Exchange / Engage

An Art et al. and Ketemu Project publication

Cover: Karin Josephine and Christian Newby Pitstop | Mampir 2023 (detail)

Exchange / Engage

7 Deadly Sins 2020 (detail)

Acrylic on canvas

150 × 150 cm

Artwork from Toyin × Nilu Curatorial Mentorship collaboration

Welcome to Art et al. × Ketemu: Exchange/ Engage – a year-long collaboration between Art et al. and Ketemu Project. British Council funding enabled six unique, international, digital collaborative projects between artists and arts professionals that identify with and without disabilities, living within the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Focusing on inclusivity and innovation, Art et al. × Ketemu celebrates diversity and creativity without borders.

Rizal Hasan

Art et al. × Ketemu was a collaborative digital project between the UK and Indonesia that happened across 2022–23. Funded by the British Council, it fostered six collaborations between artists that identify with and without disabilities.

Art et al. × Ketemu is broken down into three main programmes as follows:

1. Peer/Peer Collaborations – These pair a disabled artist in one country with a non-disabled artist in another country. They work together for approximately three months on individual and collaborative works, meeting over Zoom or sending videos. The new works are created following a central idea, various prompts or different themes that have been discussed. The outcomes can be anything in a variety of mediums and scales.

2. Curatorial Mentorships – These pair a disabled artist in one country, with a curator in another country. The experience is learning about the multifaceted role of a curator. The outcome is a digital presentation featuring several artists selected by the mentee accompanied by a written text giving context to the selection. The intent is that the participating disabled artist can use these new skills in future projects.

3. Curating Collections – These pair a disabled artist in one country, with a museum collection or private collector in another country. The disabled artist learns about the collection and chooses a selection of artworks from the collection. A digital catalogue is produced by a graphic designer featuring the selection, and it is accompanied by a written text giving context to the selection.

Please see the following diagrams that breaks down each programme and who was involved. Every collaboration is shared as a dedicated project page on the Art et al. and Ketemu Project platforms. Each project page also includes audio recordings and an Easy Read document, as well as an overview for each programme in BSL interpretation. Art et al. also programmes exhibitions to showcase the outcomes to wider audiences.

You can visit everything here: www.artetal.org

Peer / Peer Collaborations

These pair a disabled artist in one country with a non-disabled artist in another country. They work together for three months, often meeting over Zoom to create new works following a prompt or ideas discussed. The outcome is open-ended and is shared on Art et al. and Ketemu Project’s websites.

COLLABORATION 07

Coordinator: Lisa

ARTIST: Karin Josephine Karin is an Indonesian disabled artist.

ARTIST: Christian Newby Christian is an American artist living in London, UK.

COLLABORATION 06

Coordinator: Jennifer

ARTIST: Chris Angell Chris is a British artist working from Barrington Farm studio, near Norwich.

ARTIST: Budi Agung Kuswara

Budi Agung Kuswara (Kabul) is an Indonesian artist, who also set up the Ketemu Project.

PIT STOP, MARI MAMPIR

A collaborative book

CYANOTYPE COLLABORATIONS

A series of artworks

Curatorial Mentorships

These pair a disabled artist in one country, with a curator in another country. The learning is around the role of the curator, and the outcome is a digital presentation featuring several artists and some written text.

MENTORSHIP 03

Coordinator: Lisa

MENTEE: Lala Nurlala

Lala is an Indonesian artist with autism.

MENTOR: Matt Burrows Matt is the Curator and Gallery Manager of Exeter Phoenix in the UK.

MENTORSHIP 04

Coordinator: Jennifer

MENTEE: Toyin Olubamiwo Toyin is a British artist working from Artbox London studio.

MENTOR: Ignatia Nilu

Nilu is a writer, independent curator and cultural producer based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

FANDOMINIUM A curated digital project

THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE A curated digital project

Curating Collections

These pair a disabled artist in one country with a collection or collector in another country. The disabled artist learns about the collection, and then produces a digital booklet featuring the works selected and some written text.

CURATING COLLECTIONS 04 Coordinator: Lisa

CURATING COLLECTIONS 05 Coordinator: Jennifer

ARTIST: Butong Butong (Sukri Budi Dharma) is an Indonesian disabled artist and activist.

COLLECTION: The Roberts Institute of Art RIA is a UK non-profit contemporary arts organisation, sharing the David and Indrė Roberts Collection.

#BEHINDINTEREST

A curated digital booklet

ARTIST: Sally Hirst Sally is a British artist working from Venture Arts studio, Manchester.

COLLECTOR: Mia Tjahjadi Mia is an Indonesian collector, sharing her family’s art collection. It is showcased at GULA art space in Indonesia.

