Held once every five years in Kassel, Germany,\ndocumenta – the Hundred Day Museum is a post-war effort originally conceived by\nartist and art educator Arnold Bode to reconcile German public life and culture\n— after the period of Nazi dictatorship — with international modernity, and\nconfront Germans with their failed Enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since its inception in 1955, documenta has maintained\na reputation for taking the route less travelled in terms of its exhibition\nframework, which opts for a more concept-driven and intellectual approach. It\nis hailed as the most esoteric and idiosyncratic international art event of its\nilk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is often said that one comes to the grey,\npleasure-less Kassel to contemplate and think — unlike the glamourous,\nprosecco-soaked Venice Biennale; high-profile, blue-chip art fairs like Art\nBasel; or any of the other biennales and triennales of recent times, with their\nextensive media reach. Perhaps it is due to the above factors that documenta’s\nquiet presence has been somewhat distant from the general consciousness of\nSoutheast Asia’s art community, save for a few in the serious art \/ culture\nsets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In conjunction with the 12th<\/sup> edition of\ndocumenta in 2007, the exhibition launched documenta 12 Magazines (d12). This\nonline journal has earned “a magazine of magazines” moniker, as it\nwas conceived to compile articles from 90 publications worldwide on the themes\nof d12. The result has been a cerebral coming together of art publications,\nwith a range of orientations, formats, and art, culture, and theory media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n d12 ventures into the often feared and daunting realm\nof theory, and opens up the exhibition to critical writing from outside the\ncentre. Clearly, it is also a product of its time: thanks to the current\nproliferation of internet technology and advancements, an online magazine of\nthis magnitude — and an interactive one at that; where readers are able to\npick and choose and, best of all, personalise their own d12 magazine — would\nhave been a near impossibility 10 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n documenta\n12 Magazines in Southeast Asia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2006, d12 convened two meetings with the editors of\nvarious Southeast Asian arts publications in Singapore: the first in January\nand the second in October. These meetings marked a major step, as it brought\ntogether — for the very first time — all the editors and publications from\nthe region to hear each other out. It was also here that the idea to put\ntogether a special collaborative issue between Kakiseni.com (Malaysia’s leading\narts and culture website, of course), the Kunci Cultural Studies Centre (of\nYogyakarta), and Pananaw (a journal for visual arts based in the Philippines)\nfor d12 germinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking back, this decision was a natural one. Aside\nfrom the desire to maintain a stronger regional presence internationally, the\ncollaboration is also an attempt to put into action the idea of\ncross-referencing on a more modest and manageable scale. This project is not\nwithout its share of dilemmas, problems and pressures — such as the question\nof translation and accessible contents and contexts, as well as logistical and\nadministrative aspects — we cannot deny that there is a certain sense of\ncomfort in finding strength in numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the process of this collaboration, the editors from\nthe three publications — Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez, from Pananaw; Nuraini\nJuliastuti and Antariksa, from Kunci; and me, as guest editor for Kakiseni.com\n— have been in constant communication with each other, via SMSes and messenger\nchat conferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpted and edited below are some of the discussions\nand responses to the d12 magazine project, as well as other related matters,\nconducted over Yahoo! Messenger. We questioned the leitmotifs of d12:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Is To\nBe Done?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n njuliastuti\n(Nuraini Juliastuti): <\/strong>The\nleitmotif we feel most connection with is number three: “What is to be\ndone?” We at Kunci try to connect theory and reality. So, aside from\nmaking theoretical works, such as publishing our cultural studies journal,\nwebsite and creating a mailing list for cultural studies discussion, we make\nattempts for more socially engaging works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm\n(Adeline Ooi):<\/strong> I think,\nfor most us in South East Asia, our work is often driven by practical needs —\nresponding to all that is lacking and that which needs to be done, building\ninfrastructure, cultivating audiences, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez\n(Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez): <\/strong>Well, in\nour case, we do still have a very soft spot for getting people to theorise —\neven while we stay cognisant of how disempowering theory can also be for most\nartists. But I agree; the last leitmotif is the most accessible. Who can argue\nwith education, after all? Even before documenta came into the picture, we\nalready had a volume about education planned out. For us, education is very\nmuch tied up with criticism and curatorship. So, in a sense, it wasn’t like we\nwere totally going out of our way to fit in with the leitmotifs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addyl2.rm:<\/strong> With d12 participation in mind, did you consider the\naccessibility of the content?