There Is No Center

ROH is delighted to present There is no center, a twelve-week long exhibition with the quiet provocation: How might we navigate a world without an axis? How do we make space for complexity and for contradiction?

Across twelve weeks, works enter and exit, their presence provisional, their forms, meaning, and expression mutable. At its core, the exhibition resists the familiar impulse to reduce, to simplify, to render the observable as well as the unobservable into manageable terms. It is inspired by artists whose works belong to a world of surfaces, objects, and production too often ignored, a world that we move through without attention. Against the hulky weight of meaning in centers, these works make revolutions that are gentle and profound in and from multiple places; they ask, rather, that the viewer attend carefully, that they recognize the fleeting possibilities of something that is neither fixed nor definite.

To refuse centralization is to acknowledge the restless, layered complexity of the present—a moment in which the drive to control, to impose order, has often come at the expense of what is vital, unpredictable, and alive.

Artists included in There is no center are Aditya Novali (b. Surakarta, 1978), Albertho Wanma (b. Biak, 1986), Bea Camacho (b. Manila, 1983), Budi Santoso (b. Cilacap, 1980), Charwei Tsai (b. Taipei, 1980), chi too (b. Kuala Lumpur, 1981), Kate Newby (b. Auckland, 1979), Kazuko Miyamoto (b. Tokyo, 1942), Kitty Taniguchi (b. Philippines, 1952), Mella Jaarsma (b. Emmeloord, 1960), Mira Rizki Kurnia (b. Bandung, 1994), Oototol (b. Bali, -), Orawan Arunrak (b. Bangkok, 1985), Rab (b. Quang Ngai, 2000), Raha Raissnia (b. Tehran, 1968), Tcheu Siong (b. Laos, 1968), and Tith Kanitha (b. Phnom Penh, 1987).

Writers Denise Lai, Erwin Romulo, Harry Burke, Hung Duong, Innas Tsuroiya, Mara Coson, and Martin Germann will in turn respond to the artworks and the exhibition with written words that will accumulate over time and reach its full completion by the end of the exhibition. Throughout the period of the show, the gallery space will also expect movements by Bea Camacho, Charwei Tsai, chi too, Mella Jaarsma, Rab, and Raha Raissnia.

Born 1978, Surakarta, Indonesia
Lives and works in Surakarta, Indonesia

Aditya Novali works with a variety of materials, often first conceiving an idea and then finding the right medium to transcribe his vision. His background in architecture influences his sensitivity to structure, space, and knowledge of construction – key elements of his approach and aesthetic. Addressing themes such as boundaries, identities, materialism, and urban life, Novali’s work interacts with the viewer and transforms with each viewing.

Novali received his Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture from Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia, in 2002; and an IM Master of Conceptual Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 2008. Novali’s work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and institutions both locally and internationally. Selected solo exhibitions include Ends at Nova Contemporary, Bangkok, Thailand (2024); New Obsolescence: ADITYAVOVALI at ROH, Jakarta, Indonesia (2023); WHY at Tumurun Museum, Solo, Indonesia (2022); ME:DI:UM with ROH Projects at Liste Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland (2019); Significant Other at ShanghArt Gallery, Singapore (2019); Caprice with ROH Projects at Art Basel Hong Kong: Discoveries, Hong Kong (2018); and ACRYLIC at ROH Projects, Jakarta, Indonesia (2016). Notable group exhibitions are, among others, Taipei Biennial 2023: Small World at Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (2023); Dhaka Art Summit: বন্যা/Bonna at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2023); On Muzharul Islam: Surfacing Intention at Dhaka Art Summit: Seismic Movements, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2020); The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane, Australia (2018); DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand (2018); The 15th Asia Art Festival: Multiple Spectacle Art from Asia at Ningbo Art Museum, Ningbo, China (2017); Imaginary Synonym at Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan (2016); Aku Diponegoro at National Gallery of Indonesia, Indonesia (2015); Shout! Indonesian Contemporary Art at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (MACRO), Italy (2014); Little Water at Dojima River Biennale, Osaka, Japan (2013); and South East Asia (SEA)+ Triennale at National Gallery of Indonesia, Indonesia (2013). Novali was nominated for Best Emerging Artist Using Installation at the 2016 Prudential Eye Awards in Singapore; Finalist in the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, and awarded Best Artwork in the Bandung Contemporary Art Awards (BaCAA) in the same year.

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