ELEMENTS OF BALI

A curated digital booklet

Wajah

Lengkap (The EverEvolving Face) 2012

Acrylic

Dadang Christanto

yang Tak Pernah

paint on aluminium 105 × 110 × 160 cm

How did the two projects come together?

Art et al. were introduced to the work of Ketemu Project by curator Katrina Schwarz, who also serves as an international curatorial advisor for Art et al. After learning about Ketemu Project’s diverse initiatives and shared ethos for equality and access in the arts, Art et al. initiated a virtual meet-up to understand more about the Indonesian organisation and whether an international collaboration might be suited and relevant to both.

Following an invigorating initial discussion with both organisations striving for more diversity, inclusivity and collaborative working within contemporary arts, Art et al. developed with Ketemu Project a year-long programme to be considered for funding by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grant – a funding stream aiming to support cultural collaborations with a focus on arts and culture. Specifically, the International Collaboration Grants were seeking applicants from a diverse range of organisations, addressing significant global themes including equality, climate change and new digital technologies.

In the spring of 2022, Art et al. were exhilarated by the news that they were successful in their British Council grant to deliver six exciting transnational collaborations through a new partnership with Ketemu Project. The ‘Art et al. × Ketemu’ programme came at an exciting time to build and expand on the work Art et al. had developed over the previous three years, and its focus on commissioned collaborations and dialogue between disabled and non-disabled arts participants and art world peers. Art et al.’s 2021 programming centred around collaborations between Australia and the UK, thus being given an opportunity to widen their international reach to South-East Asia was important and thrilling. Art et al. commissioned Katrina Schwarz to capture the year-long collaboration at the close of the partnership to bring everything together. This catalogue shares Katrina’s writing alongside the six projects that took place providing a brief insight into each and those involved.

Consultancy Group member

Billy Mann speaking at Art et al. exhibition launch at Cromwell Place in London in 2022. Photography: James Gifford-Mead

Project Collaborators

What is Art et al.?

Art et al. is an inclusive, curated international art platform that presents collaborations and new dialogues with artist peers from supported studios and/or disabled artists, artist peers and arts professionals. It elevates diverse voices and creative practices. Art et al. was conceived and developed by curator Sim Luttin and disability art studio Arts Project Australia, Slominski Projects and Jennifer Lauren Gallery in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts. The project and platform have been further supported by funding from the British Council, the Australia Council for the Arts, DFAT through their Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program (ACDGP) and the Aesop Foundation.

Central to Art et al.’s work is commissioning and fostering collaborations between creatives that identify with and without disabilities – wherever they live. The framework for each collaboration is informed by Art et al.’s values: to be relevant, inclusive, respectful, accessible, and innovative. Art et al.’s goal is to remove barriers between neurodivergent and learning or intellectually disabled artists, arts professionals, and creatives while providing the support to create safe spaces to work online and in-person.

What is Ketemu Project?

Ketemu Project is a transnational art collective and social enterprise hybrid based in Indonesia and Singapore. They are made up of an ever-evolving collective of artists, cultural managers, designers, educators, and curators, focused on developing socially conscious interactions in art. ‘Ketemu’ in bahasa Indonesia means to ‘meet’ or ‘encounter’. This name brings out the spirit of connecting people and initiating conversations – activities that are at the heart of Ketemu Project’s initiatives.

Meeting under the same sun

OPPOSITE

Budi Agung Kuswara

Chris Angell and I Campaign For Peace 2022 (detail)

Cyanotype 60 × 42 cm

In the national language of Indonesia, the word Ketemu means to ‘meet’ or to ‘encounter’. Ketemu is also the name of a transnational art collective and social enterprise, with hubs in both Indonesia and Singapore. The mission of Ketemu Project is to create a socially conscious and inclusive world through art and creativity. The name Ketemu then also reveals the activities at the heart of this mission: change achieved through dialogue.

“[Ketemu] brings out the spirit of connecting people and initiating conversations.”

Ketemu Project’s work with schools and with communities, including previously with a group of marginalised batik workers and persons living with schizophrenia, led to the development of new creative platforms: residency programmes, a project space and international collaborations.

Art et al. is a unique platform that connects artists from supported studios with their peers, arts professionals, and with audiences.1 Internationalism is key to Art et al.’s mission and through global collaborations and partnerships they have commissioned critical writing, exhibitions, and original multimedia content.

If connection and conversation are how we might forge a more just world, then international collaboration – connecting across borders –amplifies this impact. This is a truth borne out in Art et al. × Ketemu, a collaborative digital

project launched in 2022, facilitating meaningful encounters between artists and creative practitioners from Indonesia and the UK. The yearlong programme of activity encompassed Peer/ Peer Collaborations between artists identifying with and without disability; Curatorial Mentorships and the production of digital projects engaging with important collections of contemporary art that are known as Curating Collections.

