L Project has just celebrated the opening of Indonesia Art Expo 2021 which was held virtually on July 5, 2021. The Indonesia Art Expo 2021 or IAE 2021 is L Project's first major event since it was officially launched on April 24, 2021. The virtual opening was attended by more than 90 participants consisting of curators, artists, and the public globally. The opening ceremony of Indonesia Art Expo 2021 was divided into three sessions. The first session was opened with an opening speech from Ali Kusno Fusin, the CEO and founder of L Project who is also the initiator of Indonesia Art Expo 2021.
During the session, Ali said, “The Indonesia Art Expo was introduced to respond to this pandemic situation. Due to the pandemic situation, many conventional art events cannot take place, that's why we think about it, and we must not give up on this situation, we have to keep going, and do better than yesterday."
He continued, "Therefore, responding to a pandemic situation such as PSBB, or PPKM (a nearly lockdown-quarantine situation in Indonesia), we try to think the best way, which is holding an open studio from their respective studios. So that we can handle logistical and regulatory problems and surprisingly, the response is good. More than 90 artists from 14 provinces have been participating….”
With an open studio concept, the event allows art appreciators to attend the studios of L Project’s artists. They are able to purchase the artworks there while keeping in mind of the regulations of their respective local governments regarding the COVID-19 prevention protocols.
Collectors are able to find the open studios available in their area through L Project’s website. The website also features a booking system which visitors can fill to mark their attendance. This feature will bring opportunities for Indonesian artists to be known more widely and widen their existence in the eyes of art collectors.
In the second session, the participants were also given the opportunity to see a joint exhibition of 7 curators (Anusapati, Dio Pamola, Bambang Paningron, Bob Edrian, Kuss Indarto, Tomi Firdaus, and Anton Budi) and 18 artists at Sangkring Art Space, Yogyakarta which also become the basecamp of Indonesia Art Expo 2021. This virtual tour was guided by Vonny Ratna Indah as a representative of the L Project. This exhibition exhibits at least 27 works of art by local artists and will be available for viewing on L Project’s website.
In addition to the L Project virtual tour, Vonny also invited participants to see the artworks of Nyoman Nuarta, a sculptor who is famous for his work; Garuda Wisnu Kencana which is also currently holding a series of exhibition tour with Linda Gallery named Road to Beijing.
The Indonesia Art Expo 2021 event is a boon not only to L Project, but also to the artists, curators, and other participants. This was stated in the participants' messages, which shared their perspectives on the event.
Tomi Firdaus, one of the curators who involved in IAE 2021, said that the intimacy between the artist and the audience can be built through this open studio activity.
“I think this is interesting because everything is not centered in one place, because generally large exhibitions gather the works of artists in one room. With this open studio, artists not only exhibit their works, they can also build intimacy with their art appreciators.”
Not only does this event foster intimacy, but it also helps to remove the stigma that good art shows are only available in big cities. The pandemic has indeed brought significant losses. But behind that, the pandemic has also shown its light for the art workers to have the same fair opportunity in showing their works to the national and international public.
You can watch the Opening Ceremony's full ver. video on the available youtube below.