Art activists, including visual artists, are now facing a new era of creativity in conducting art projects. In this sense, being creative is being freed from time and space limitation. Art creators are literally members of global society who should be able to pose their bright ideas and creative concepts at the global level. They should introduce their localities to the global citizens. The opportunity is open wide for the world is now dealing with an identical problem, the covid-19 pandemic. Pressures and hopes of virtues, as well as positive and negative global issues mark the coming of a new age in which creative ideas may be offered and accepted internationally. Other impacts of the pandemic are collective curiosity about the current situation and condition, the shared feeling toward the encountered issues, and discourses on diversity that however come to a particular agreement.
Academics play a significant role at this kind of situation. To overcome the current global problems, it is needed not merely the presence of sympathy or empathy but more on how these feelings are manifested in the education context that is capable of infusing a positive spirit and hopes. Visual arts academics have even more crucial function. Their knowledge on how to construct visuals to deliver messages is very likely able to build people’s empowering and optimistic mindset to pursue a brighter future. Art higher education institutions are expected to maximally and continuously contribute to solve these problems.
Jogja International Creative Arts Festival is one of the efforts done by the Visual Arts Faculty, Indonesia Institute of the Arts of Yogyakarta (henceforth written as ISI Yogyakarta) to actively take a part. As faculty members, we realize that we have to share our idealistic ideas related to the recent international situation by means of our best works of art. It is also a collaborative event involving international colleagues who have been worked together in conducting visual art academic and/or artistic activities. This very event is a festival in nature; meaning that it brings fun, happy atmosphere or nuance. It is the happiness in establishing a new tradition in creating works of visual art. It is also about happily dealing with and finding best solutions for this difficult situation so that we can make use of our own discipline to survive.
The four integrated sub-events, Visual Art Collaboration, Visual Art Workshop, Creative Sharing Forum, and Visual Arts Competition will spread the spirit to survive and trigger other similar programs in the future. In any situation, visual-based arts will continue to exist. It will be able to deliver sympathy and empathy, to contribute in solving the global problems, and take part in developing visual arts both locally and internationally. Hopefully, the spirit of togetherness or collectivity in the context of visual art collaboration among international higher education institutions will move the center of academic, collaborative, and applicable activities from the local scope to the international one. It should be “From Jogja to the world”.
Visual Art Collaboration is organized to show visual artworks from Visual Arts Faculty of ISI Yogyakarta and national and international art faculty partners. The artworks will be displayed indoors and outdoors covering galleries and outdoor spaces at the faculty.
Visual Art Collaboration is aimed at bringing up the spirit to create artworks together in the new normal era. The coming of this new order of life challenges visual artists to become more creative in finding alternative formats that are freer in both time and space contexts. In this sense, artists, art enthusiasts, and art academics as a part of global citizen is proven to be something real. In addition, this occasion is meant to strengthen the partnership between the faculty and the international university partners.
Theme:
The theme of Visual Art Collaboration is "ART OBVIOUSNESS". It is a response of the current new reality that is the emergence of a new social order as the consequence of the covid-19 pandemic. All phenomena in all aspects of life happening because of the covid-19 pandemic are new realities we recently meet. Those may inspire artists in translating it into works of visual arts. The works are not only the responses to the encountered situation but they are also the manifestations of sympathy, empathy, and direct contributions from the artists.
Obviousness brings the meaning of being clear, understandable, bright, and noticeable. In the context of reality, the new order of life is something inevitable. It is crystal-clear, apparent, obvious that people physically experience, see, and feel it. The world society has been dealing with it; they even have been living in it. In the theme context, art obviousness refers to the displayed artworks that manifest the creators’ stands/positions. Those artworks are also the manifestation of the creators’ obvious creative concept in showing their attitudes, sympathy, empathy, and in contributing actively in finding solutions for the pandemic problem.
Academics are demanded to be clear with their stands. In art discipline, they can imply their stand through their creative ideas that enlighten and empower the people to keep moving forward in this difficult state. The hard condition should not hinder art academics’ creativity. Creators should be more active and productive even if they have to use virtual spaces. Artworks should have meaning for people across countries and cultures because the pandemic have caused some similarities as mentioned previously.
Curators:
Dr. Mikke Susanto, M.A.
Dr. Yulriawan Dafri, M.Hum.
Martino Dwi Nugroho, M.A.
Our warmest welcome and good wishes!
It is our pleasure to invite all of you to our faculty and enjoy virtual visual arts exhibition through a 360-degree panoramic view like you were visiting a real exhibition in person!
Creative process in visual artwork creation in the new normal era is undertaken in a new dynamic. The new normal condition is a challenge, a pressure, but surprisingly also a source of idea for visual artists to create new works in responding the condition they encounter. Even, they can directly contribute to solve the problems. This challenging dynamic in art activity is interesting to be shared with the public. Artists face a two-faceted problem. In one hand, they have to face the difficulties caused by the pandemic that all people face such as activity limitation or even economy problems. In the other hand, they have to solve the problems concerning their creative process in creating the artworks.
Creativity in producing visual artworks is an issue on individual expression of the artists. In carrying out their creative process, they should be sensitive to all phenomena appearing in their surrounding. The covid-19 pandemic that inevitably brings about global impacts may trigger ideas for them in developing their creative concepts. At a wider scope, the new order of life caused by the pandemic called the ‘new normal’ raises a specific new model of art creation process in each country. It is because the Covid-19 as a global issue may instigates similar problems but possibly handled with distinct treatment across countries. In the art realm, how creators respond the pandemic and contribute to solve the related problems is also diverse.
Visual artworks always have narrations or stories, explicitly presented or impliedly by hiding it behind symbols or codes.
This competition invites artworks as the visual narratives that are not only artistically fascinating but also capable of directly communicating the stories they tell. The stories speak out the creators’ positions regarding the pandemic, touch people’s hearts, attract people’s interest, and entertain them. The works may be drawings, illustrations, cartoons, comics, etc. The best pieces will be displayed in Visual Art Collaboration so that all submitted works should refer to that agenda’s theme, ‘ART OBVIOUSNESS’. The winners are:
‘Corona Lucu Ya’ by Adani Widya Kusuma, ISI Yogyakarta; ‘Poison Apple’ by Puthipat Buppa, Silpakorn University Thailand; ‘Selayak Tuannya’ by Don Bosco Laskar Betelgusa, ISI Yogyakarta and ‘Coexist’ by Marsa Elma Darajat, ISI Yogyakarta.
Visual Art Collaboration is organized to show visual artworks from Visual Arts Faculty of ISI Yogyakarta and international art faculty partners. More than 100 works including painting, sculpture, graphic art, design, photography, craft, installation, batik, new media art, and other creativity. The artworks will be displayed indoors and outdoors covering galleries and outdoor spaces at the faculty. Visual Art Collaboration is aimed at bringing up the spirit to create artworks together in the new normal era. The theme of Visual Art Collaboration is "ART OBVIOUSNESS". It is a response of the current new reality that is the emergence of a new social order as the consequence of the covid-19 pandemic. The artworks are not only the responses to the encountered situation but they are also the manifestations of sympathy, empathy, and direct contributions from the artists.