In any project with collaboration at its heart, the first fundamental is understanding. A particular challenge of intercultural collaboration is to bridge differences in language and culture and Art et al. co-founder Lisa Slominski spoke of an initial trepidation; this would be the first project which would include online meetings that would occasionally rely on live translation. “You never know how well people are going to meld or connect anyway, but this [live translation] was an added level of trepidation.” The results, she can reflect, were wonderful, “it created a really interesting pace that allowed everybody to really focus and [gave room] for their thoughts.”

Sidhi Vhisatya, an artist based in Ubud, Bali, has been active in the Ketemu Project since 2021. Sidhi has had a unique oversight of the many elements of the Art et al. × Ketemu collaboration, serving as translator both for live Zoom sessions and for several lengthy published texts. Sidhi offers an important reminder that

Curating Collections Zoom meeting with Ketemu Project’s Army, Art et al.’s Jennifer Gilbert, Sally Hirst and Mia Tjahjadi (clockwise from top left)

in writing of Indonesia and of its artists, there is not a singular perspective – not least because of its size (Indonesia is the 4th most populous nation) and its linguistic diversity (more than 700 living languages are spoken in Indonesia), but also because “artists embody their own culture and own experience”. Participation in the Art et al. x Ketemu collaboration nevertheless sharpened Sidhi’s awareness of the different “cultural ecosystems” in the UK and in Indonesia, especially when it comes to disabilities:

“In Indonesia and in other parts of the world, artists with disabilities have been put in boxes, where disabled artists can only interact with other disabled artists, and can only do exhibitions with disabled artists. This opportunity to engage with contemporary art, and not only artists but also art practitioners –collectors and curators – has been meaningful for them”.

This type of meaningful exchange is exemplified in the two Curating Collections projects commissioned as part of the exchange. Curating Collections is a flagship of the Art et al. platform; it commissions artists identifying as disabled to curate projects with artworks from an established international collection or collector.

Artist Sally Hirst, who attends the Manchester supported studio Venture Arts, has a flair for

textiles, ceramics and illustration. Participation in Curating Collections linked Sally to GULA art space, an Indonesian based art collection, and to gallery manager Mia Tjahjadi. It also provided a platform for another important and developing aspect of Sally’s practice; she writes and records a poetic style of audio description to interpret artworks, and to make them more accessible for visually impaired audiences.

Naming her selection of artworks Elements of Bali, Sally described the experience of learning about history and culture through a close study of collection artworks as akin to “going on a magical trip to Bali every week”. She was attentive to imagery of the elements in the artworks she chose; a two-metre-tall bust by Dadang Christanto, The Ever Evolving Face (2012), for example, calls forth fire – and Sally’s poetic flair:

… Behind, Yellow flames with red outline traced The flames wavy giving sense of motion

Female shadow puppets so beautiful

Many Bright red evil eyes all stand out hands control puppets by giving a pull some puppets in flames almost hear them shout …

In a second Curating Collections, realised through a series of virtual conversations – and live translating by Sidhi – Indonesian artist and activist Butong (Sukri Budi Dharma) explored works from

Curating Collections Zoom meeting with RIA’s Yates Norton, Art et al.’s Lisa Slominski, Ketemu Project’s Sidhi Vhisatya and Butong (clockwise from top left)

the Roberts Institute of Art (RIA) / David and Indrė Roberts Collection. Over several months, Butong and the RIA’s London-based curator Yates Norton found new routes into the collection. Butong’s personal lens, his interest in ‘ideal’ and ‘real’ selves, informed a selection of works that was a revelation for Yates:

“We found in our conversations that artworks entered into new domains of thought and feeling … Translations across generations, cultures and languages are often generative, opening up conversations that acknowledge difference as a site of connection, not of separation.”

As Butong described it, online meetings with Yates, Sidhi and Lisa Slominski, and the development of his own curatorial viewpoint, focused his passion on artworks that addressed the human condition. Zhang Huan’s 12 Square Metres (1994) by which the artist drew attention to living conditions in a poor Beijing village, had particular resonance for Butong. He saw within this stark and abject image an echo of his own advocacy “for disabled people who at times suffer, living in family custody as the result of their poor condition, as well as a culture of shame.”

A Curatorial Mentorship is another mechanism for meeting and connecting facilitated by Art et al. These bespoke mentorships pair an artist

identifying as disabled with a curator; and together they produce and contextualise a digital project curating several artists together under a theme.

