LONG-TERM EXHIBITIONS THE NEGLECTED DIMENSION

Opening 7 July |

Supreme Court Wing, Level 3, UOB Southeast Asia Gallery, Dalam Southeast Asia

The Neglected Dimension explores the period from the 1960s onward when calligraphy and abstraction became prominent modes of artistic production in Islamic art in Indonesia.

This exhibition introduces four important artists associated with the modernist art movement in Bandung, Indonesia, a key site where experimentations with Arabic calligraphy and different forms of abstraction took place. The artists are Ahmad Sadali (1924–1987), A.D. Pirous (b. 1932), Haryadi Suadi (1938–2016), and Arahmaiani (b. 1961).

Within the context of Indonesia and even Southeast Asia, a renewed look at calligraphy through calligraphic abstraction is a concrete retrieval of what prominent Indonesian art critic Sanento Yuliman terms “dimensi yang tersisihkan ” or “the neglected dimension”. Calligraphy and abstraction were ways for artists to reinterpret Islamic material traditions and expressions of spirituality, that were previously marginalised in the region’s modern art history.

Dalam Southeast Asia is an experimental project space located within the UOB Southeast Asia Gallery. Projects presented here ask critical questions and explore lesser-known narratives in Southeast Asian art while rethinking what a collections-based display is and what it may seek to achieve.