Art Basel Hong Kong 2023

ROH is pleased to return to the 2023 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, participating in four sectors altogether, Galleries, Kabinett, Encounters, and Film. Our main Galleries presentation will exhibit the latest artistic explorations by a roster of artists, most of whom we have known and worked with through a number of projects and over many years, as well as mid-career practitioners in their medium of choice. These artists include Aditya Novali (b. 1978, Surakarta, Indonesia); Agung Kurniawan (b. 1968, Jember, Indonesia); Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo (b. 1978, Bandung, Indonesia); Bagus Pandega (b. 1985, Bandung, Indonesia); Davy Linggar (b. 1974, Jakarta, Indonesia); Kei Imazu (b. 1980, Yamaguchi, Japan); Maruto (b. 1992, Bandung, Indonesia), Mella Jaarsma (b. 1960, Emmeloord, The Netherlands), Nadya Jiwa (b. 1994, Braunschweig, Germany); Syagini Ratna Wulan (b. 1979, Bandung, Indonesia); Syaiful Aulia Garibaldi (b. 1985, Jakarta, Indonesia); and Tromarama (est. 2006, Bandung, Indonesia). Each of the artists draws from different backgrounds, experiences, and covers many facets of creative explorations, issues, and discourses in Asia-Pacific regions. As they range from emerging to established practitioners, the presentation aims to foster a critical dialogue that enriches the bustling environment of Art Basel Hong Kong and engages the audiences from many perspectives.

Delineated inside the main Galleries presentation is Agus Suwage’s Kabinett display of collaged works on paper. Siraman Duniawi (2019-2021) is a visual diary of everyday things recorded by Suwage within the stretch of a few years. The work expands the artist’s ongoing series of habitual drawings initiated with the intention to keep his drawing muscles in shape, let the mind loose, and the soul free. A number of sketches were drawn based off of his earlier body of work juxtaposed within more quotidian scenes, taking inspiration from anything, anywhere. ‘Duniawi’ also refers to worldly pleasures with their endless possibilities. Agus Suwage (b. 1959, Central Java, Indonesia) is one of Indonesia’s – and South East Asia’s – most celebrated artists who works through diverse mediums to investigate multifarious notions of identity, whether from the point of view of the sociopolitical, the national, or the religious, from the unique vantage point of absorbing the ancient Hindu-Buddhist culture that ancient Indonesian civilization was built upon.

Known for her complex costume installations and extensive focus on forms of cultural and racial diversity embedded within clothing, the body and food, Mella Jaarsma will be presenting for the first time ever at the Encounters sector a site-specific iteration of her earlier performance work, The Constructor (2008/23). Curated by Alexie-Glass Kantor, this presentation looks into today’s notions of shelter enclosing one’s body, especially in the context of the broader Asia-Pacific region. Central to the designated space are a set of bamboo installations that touches on the idea of building and the continuing development of creating structures. Specialized laborers will be invited to think of a performer as ‘a permanent building’ and construct scaffoldings around him or her gradually over a period of time. Eventually, the bamboo will enclose the performer almost completely as if he or she is part of the construction itself.

In addition, ROH is also delighted to join – as a first-time participant – the Film sector curated by Li Zhenhua. Two video works will be screened at the theaters of Hong Kong Arts Centre, Becquerel (2021) by Riar Rizaldi (b. 1990, Bandung, Indonesia) and Marvin (2019) by Tromarama. Becquerel shows an alternative future for Indonesia when nuclear technology reaches the point of generating an artificial sun for endless energy resources. Riar Rizaldi is an artist and filmmaker who works predominantly with the medium of moving images and sound, both in cinema settings as well as spatial installations. Marvin (2019) rethinks the relationship between humans and animals as they continue to live within the rapidly changing urban context. Tromarama is an art collective consisting of Febie Babyrose, Herbert Hans, and Ruddy Hatumena whose artistic interests include the notion of hyperreality and interrelationships between the virtual and physical worlds.