For London-based Toyin Olubamiwo, who attends Artbox London, participation in a Curatorial Mentorship was a source of multiple, enriching connections. The project partnered Toyin with Indonesian curator Ignatia Nilu, and enabled Toyin, who has a prolific art practice, to reach out to many other artists. Although Toyin spoke of her chosen curatorial focus on superheroes and cartoons as a respite from the “pressure of being an adult and becoming independent”, by seeking connection to artists who shared her love of superheroes and cartoons, Toyin did not retreat, instead, she grew and developed. Toyin was interested to know if the other artists included in her curatorial selection signed and dated their work. Did they have a preferred superhero? A comic book collection? Drawing and preliminary sketches are an important part of Toyin’s work, did these artists sketch too? Through dialogue and collaboration, Toyin found kinship and affirmation about her own processes.

“As with the best mentoring relationships, it offered the chance to explore new ideas in new ways and to learn, grow and develop.”

– Matt Burrows

Matt Burrows, Curator and Gallery Manager at Exeter Phoenix, was the mentor in the second Curatorial Mentorship facilitated by the Art et al. × Ketemu exchange. His partnership with Indonesian disabled artist Lala Nurlala underlines the possibilities for transformation – for growth and change – afforded by art, collaboration and perhaps especially by connecting across borders.

The digital project FANDOMINIUM is energised by Lala’s own identification as a mega-fan and by her eye for how pop culture is transmitted and translated across the globe, ‘sharing and exchanging cultural influences’. And so, in the work of Mexican-born artist Jorge Gutierrez, America’s favourite yellow-skinned boy, is transformed into Bart Sanchez / El Morro Simpson. Gutierrez inks Bart’s knuckles with LOVE and HATE tatts; a natty moustache twirls over chin stubble, and distinctively sharp spikes of hair poke above the rim of a sombrero. “Gutierrez altered popular cartoon characters into a style that his culture is more accustomed with”, Lala writes in a curatorial text. She noted “more geometrical shapes and vibrant colours. He gave attributes to them and transformed them into more familiar figures.”

In her own work, Lala elevates, or perhaps liberates, a cartoon character, Dr. Zone, from within an American animated comedy series Milo Murphy’s Law. Lala expresses a deep attachment to the character of Dr. Zone; this in spite of the

fact that he is no ‘leading man’. Dr. Zone occupies a marginal role within his cartoon universe, but Lala’s artistic intervention lifts Dr. Zone from the fringes, casting him as the central character. Lala’s video art consists of a stylised drawing of Dr. Zone, rendered like a spear-wielding hero, while the soundtrack introduces the Maori Haka, a Sudanese song and the Javanese gamelan. “I have given him a context that is relevant to my experience”, Lala explains “Dr. Zone has been dipped in an intersection of social issues, mainly autism and postcolonialism.”

The final component of the international collaboration was direct artist to artist exchange. Peer/Peer Collaborations commission new artworks, jointly created, or inspired, by two artists working internationally and one identifying as disabled. Artists Karin Josephine and Christian Newby might live on opposite hemispheres, but a love of materials unites them. Karin, who is based in Indonesia, has a long-established practice of creating collages from torn, ripped, peeled, and discarded papers. The process is therapeutic as well as giving material form to ‘chaotic feeling’. Christian’s work has been described as a negotiation between fine art and domestic objects; he employs a dizzying variety of materials and techniques including fabric, carpet, screenprinted photographs, watercolour, marbling, textile pattern, pillar painting and collage.

Lala Nurlala The Legend of Dr. Zone after Dan and Swampy 2022 Still from video 8:30 min

Pit Stop: Mari Mampir

(page detail) 2023

Limited edition artists’ book

22 × 15 × 2 cm

Together they collaborated on a digital and physical book. Adorned handmade sketchbook pages were initially created intuitively by Karin whose practice often involves bookbinding, and its pages were formed from a variety of local sources, including the labels of canned foods and photocopied documents. Christian, for his part, added his own works on paper to the book, incorporating British news sources and ephemera and applying pattern and text to Karin’s creation –and vice versa. Through six Zoom meetings, and the international postal service, their project, Pit Stop: Mari Mampir, emerged. So did a profound sense of kinship.

“We both seemed to be driven by tactile surfaces in the things we often make”, Christian explains. “Making an artist’s book seemed like a good way to still make an object or something to hold in your hand, but also something that serves as a document of a process.” Karin reflects, “The term ‘mark-making’ seems to be a connecting line between our works. Since the similarity doesn’t have to be in a visual way, but it can be in an essence or spirit.”

