Since 1988, Cemeti Art House has been actively communicating and stimulating art practices of contemporary Indonesian as well as foreign artists. Many projects have been realized each year, including solo-, group exhibitions, performances, site-specific- and community projects, often accompanied by discussions and artist’ talks. We also curate and/or organize exhibitions and projects in other venues and abroad.
In its bid to seek and develop discourse, Cemeti Art House not only operates as a platform for the latest developments, but organizes and facilitates specific projects and connects artists with other professionals and work relative to specific communities (for example ‘art of Bamboo’ 2002, ‘Choose your own public: Playground’ 2005 / Counter Attract’ 2005, ‘Traditional Performing Arts program’ at five villages with Ford Foundation Network 2007 / 2008).
Since 2006, Cemeti Art House opened the residency program LANDING SOON. During each residency period of three months, artists are ‘landing’ in Yogyakarta. Local as well as global issues are researched through different themes, visions and conditions.
Contemporary art in Indonesia can be seen as the form, concern, view and reflection of artists to issues developing in society. Through their work artists criticize and depict general phenomena in the society, whilst others express individual and personal approaches to their reality. These ideas and themes are expressed through a diverse range of media.
The Cemeti Art House building was designed in 1999 by the architect Eko Agus Prawoto. Local-global, traditional-modern, art-non art, individual-collective, natural-manufactured, crafted-industrial, conventional-innovative are the paradoxes reflected in its architectural construction.
*Cemeti Art House will be NON-ACTIVE for approximately three to four months. All art exhibition and related activities, e.g. promotions, presentations, discussions, workshops, etc., will cease to be held or closed to the public.
Only the Cemeti Art House Stockroom will be open to access by interested visitors on Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The Cemeti Art House website at
www.cemetiarthouse.com will remain active with information of all of its previous activities, with a minor exception concerning the ‘stockroom’, the information of which is rarely precise with the actual condition in the gallery. Prior to the resumption of our activities, new information will be posted on the website.
Change of Focus in Cemeti Art House Activities
After examining and considering alternative opportunities to strengthen and sharpen Cemeti Art House’s vision (to support art as the highlight of the creative intelligence of the community) and mission (to become the foremost pioneer gallery in developing an alternative pattern in managing Art and Society), we now inform the general public, particularly the art community, that Cemeti Art House will revise and adjust its focus of its target activities. Cemeti Art House will resume activities in, approximately, November 2009.
In general, the revision and adjustments concern:
1. Cemeti Art House is officially a legal organization based on the Act of the Establishment of Cemeti Art House:
As an autonomous institution in the form of Cemeti Art House Group or Association, Yogyakarta.
2. Cemeti Art House will not longer organize occasional promotional art exhibitions at Cemeti Art House (such as the monthly exhibitions that have been held over previous years).
In the future, Cemeti Art House will organize at least 2 (two) or at most 6 (six) exhibitions every year that are presentations of Art Practice and Society projects that are designed and organized by and with Cemeti Art House.
3. Cemeti Art House will reduce its participation in organizing solo and collaborative promotional art exhibitions presented outside Cemeti Gallery.
Instead, Cemeti Art House will be more active in inviting and broadening the opportunities for the wider community -- general/selected/invited/individual/organizations/communities/government officies/private groups – to interact with inter-disciplinary artists, thus initiating the Art Practice project, by focusing attention on art processes and social, creative/innovative experiences.
4. Cemeti Art House will receive proposals to organize Art Practice and Society projects from various disciplines and professions. Including proposals and offers to organize Art Practice and Society projects in the form of interdisciplinary artist residencies, curator residencies, and innovative, creative, interactive and social education projects.
To support the target of these selected activities, Cemeti Art House has added to its physical infrastructure (two comfortable rooms) on the second floor for residency participants, curators, artists, and researchers.
Cemeti Art House will also change the function of the exhibition gallery to become an open workshop, residency work studio, open studio, and presentation/exhibition space, along with all of the accompanying functions. The two new facilities must be supported by a change in the human resources infrastructure, which will become effective in November 2009.
This press release is, at the same time, a public announcement. In November 2009, Cemeti Art House will resume releasing details of the objectives and targets of our activities. Thank you.
Mella Jaarsma & Nindityo Adipurnomo
Cemeti Art House, July 24, 2009
Opening hous:
9 am - 5 pm Closed on Sun & Mon
