The theme of Motif: Amalan at ARTJOG 2025 concludes the two preceding editions of the exhibition.
Motif: Lamaran (2023) explored the relationship of equality and reciprocity between the invited and the inviting subjects, while Motif: Ramalan (2024) sought to explore artists’ imaginations of the future. This year's motif is a reading of artistic practice between the tensions of the autonomous and heteronomous world, between one and many norms. The autonomy of art includes three things: the autonomy of the artist, the autonomy of the art world and the autonomy of the artwork. However, when faced with the question of function in artworks, the view on all autonomy in the art world becomes highly relative. When an artwork is in the autonomous arena, then the selfless attitude, for example, becomes a 'symbolic profit', and the aesthetic moment transforms into an object of commodification.
Amalan (practice) as a ‘motif’ in the art world can be recognized through both autonomy and heteronomy. Both are not impermeable, not a perfectly rounded arena. However, in an art world that adheres to intrinsic aesthetic values, this motif is often overlooked by artists. On the other hand, when the function of art is questioned in a truly heteronomous reality, its structure tends to be envisioned similarly to that of action. The heteronomous world always dissolves the boundaries of autonomous art.
The meaning of practice in ARTJOG this year is not tied to dictionary definitions that emphasize the 'cliché' of merit. Practice in the art world is formed both intrinsically and extrinsically, inside and outside the scope of language. Amalan here is the practiced behavior of a subject, be it aesthetic, social, political, textual, religious, or however else one may look at it. The artist's relationship with the world is an embodied intertwining of perception, and vice versa. With this, we can begin to discuss the goodness of our communal life, and works of art can be seen as a 'gift' for the world beyond the calculations of profits and losses, whose values often cannot be measured.
ARTJOG Curatorial Team
Hendro Wiyanto, Bambang ‘Toko’ Witjaksono, Ignatia Nilu