In the second Peer/Peer Collaboration linking Indonesia and the UK, the opportunity to collaborate was also the chance for artists Chris Angell and Budi Agung Kuswara (Kabul) to push their own work, and to expand and transform their practice. This was an opportunity to step outside

of the materials and of the methods they were used to.

Chris, a self-taught artist from the East of England, who attends Barrington Farm, had been working predominantly in pastels and acrylic on paper and on board. Sometimes he uses subdued colours, other times he layers bright, water-based Posca pens on top of his images. A feature of his work is speed and looseness. Chris is prolific. Bali-based Budi, meanwhile, has developed a particular proficiency with the photographic printing process known as cyanotype – its distinctive shade of cyan blue resulting from exposure of the print to ultraviolet light. Budi works at large-scale and, over many years, has developed a mastery of this technique.

Chris and Budi set each other weekly tasks; working, for instance, on a particular theme and it was often the case that they explored each other’s style and manner of art making; be that working quick and loose; or layering with colour and collaged imagery. At Barrington Farm, a local artist Kate Munro conducted a cyanotype workshop for Chris and several of his artist peers, as Chris was keen to learn how Budi created his works.

Budi, meanwhile, admired Chris’ freer line and tried to bring this energy and ease into his own work. Using a cyanotype portrait of his face as the central focal point, Budi expressed the influence of his collaboration with Chris by also

Karin Josephine and Christian Newby

43 × 59 cm

including playful, loose drawings and by layering this imagery. Drawings on acetate made by Chris, of boats, sharks and smiling faces, were emailed to Budi and incorporated into his work. Chris was interested to learn more about life in Indonesia and to hear from Budi about the animal life, the weather and the natural beauty of Budi’s home. Receiving a cyanotype from Budi, he added crocodiles to the base of the artwork, and surreal sunflowers.

The experience was transformative. “My confidence is massive”, Chris relates, “It’s brought me out of my shell.” Budi, who founded the Ketemu Project in 2013, was thoughtful about how their collaboration might connect to the widest possible audience:

“Hopefully the audience can see our collaboration artwork is about equality, we inspired each other regardless of our physical and mental situations. Everyone will experience disability, especially for those who live long. So, our collaboration art is about celebrating life.”

A celebration of life, and of connection. Budi, reflecting further on their collaboration, shared a beautiful observation with Chris – one that speaks to the project as a whole: “The interesting part of the cyanotype process is the relationship with the sun”, Budi spoke into the webcam. “The sun you use to make your print is the same sun that I use to make mine.”

The Art et al. × Ketemu collaboration was a cherished moment to pause and look to the sky. Jet-planes fly through the night; parcelled notebooks and cardboard tubes of drawings are transported from port to port; pixels zoom, and files download; but we all stretch and bend and change and connect and dream under the same sky.

One sun shines on us all.

KATRINA SCHWARZ

Katrina is an Australian curator and writer living in London. Katrina is curator of the Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize and Curator: Special Projects, Whitechapel Gallery.

1. A supported studio is a creative environment for individuals with specific health or social needs that encourages and supports the different art practices of artists. Supported studios facilitate professional development and careerbuilding opportunities for artists — individually, as a group or collective.

Supported studios provide technical artistic support, promote artists in the marketplace and within galleries, and develop networks and audiences outside of health and social care settings. Supported studios share a commitment to producing and presenting work of high artistic quality.

OPPOSITE: Chris Angell

Vase With Skulls 2022

Acrylic, pen and mixed media on paper

Peer/Peer Collaborations

Indonesian Artist Karin Josephine × UK-based Artist Christian Newby

What happened during the collaboration?

Process, mark-making and rambling are the key themes that emerged during the collaboration between Indonesian artist Karin Josephine and UK based artist Christian Newby. What became particularly exciting about this collaboration was the shared openness and enthusiasm by the artists for their own artworks to be manipulated by the other. Over six Zoom meetings, a framework for their project emerged. Karin and Christian both developed a body of new work during the initial phase of the collaboration. Karin, whose practice often involves book-binding, produced a handmade book. Christian made a series of works on paper from an array of found materials and news sources like the UK’s Guardian Newspaper. These series of works were sent internationally for each artist to respond, edit, and add to the other’s initial creations: Christian’s works on paper arrived in Indonesia to be further developed by Karin, and her book of Indonesian documents and collaged photocopies made their way to London for Christian. The outcome is the essence of collaboration, a book composed of the pages contributed to by both artists. A collection of layers embodying their artistic processes, Pit Stop: Mari Mampir – made from computerised scans – also emulates the layering of the physical and the digital of this collaboration, communication, and creativity.

