Feature VENICE BIENNALE
The Artist as Catalyst for Social Change By Suzanne Charlé
Restu Maningrum
Restu Imansari Kusumaningrum Maningrum was relieved. She and others had made all the plans for the Indonesia National
Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2015. The artist had been selected: Heri Dono, one of Indonesia’s most well-known artists, who has participated in 270 exhibitions and 27 international biennials and triennials. The theme also had been decided: Voyage—Tokomod. One important element, however, was missing: A go-ahead from the Indonesian government’s new administration. President Jokowi and his ministers were just getting to work, and the deadline was all but passed. “It was really touch-and-go,” says the 49-year-old. “But finally we got the go-ahead.” Restu, a self-appointed cultural diplomat, is a veteran of such negotiations. After visiting the 2011 Venice Biennale, she felt inspired—and sad. “I felt inspired by other national pavilions and sad that Indonesia wasn’t represented,” says Restu. Her response was to spearhead the successful push to open the Indonesian Pavilion for the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. The stunning entry, focusing on five Indonesian artists, was among the top most attended pavilions. The current edition promises to be another hit. “We need to be on the world stage.” The Venice Biennale is one of the world’s most venerable art fairs, held every two years in Venice, Italy. Celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, it is by far the oldest of the world’s premier international art fairs and one of its best attended. The first show, in 1895, attracted more than 200,000 visitors. Since then, it has displayed the work of artists every other year, except when it was interrupted during World Wars I and II. In fact, the exhibition was so popular in the early 20th century that European nations started building their own permanent pavilions at the Giardini—the public gardens at the eastern tip of the island. (The U.S. pavilion, a stolid Palladian-style structure, was built in 1930.)
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