We live in an era where concepts of the wall have become benign, without associations that immediately take us to the arena of political tensions because of the definition of the wall as a separator and barrier. Over two decades since the fall of the Berlin wall, the use of the wall as a barrier in a physical sense, that separates “us” and “them”, “here” and “there” “this” and “that” - in association with religious beliefs, ideologies and values, has almost been left behind completely. Thus too with the protection of a physical wall, as in that which was built during China’s past era of greatness; it seems no longer relevant enough to be repeated. The world has become more open, so that we must always be ready to deconstruct borders.

Ironically, globalization and new developments in technology have also forced us to build new barriers and new walls, which seem to really separate us from the world that is closer to us. Fences around private residences have become even higher, government offices and public spaces are designed with walls that separate them, hence the concept of the public is reduced. New walls are designed by global and local economic powers that selectively dictate categories within social groups, creating distance and barriers. We are also witnessing the growth of invisible borders constructed form illusory space.

The exhibition includes four artists from architectural backgrounds, to respond to the notion of Wall and the Borders. On the one hand, as someone who studied construction and structure, they are offering interesting interpretative possibilities in the wall as a part of the structural concept, connecting it with the broad developments of free artistic vision in contemporary art, and at the same time, locating it as a significant socio-political phenomena.

-Alia Swastika

Featured artists: Aditya Novali, Eko Prawoto, Iswanto H and Tintin Wulia.

Image: © Aditya Novali
Courtesy of the aritst and Galerie Ark