Biographies

For years, artist KARIN JOSEPHINE has cut, torn, ripped and peeled off discarded papers for her collages. By delving through the layers and rips of discarded papers, she found out that it heals and is therapeutic at the same time. Being a person that is Hard of Hearing (HoH) and with Tinnitus (constant ringing inside one’s head), doing collage now helps Karin more than ever; to train the mind, manage expectations and accept things as they are – as well as advocate for herself.

CHRISTIAN NEWBY is an artist and researcher whose work includes ways in which the conventional implementation of applied arts and design techniques can and are being resisted and recast; subverted away from hierarchically adverse roles of artist, designer, publisher and fabricator. He draws a first-person line around the jetsam of art and craft production. His work summons the role of the mark-maker, the textile fabricator, the diarist, zine-maker and hobbyist.

(cover) 2023

Limited edition artists’ book

Karin Josephine and Christian Newby

Pit Stop: Mari Mampir

22 × 15 × 2 cm

Pit Stop: Mari Mampir

(page detail) 2023

Limited edition artists’ book 22 × 15 × 2 cm

Karin Josephine and Christian Newby

Peer/Peer Collaborations

British Artist Chris Angell × Indonesian Artist Budi Agung Kuswara

What happened during the collaboration?

Chris Angell, based at Barrington Farm Art Studios in England, was paired with artist and Ketemu Project founder Budi Agung Kuswara in Bali, Indonesia. The first Zoom involved sharing their practices and deciding that they’d both like to try working in the style of the other. Chris was fascinated by the beautiful indigo blue cyanotypes that Budi printed and worked into. Art et al. commissioned local artist Kate Munro to teach Chris this skill, to enable him to learn the processes that Budi uses. Upon sharing, Budi said, “The sun you use to make your print is the same sun that I use to make mine.” To Chris, this felt like it brought them closer together. He also enjoyed learning about Indonesian animals and nature, featuring some of these in future works. For Budi, he wanted to try and emulate how loose Chris was when drawing, and to be more spontaneous, making less plans. Each week, his works became freer, and one week they each used the other person’s line drawings within their own works to blend the two styles together. The final two collaborative works were cyanotypes (see images overleaf), featuring drawing and painting on top, with both artists showcasing their differing styles, making for an interesting blend and set of stories.

Biographies

CHRIS ANGELL is a self-taught artist working in North Norfolk at the Barrington Farm Studios since 2001. Never afraid to experiment, Chris is confident in a variety of materials and techniques, though he works predominantly in pastels or acrylic pens in subdued colours on paper or board. His interests and subject matter are wide ranging and are often comments on popular culture or current events, with a surrealist edge. Portraiture is also a major source of inspiration for Chris.

BUDI AGUNG KUSWARA (Kabul) is a Balinese contemporary artist who views material as a living character and is not limited to objects or subjects within his work. Budi explores various historical techniques to bring about different atmospheres in his paintings. For example he uses a cyanotype process on stretched canvas which is a technique he developed over many years. In 2013, Budi founded the Ketemu Project.

Chris painting on Budi’s artwork 2022 Cyanotype print with mixed media on top 73 × 104 cm

Budi painting onto Chris’ artwork 2022

Cyanotype print with watercolour and ink mix on top 42 × 60 cm

Curatorial Mentorships

Indonesian Artist Lala Nurlala × British Curator Matt Burrows

What happened during the collaboration?

British curator Matt Burrows was paired with Indonesian artist Lala Nurlala. Central to Lala’s art practice is the cartoon character Dr. Zone – a character she uses to explore social issues, autism and postcolonialism. Over seven Zoom mentorship sessions, Lala and Matt met and discussed the process of selecting artists for a project and forming a theme of ideas. Expanding the scope of professional development for the mentorship, they developed a multimedia project around the ideas of pop culture and subversion, while also learning about curatorial texts. The outcome is Lala’s curated project FANDOMINIUM presenting a diverse group of international artists that explore fandom and pop culture through the lens of fan-art, appropriation, subversion, and cross-cultural exchange. Artists Lala selected for FANDOMINIUM include Larry Achiampong, David Blandy, Project Onward artist Jackie Cousins, and Karim Saad. As part of her curatorial process, Lala also recorded interviews with the exhibiting artists, asking these three questions: What cultures influenced your work? How did popular culture affect you growing up? What’s your favourite piece of pop culture? Be it a TV show, comic, or music.

Biographies

“I’m LALA NURLALA, who doesn’t know where to come, or where to go. I have lived in the United States and Indonesia, but I don’t truly belong to any of them. Because there’s no culture I can completely identify with, I just watch them as an outside observer. I mainly observe pop culture and Indonesian traditional culture, though I can delve into other cultures as well. One thing I can attach to is a character from Milo Murphy’s Law named Dr. Zone.” –

Lala Nurlala

MATT BURROWS is the Curator and Gallery Manager at Exeter Phoenix, a multi-artform contemporary arts venue in Devon, UK that specialises in working with emerging and midcareer artists. He has previously held project management roles at Spacex, Exeter and Victoria Miro Gallery, London, as well as working on a variety of freelance consultancy projects, mentoring and lecturing roles.

