists in the equatorial region, which started back in 2011.

For this year’s biennale, the curators and directors strive to reimagine the identity of Indonesia by understanding the history of Oceania. It will highlight the similar characteristics between Indonesia and Oceania, an area very close to Indonesia yet feels distant and even foreign due to the different geopolitical practices. 

“This biennale is expected to become a space where the dialogue between artists and intellectuals from Indonesia and Oceania happens. Both of us can learn from each other's experience as ex-colonised societies whose existence has been defined by the power of Western knowledge for too long,” Ayos explained.

“It is quite challenging because we need to make some adjustments due to the pandemic and travel restrictions. Usually, curators will directly visit the area, but travel restrictions prevent us from doing so,” said Director of Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021 Gintani Nur Apresia Swastika.

Therefore, both curators were only able to make some trips to eastern Indonesia, from Ambon, Maluku and Jayapura to Papua, Maumere and Kupang - areas with identical cultural styles to that of Oceania.

Elia also shared that before her ethnographic research in Ambon, she thought that arts in eastern Indonesia will be similar with those in Java, especially in terms of contemporary performing arts. “However, I found out that performing arts, for instance dances, are actually a form of contemporary art instead of a traditional one, and they are actually used as a medium of social criticism,” she said.

“By working with artists in the Global South, we also realised that it has revealed the existing gap in power relations and economic inequality to some extent. Over the years, we notice that these countries have similar situations when it comes to art: we do not have that much support from the government, but most artists will have their own community with a great sense of belonging and teamwork,” Elia added. 

Artists such as Udeido Collective, Greg Semu, A Pond Is The Reverse of an Island, Radio Isolasido, Meta Enjelita and Raden Kukuh Hermadi will take part in this biennale. 

The entire series of exhibitions and programmes will be held in four locations, namely the Jogja National Museum (JNM), Yogyakarta Cultural Park (TBY), Museum and Clay (MDTL) and Indie ArtHouse. 

All exhibitions can be accessed online via Biennale Jogjakarta’s website.