Conversation with Inkubator Inisatif: On Gender, Pedagogyand Artmaking in Yogyakarta

Inkubator Inisiatif: Lashita Situmorang and Karina Roosvita.

The city of Yogyakarta's position as one of the hubs of contemporary art in the region is already relatively well-established. One of the factors that shaped the city's dynamic art scene can be traced to a growing number of transdisciplinary art collectives that contributed to the evolving contemporary art discourse. The following article is an interview with Karina Roosvita (Vita) and Lashita Situmorang; both are co-founders of one of the youngest art collectives in Yogyakarta, Inkubator Inisiatif.

Inkubator Inisiatif is a research collective co-founded by Vita, Lashita and Venerdi Handoyo. The collective's initial idea was to be a platform to share ideas and knowledge that, in return, nurture contemporary art practices in Indonesia. In their relatively short years, they evolved to become a collective and have begun to establish themselves as one of the progressive spaces to discuss the thorny issues of gender, feminism, and artmaking in Yogyakarta.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Wulan: Lashita and Vita, I've known your individual works as artists and curators since the mid-2000s or so. Both of you are known for your practice as visual artists and social activists. Could you tell us a little bit of your background, what draws you to social activism, and when you started joining forces?

Lashita: My practice is connected with social activism. Red District Project (2013 and 2016) was a project that I did with sex workers in the Sosrowijayan district, and then Makcik Project (2013) with transwomen, also in Yogyakarta. I feel that working with communities is much more challenging than working with conventional media in visual arts.

Vita: My interest in social activism started when I volunteered with Griya Lentera PKBI, a sexual health clinic. They ran a photography workshop for sex workers and held an exhibition at Benteng Vredeburg. I also worked at Viavia café for three years, running their exhibition programmes focused on working with diverse communities, from former inmates to street thugs. I felt that these kinds of practices could bridge artmaking and social conditions. I felt dissatisfied whenever I looked at artworks at galleries. It felt empty, and I thought, it cannot be right; it felt like art was inside an ivory tower. From then on, I continue to search for similar opportunities. I met Lashita at the second Red District Project in 2016, and we quickly realised that we shared the same concerns.

Lashita: Vita and I spent a long time talking about artmaking and social concerns. Many artists do not seem to spend enough time understanding or observing the complex situation; they seem to gather their information only from books. So we started thinking about artmaking processes, specifically research-based art that is connected to their locale. It is certainly not easy. We then decided to create a platform that could encourage and nurture these processes in 2019.

Wulan: So you started from a friendship and shared concerns. Whatmakes your collective distinct from other collectives in Yogyakarta? Andhow do you see your work different from your individual projects?

Lashita: Collectivity and community have been our main drivers. In 2019, we started with artist presentations. We wanted to learn more about art collectives and communities in Yogya; the early projects were motivated by our own learning process.

KST 2021 with Alia Swastika, curator and researcher.

Vita: When Ve [Venerdi] offered us to use their space, we realised we could do so much more with our projects. We took up their offer and used the space for knowledge sharing and transmission. We thought about the hundreds who graduated from art school and worked as artists, yet their practices are lost or not documented. We see Inkubator Inisiatif as a platform for producing and transmitting knowledge on contemporary art.

Wulan: This brings us to your Kelas Seni Terbuka (KST), or Open Schoolfor Arts. Could you tell us a bit more about KST as an alternative school?

Vita: Inkubator Inisiatif, through its initiative KST, is conceived to be an open school where we want to give a space for women artists who want to present their works and get some feedback from the art scene. Few women could go to art school. Therefore, we believe that this kind of open class would suit those who could not receive a formal education. The whole course is designed for sharing and learning from each other.

Wulan: I am curious to hear about what is then the situation at aformal art school now? Do women get the opportunity to talkabout gender issues? Do they feel supported in their practice?

KST 2021 FX Harsono studio visit.

Lashita: The art school at Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI), or The Indonesian Institute of the Arts is still dominated by men; mostly, they learn about artistic techniques. I had to learn about my field outside the school during my study. Because there were so few of us women, we had to learn how to support one another; otherwise, we would be left behind. There are more women now, so they have a better support system than when I was a student in 1999.

Vita: I had to learn all the knowledge I gained about gender outside the art school. These days, women are more cognisant of gender issues, from consent to sexual health. These discussions are embodied, fluid and feel very normal; they see no or little social barriers between the genders. At the same time, because they talk pretty openly about these issues, there is also a tendency to treat these issues only at the surface level. For example, male artists can easily produce artwork about abortion, yet they often do not consider the women's perspective.

Wulan: Right, so there is still very little discussion about the ethicsof representation in art practices. Could I also ask if feminism is stillconsidered a contentious label, both in politics and practice?

Vita: Not necessarily. The labelling tends to be more visible in socialmedia; conversations about feminism are already embodied in theirpractice or discussion in everyday life.

Lashita: I feel that there is still a hesitation in labelling oneself as a feminist, even though they are already practising it. There is a lack of knowledge, perhaps. We could sense the resistance, so we refrain from using the term feminist class for KST— because we want to have an open conversation about these issues.

Wulan: If I may bring this discussion to pedagogy, I find your proposal for sharing knowledge very close to the feminist politics of caring. As artists and practitioners, it is quite daring because you are essentially opening yourself to vulnerability through your thinking of "I don't know anything about this, and I want to learn from you", which underpins your projects. Is this something that you consciously seek or practise at Inkubator Inisiatif?

Vita: Absolutely. We believe that what we are doing is a part of care toour community. So when we start from the artists' presentations, wealways think about giving back and circulating such knowledge…

Lashita: So these meetings can be re-read, applied or expanded so that anyone can access them. We believe that the most important thing is how this knowledge is not kept within just one community, but they can evolve and reproduce to be new forms of knowledge. That is our way of caring for art.

Vita: If I can add, there are many different forms of knowledge out there. For example, some very talented artists have neither been invited to present their works nor had the opportunity to be published. So we want to invite them as we did in our first year so that the knowledge can spread and not stop at the individual...

Lashita: Or at Inkubator Inisiatif!

Wulan: That sounds like a perfect way to end this conversation. Thankyou so much, Lashita and Vita, for your time. I wish you all the best forthe upcoming Kelas Seni Terbuka!

The next KST is scheduled for June to July 2022. Follow @inkubatorinisiatif for updates.