Jorge R. Gutierrez

El Morro Simpson 2016

Acrylic on canvas

Courtesy the artist

Naoki Urasawa Text Balloon 2022

Digital illustration

Courtesy the artist

Karim Saad

Curatorial Mentorships

British Artist Toyin Olubamiwo × Indonesian Curator Ignatia Nilu

What happened during the collaboration?

Toyin Olubamiwo is an artist from Artbox London studios, who we paired with Indonesian freelance curator Ignatia Nilu. After sharing details about the various curator roles Nilu has held for festivals, galleries, and projects across Indonesia, we heard from Toyin about her interests in superheroes, villains, and cartoons. Toyin set out to find other artists working in similar themes from UK supported studios, and Nilu researched similar artists across Indonesia. As part of this project, Toyin came up with a set of questions that she asked each artist. Firstly out of curiosity, and secondly it helped her to see if others worked in comparable ways to hers and had similar interests. The final presentation Le Visible et l’invisible (The Visible and The Invisible), brought together ten artists from the UK and Indonesia, whose practices feature superheroes and cartoon characters directly or indirectly, as well as showcasing their sketchbook works. The title alludes to the fact that we don’t often get to see the sketchbooks and inner mind workings of artists, so this was a real treat! Nilu also enjoyed seeing the sketchbooks, stating: “Artists often revisit sketchbooks after they have formalised their ideas or concepts. And by revisiting the invisible part of their artistic process, we see the broader scope of the artworks themself.”

Biographies

TOYIN OLUBAMIWO is a prolific artist who has a very colourful, innovative and experimental style, which manifests itself in many detailed drawings and paintings. Her practice is varied, incorporating many different artistic styles to produce books, paintings, drawings, and three-dimensional artworks. Toyin is very passionate about art, and often creates stories with characters, both real and imagined. She has attended Artbox London since 2014.

IGNATIA NILU is a writer, independent curator and cultural producer based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Through her formal studies in political science, she has worked extensively in arts management and curation of visual arts, media arts and sound art in different formats. She has been active as a curator with ARTJOG | International Contemporary Art Festival based in Jogjakarta since 2015 and helped found ART BALI in 2018.

Leslie Thompson

1975 Storm 2022

Digital drawing

Sketchbook page 2013

Toyin Olubamiwo

Mixed media on paper 21 × 30 cm

Curating Collections

What happened during the collaboration?

One of the Curating Collections was a collaboration between Butong (Sukri Budi Dharma) and the Roberts Institute of Art. Butong is an Indonesian artist and activist whose work is rooted in advocating for access for disabled people in art practices. The Roberts Institute of Art (RIA) is a non-profit contemporary arts organisation, part of whose mission is to research and share the David and Indrė Roberts Collection. Over several months Butong worked with RIA’s curator Yates Norton to explore, engage and examine works from the David and Indrė Roberts Collection. With the meetings being held virtually on Zoom and with the conversations graciously live-translated by Ketemu Project’s Sidhi Vhisatya, these discussions held particular barriers that could have hindered effective communication. However, with Butong’s thoughtful and thoughtprovoking observations, paired with Yates’ knowledge of the collection, an incredible curated selection and conversation emerged. For the curated project, titled #BehindInterest, Butong considered “how the recurring dialogues between my ‘ideal’ and ‘real’ self affect certain expectations and interests that guide my process of seeing or interpreting particular artworks.”

Through two categories: ‘Body, Figure and Narrative and Objects’, and ‘Representation and Interaction’ featured artists include Miriam Cahn, Jo Broughton and Jeppe Hein.

Biographies

Sukri Budi Dharma or Budi Tongkat (Budi with walking stick) or BUTONG got his associate degree in fine art from Jakarta Art Institute in 1994. Throughout the 15 years of his art journey, he’s been exploring a couple of art disciplines, from photography, performances, murals, and paintings to curatorial work. With his background in psychology study, he shaped his interest in human and human behaviour-related topics. It has led him to his current focus of advocating for access for disabled people in art practices.

The ROBERTS INSTITUTE OF ART (RIA) is a nonprofit arts organisation. RIA commissions pioneering performance art, collaborates with national partners to research and share the David and Indrė Roberts Collection. David Roberts founded the organisation in 2007 and since then RIA has welcomed over 135,000 visitors, partnered with over 100 museums and organisations and collaborated with over 1,000 artists. Through their interdisciplinary approach, RIA seeks to respond and adapt to different contexts, aiming to open up new conversations about how we engage with culture.