<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> In a sense, yes — though I still feel what we’ve put\nout there is primarily relevant to us. I mean, I can understand how a European\naudience might find it parochial. There’s a tug and pull, really, between\nprimary and secondary audiences. I hope that it will somehow resonate across —\nbut, still, the main intention is to address needs that we know are very real\nin our own locus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:\n<\/strong>For us, the most practical approach was to\npresent “a sampler plate”: a selection of articles from our archives\nthat is interesting and relevant to both local and international audiences.\nMost of our articles are about the local art scene, so it was quite difficult to\npredict what others (outside Malaysia) would find interesting or accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail\n(Antariksa):<\/strong> I believe\nour articles are relevant to Indonesian audiences, but I am not sure that they\nwill be relevant to a d12 audience …<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Specific to Pananaw’s d12 volume, there are issues of\nintellectual \/ artistic \/ curatorial lineage; questions of representation\nwithin the Philippines, and abroad; attempts to disabuse audiences of the myth\nthat everything that goes to print is worth the paper it’s on; an examination\nthe dynamics between curators and artists, emergent and established voices —\nboth in writing and art production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> It is the same in Malaysia. The lack of art writers\n— and, by extension, too few readers. I think, specific to d12, we were more\nconcerned with addressing local issues, like the rest of you guys: the question\nof identity, cultural criticism …<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Yes, I think we do share a lot of issues, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:\n<\/strong>Yes — and I think we can answer the first\nand the third leitmotifs of d12: modernity and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Middle\nClass Hype<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> And what about leitmotif two: “What is bare\nlife?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> On the political front, it was and is still actually relevant, particularly given the rising number of writers and artist-activists being rendered voiceless. The local headlines this week was very much about the newly enacted Human Security Act, which — while touted as the state’s primary weapon against terrorism –\u00ad remains a sore point among a significant number of sectors who feel it will only aggravate the sense of impunity that state agents invoke in relation to dissidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:\n<\/strong>That question is too abstract for me. I\nfind it is too detached from reality — the reality in Indonesia, I mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:\n<\/strong>But isn’t the same thing happening on your\nend, too? I mean, taking into account what Eileen says about activists and\nwriters being rendered voiceless — or is it just media hype? ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> It’s middle class hype! \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:\n<\/strong>Just another point to add. I think there’s\na flipside in the Philippines, though: there’s still very much an aversion to\nthe “victimization” thread. You get the sense that people know\nrepression, and are living in what are long-drawn problems. You no longer wait\nto have help come your way. You act, you do. That, to us, is education —\nself-empowerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n njuliastuti:<\/strong> Concerning writers I activists being rendered\nvoiceless — say, in the New Order era — at the grassroots level, the movement\nis doing great. You see, even under the control of the New Order regime, the\nunderground movement managed to find ways to speak out about\n“freedom” and “democratisation” — those were the two\nbuzzwords before Reformation. One important development that resulted from the\nabove is the alternative media movement. Even though the most political media\nat that time (Tempo, DR and Detik) were banned, we still can find the online\nversion of Tempo magazine, published by the former journalists of Tempo. I call\nthem “former journalists” because, formally, they are not journalists\nat Tempo anymore. And there is a powerful discussion on politics among\nIndonesians through the “Apa Kabar Indonesia?” mailing list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Idiosyncrasy\nand Collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> So okay, back to d12. Let me just say, I think one of the major problems of d12 is that, even as it is supposed to be trying to serve as a counter-weight to the documenta exhibition\u2019s central European focus, it didn’t attempt to build that counter\u00ad-network early enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> The problem of representation …<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> The ambition of a such a monster is great, but the\nend result is often disappointing. It requires a lot of thinking through; what\nsounds great on paper may not necessarily work. Call me old-fashioned, but I\nprefer smaller, more intimate working relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n njuliastuti:<\/strong> Yes and there’s no time to elaborate or explore the\nleitmotifs in d12 — at least for Asian editors; and, perhaps, for other\neditors out there too. In the case of the editors of the CLiCK collaboration —\nwith Surat, Clea, LeBur and Kunci — it was very hard for us to discuss the\nleitmotifs and connect them to our real situations. Everybody had their own\nexisting work and commitments. The most practical thing to do is simply to make\nsense of the three leitmotifs from the context of our own work, and for each of\nus to come up with a list of publications to match. But my concern is that d12\nshould create tools or ways to discuss the leitmotif among the editors in\ndifferent places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Whatever the sexy buzzwords may be these days — “globalisation”, “cross\u00ad-referencing”, or whatever — at the end of the day we are not selling McDonald’s or Coca\u00ad Cola. Culture, at the end of the day, is specific to context; even if we may share common ground, the problems or the specifics are idiosyncratic …<\/p>\n\n\n\n njuliastuti:<\/strong> I agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Then again, there’s some<\/em> real productive residue — perhaps we wouldn’t have met if d12 hadn’t (though belatedly) invited us. I think the network of editors will indeed outlive d12, and imaginably make the relationships workable. What do you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Perhaps the one good thing we got out of this is this\nthree-way collaboration. It is ironic that we had to go (that far, all the way\nto documenta) to connect with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:\n<\/strong>How about for you Nuning? Antariksa? Has\nit been worth the trouble for you? \ud83d\ude42 Any gains or lessons from the exercise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n njuliastuti:<\/strong> Yes. This project opened the door for us to do\ncollaboration with our friends, here in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regional\nNetworking?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Why do you think there is so little regional\ncollaboration?<\/p>\n\n\n\n njuliastuti:<\/strong> Because we always look at the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> And you, Eileen? Do you feel very far removed from\nthe rest of Southeast Asia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> No, not particularly — but I do feel that there’s\nnot enough macro (as in region-wide) initiatives that are being initiated.\nPerhaps it is because the local problems are so overwhelming, that not enough\nenergy is left over to mobilize outside of one’s backyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Yeah, I think that is the same too for Indonesia no?\nOften cultural work tends to be very “Java-centric” or\n“Bali-centric” — Java and Bali being the two great cultural centres\n— that you don’t hear voices from other regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n njuliastuti:<\/strong> That has always been our question or curiosity, since\nat least five years ago. The question concerning Asian connections, being\nAsian, etc. That’s why we always included “Asian Indonesia\nIdentities” as one of the grounds for our work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Why do you think we are having such difficulties\nreaching out to each other within the region? What do you think is at the heart\nof this problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Language?\nCompetition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Perhaps, for most ASEAN countries, it’s the burden of\nsolving local “problems” first, before we can look elsewhere. And\nlet’s not forget the lack of funding being one the other great deterrents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> But is it a problem specific to Southeast Asia? Don’t\nother regions have their own local nuances and funding problems?<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> I wish I knew the answer to that … Just looking at\nEuropean models alone, there’s always national funding or some sort of cultural\nfunding for exchange. I believe it’s similar for Japan and Korea, too. But\nthese are, of course, First World models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The West\nand Ourselves<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> So the infrastructure is not as hospitable to\nnetworking, then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> I remember when Cemeti Art Foundation organized\n“Fixing the Bridge” a couple of years back. That was a groundbreaking\nconference despite the many communication problems, as it brought together the\ndifferent models of artists initiatives from all over the world, from as far as\nPoland, through to Asia and New Zealand. Many of the Europeans were surprised\nthat the regional bodies rarely met, and wondered why we had not done it more\noften. While we all recognised the need to connect the regional dots more\nclosely and actively, we all admitted that it was easier to form relationships\nwith European, Australian or Japanese counterparts, due to the offers available\nand the accessibility of funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> Perhaps because we never realise that the Southeast\nAsian networks are more important than direct networking to the West …<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Just look at the project sponsors for that\nconference: ASEF, Goethe Institute, Erasmus Huis, CCF, Prince Claus\n(Foundation), HIVOS, Japan Foundation, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> So the networking follows the funding trail?<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> For us, it’s not just about the money but about our\nown leitmotifs. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Perhaps … but, no, I disagree with Antariksa in\nthat issue about networking with the West. I personally feel that regional\nnetworking is vital — especially in Southeast Asia, because of our common\ngrounds. It’s just that we never knew how we could successfully make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> I’m thinking now that it could also be because we’re\nstill very much engrossed in asserting our specificities, despite all the talk\nabout globalisation. So it could really be an amalgamation of conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:\n<\/strong>Yes …<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> I agree that we all have our own “fish to\nfry”, so to speak, but I also think one of the reasons why we have never\ngot together is largely due to the lack of funding. The realities and\nlogistical costs of getting together a group of people from different countries\nis really quite a huge burden to overcome. And it is also to do with\ncommunication — we know that others exist out there, but sometimes finding\ninformation may not be easy. It’s only in the past few years that everyone’s\ngot a website, blog, etc. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, this was not the\ncase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the visual arts realm alone, think about the number\nof important Southeast Asian or regional exhibitions we’ve seen or heard of in\nthe past 10 years. How many were there and who initiated them? I think we will\nsee that these were organised by the Australians (the Asia-Pacific Triennial),\nthe Germans via the Bols Foundation (“Identities vs Globalisation”),\nthe Americans via the Asia Society (1997’s “Contemporary Art in Asia:\nTradition \/ Tensions”), and the Japanese (the Fukuoka Asian Art\nTriennial). The only other country that tries to do the same is Singapore —\nthrough their National Arts Council, or the Singapore Tourism Board — and\nthat’s because they recognise the need to become, and have been gearing towards\nbecoming, a cultural hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New\nMeanings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Perhaps unless the gains from networking become\nreally glaring and incontestable, the impetus will not set in. In the meantime,\nwe have all these small, sporadic initiatives that are not sustained, or are\ndriven by very specific institutional mandates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> Which also happens in the NGO realm and in the\nnation-state realm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> I suppose it boils down to why, and what is the\npurpose of this network …<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> The purpose of this network, in my opinion, is to\nbuild a new meaning of Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:\n<\/strong>Yes, perhaps that is the direction to look\nat. Nation-states converge because they very clearly see the use of coming\ntogether as political blocs …<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:\n<\/strong>Often national levels of cultural exchange\nare all rather superficial: bring a few cultural delegates, do a couple of song\nand dance numbers, exchange some pictures, sign a Memorandum of Understanding\n(MOU) or two, bid each other goodbye, and tell themselves, “We’re friends\nnow.” What we really need is to build real, meaningful relationships and\ndialogues. And such relationships require time …<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Of what use would it be to us, in the long term, to\nredefine Southeast Asia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Because we want to be like the EU? :)) No, seriously,\ncall me a romantic or sentimentalist, but this region has so much history and\ncultural overlaps …<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> Haaaa … we can work on it on a very practical level\nfirst — like what we are doing for the d12 project. But in the future we have\nto do it in a more “systematic” manner. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> So beyond goodwill and recognition of shared\nhistories, where else could we take this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> The exchange is necessary because there is much to\nlearn from this dialogue; the parallels and divergences in our current\nrealities are good reasons to start. Maybe this sounds too simplistic, but\nthere is nothing wrong with wanting to learn more about our\n“neighbours”, and to see if there are any areas we can work on\ntogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:\n<\/strong>I guess, at this point, I’m also looking\nfor more concrete indicators of gains ensuing from the dialogue. I’ve no\nanswers, as yet …<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> Do you think it will be possible to do this kind of\nproject (dialogue and article exchange) on a regular basis, and also for the\nlong term?<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Yes, I think so — but I’m imagining what kind of\ninfrastructure this would require.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> As Antariksa says, we would have to do it in a more\nsystematic way. But, back to what you said Eileen, I agree that there is\nnothing concrete just yet to reinforce the need or gains from this relationship\n— but isn’t that what it is about: not knowing the answer and the journey in\nsearch of it? Isn’t the process necessary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> Yes, process is more important than the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> So how do we approach this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Perhaps we could set our sights on doing a\ncollaborative project on a periodic basis, either by way of a web publication,\nor by meeting or conferencing annually — or by some other, more predictable,\ntimeframe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> How about we meet via YM conference every few months,\nwith a specific topic, and aim towards an annual publication in 2008. The final\nresult can exist in print, online and as a pdf document — which we can forward\nto people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Yes, let’s do that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n addy12.rm:<\/strong> Ok, let’s speak soon, then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n eileenlegaspiramirez:<\/strong> Yes, good for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n antariksamail:<\/strong> Yes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First Published: 27.07.2007 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Held once every five years in Kassel, Germany, documenta – the Hundred Day Museum is a post-war effort originally conceived by artist and art educator Arnold Bode to reconcile German public life and culture — after the period of Nazi dictatorship — with international modernity, and confront Germans with their failed Enlightenment. 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