Indonesian Artist Butong × British Collection of the Roberts Institute of Art

Jeppe Hein

Modified Social Benches #4 2005 Powder coated steel 205 × 190 × 52 cm

Photo by T.Kaare Smith Courtesy the David and Indrė Roberts Collection

Miriam Cahn Familie 2011 Oil on canvas 110 × 130 cm

Photo by François Doury Courtesy the artist, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff and the David and Indrė Roberts Collection

Curating Collections

Artist Sally Hirst × Indonesian Collector Mia Tjahjadi/GULA

What happened during the collaboration?

Sally Hirst, based at Venture Arts in Manchester, connected with Indonesia-based Mia Tjahjadi over Zoom, to find out more about her family’s art collection built up over 30+ years and consisting of works made by artists in Indonesia only. After hearing about Sally’s interests in local culture and history, women artists, and animals, Mia spent time using this knowledge to source artwork from the collection to share with Sally based on these interests. Finally, after several weeks of sharing a variety of artworks from Mia, Sally narrowed down her final selection to just ten artworks that she grouped under the title Elements of Bali. This was due to her relating many of the works back to the four elements of fire, earth, air, and water. During this whole process, Sally also audio described the artworks in her own unique way, with poetry, to enable wider audiences with varying access needs to have a better sense of the artworks. Sally said, “I liked that it [the process] made learning about Bali’s amazing culture and history more engaging and accessible. It’s more exciting and easier than reading a long textbook.” Mia hoped that the project “inspired others to explore and celebrate the beauty of different cultures around the world.”

Biographies

SALLY HIRST is a talented self-taught illustrator, textile artist, and ceramicist who attends Venture Arts in Manchester. She is a socially engaged artist with much of her work being inspired by the people around her. Her parents are foster carers and her foster family inspires much of her work. Accessibility is at the heart of everything that Sally creates.

MIA TJAHJADI was born and raised in Bali, Indonesia, and has been involved with her family’s 30-year art collection her entire life. Focusing on Indonesian artists only, for the past two years Mia has been cataloguing the work further and set up a gallery called GULA to showcase works within. GULA (sugar) stands for Galeri Untuk Lingkungan Artistik, which translates to an opportunity to understand and relate through means of art. Mia says, “Just like sugar, art is ubiquitous, where it brings the sweetness of life; without it we would have no culture or creative becoming.”

British

Ida Bagus Indra

Diah Kili Suci Dancing 2009

Acrylic on canvas 400 × 400 cm

Dayak Guardian Sculpture (Antique from Borneo, Indonesia) n.d. Wood, metal, stone 30 × 30 × 128 cm

Acknowledgements

Art et al. and Ketemu Project would like to give thanks to all the artists, supported studio staff, Art et al.’s Consultancy Group, and other contributors for their passion, insights, and international collaboration on this programme. These collaborations prove that even with large time differences, anything is possible with the right support in place for online interactions.

Art et al. and Ketemu Project would also like to give thanks to the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants for making this year-long collaboration possible.

Art et al. Staff: Jennifer Gilbert and Lisa Slominski

Art et al. Consultancy Group: Sonia Boué, Stacey Fish and Billy Mann

Ketemu Project Staff: Agung Dewi, Agus Ngurah, Army, Irfa Novita, and Sidhi Vhisatya

Design: Liz Cox, studiomono.co

Copyediting & proofreading: Jennifer Gilbert, Lisa Slominski and Sidhi Vhisatya

First published: Digital open edition 2023

Images © the artists and estate 2023. Text © the authors, Art et al., and founding partners, and Ketemu Project. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors. No material, whether written or photographic, may be reproduced without the permission of the artists, authors, Art et al. and the founding partners, and Ketemu Project. Every effort has been made to ensure that any text and images in this publication have been reproduced with the permission of the artists or the appropriate authorities, wherever it is possible.

Art et al.

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Website: artetal.org

Instagram: @art.etal

Ketemu Project

Email: meet@ketemu.org

Website: ketemu.org

Instagram: @ketemuproject

© Art et al. and Ketemu Project 2023

Produced by the Art et al. founding partners, and Ketemu Project

PROJECT COLLABORATORS

SUPPORTED BY

Mutia Bunga

Betmeng 2022

Pen on paper

21 × 30 cm

Artwork from Toyin × Nilu Curatorial Mentorship

(page detail) 2023

Limited edition artists’ book 22 × 15 × 2 cm

Karin Josephine and Christian Newby

Pit Stop: Mari Mampir