ART | EXHIBITION | SURABAYA | 2025
Most Indonesian art enthusiasts are likely familiar with “ARTJOG”. ARTJOG is an annual art festival held in Yogyakarta. Established in 2008, the festival has become an important part of the development of contemporary art in Indonesia and Asia. This year, the event will be held from June 20 – August 31, 2025, at Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta. In the lead-up to the event, ARTJOG aims to first connect with fellow artists, colleagues, the media, and the public who have been supporting ARTJOG.
Following last year’s event in Jakarta, ARTJOG comes to Surabaya this year. Collaborating with Jompet Kuswidananto, a Yogyakarta-based artist, ARTJOG has partnered with Ayos Purwoaji, a Surabaya-based writer and curator, to present an art exhibition at the 3rd floor of Pasar Tunjungan. Titled “ARAK-ARAK: Midnight Haze and The Drifting Flocks,” this marks Jompet Kuswidananto’s first solo exhibition in Surabaya, uniting a collection of his works within a significant, previously neglected space of over 1,700 m2 located in the city’s historical center.
The exhibition took place from April 19 to May 3, 2025, on the reactivated 3rd floor of Pasar Tunjungan, Surabaya, a space that had been abandoned for decades. In addition to the Pasar Tunjungan venue, this event also collaborated with the Majapahit Hotel Surabaya, located directly across the street, where the media gathering prior to the exhibition’s opening was held.
The media gathering featured three speakers, Heri Pemad as the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ARTJOG, Jompet Kuswidananto as the artist, and Ignatia Nilu as a representative of ARTJOG’s curators, with Ayos Purwoaji as the moderator.
Ayos Purwoaji: How can ARTJOG have been around for so long?
Heri Pemad: ARTJOG originated from us, the artists in Jogja, who were concerned about the limited availability of art spaces in Jogja back then despite the large number of artists there. We feel a responsibility to consistently present ARTJOG as an art space, regardless of circumstances. For this reason, one of ARTJOG’s missions is to present the works and discourses stemming from artists’ concerns to the public as directly as possible and to receive feedback from the public. This spirit is then felt by people in the city of Jogja, leading them to celebrate small-scale and local art festivals in conjunction with ARTJOG as a positive response.
Ayos Purwoaji: What is the theme for this year’s ARTJOG?
Ignatia Nilu: Since 2019, ARTJOG has adopted a thematic trilogy approach. This year marks the final installment of the “Motif” trilogy, titled “Amalan,” following “Lamaran” (2023) and “Ramalan” (2024) in the preceding two years. What is “Amalan”? The word has long been associated with giving, yet artists are often perceived as a profession offering little societal contribution. However, we believe that artists contribute significantly through their ideas, and they do so sincerely. This is also why Jompet was chosen as the featured artist for this Road to ARTJOG exhibition: because of his significant contribution in translating his thoughts into extraordinary works throughout his 24-year artistic career.
Ayos Purwoaji: How was your first experience exhibiting in Surabaya? What kind of “ghosts” have you encountered here?
Jompet Kuswidananto: Stepping onto the 3rd floor of Pasar Tunjungan for the first time, I immediately felt I was in Surabaya’s historical center, where the weight of history felt like a jostling crowd. In this exhibition, I aimed to explore the collision between minor historical narratives – narratives whose existence often teeters between being acknowledged and forgotten – and the dominant mainstream historical accounts.
Ayos Purwoaji: (added) In this exhibition, there are 21 works that span 24 years of Jompet’s career. The works consist of old works and there are also works that respond to the exhibition site.
Ayos Purwoaji: This question is often asked, why does ARTJOG hold an exhibition in Surabaya and more precisely at Pasar Tunjungan?
Heri Pemad: When we organized Road to ARTJOG last year, we realized that it was also enjoyable to create events and greet art enthusiasts in other cities. Therefore, instead of them coming to Jogja to visit ARTJOG, we decided to bring ARTJOG to their cities. Surabaya has consistently shown the highest number of visitors to ARTJOG after Jakarta, and this initiative is a form of appreciation for the loyalty of art enthusiasts here in Surabaya. Furthermore, the decision to feature Jompet as the artist stemmed from the last pandemic. During the enforcement of Level 4 Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM), I felt a sense of obligation because only a limited number of people could experience Jompet’s extraordinary work exhibited at ARTJOG. Therefore, we wanted to re-present his work to reach a wider audience.
Readesign Magazine: What is the meaning behind the exhibition title “ARAK-ARAK: Midnight Haze and The Driftinf Flocks”?
Jompet Kuswidananto: For “ARAK-ARAK”, in many of my works, I envision the journey of Indonesian history as a march—a crowd walking together that, at certain points, jostles, competes, and touches; some fall, some arrive first, all seemingly jostling to be remembered. “Midnight Haze and The Drifting Flocks”, on the other hand, takes a poetic approach, describing the past as a fog that is sometimes visible and sometimes not. Within this fog, things appear with varying clarity, sometimes sharply defined, sometimes indistinct, akin to a ghost or a shadow. It’s a poetic approach to understanding history (and even reality) in a nuanced, rather than simply vague, way.
Exhibition Snippets
Readesign’s take on the exhibition:
The opening concept of the exhibition was immediately engaging. “ARAK-ARAK” served not only as the title and thematic concept of the artworks but also as the mode of transportation for the media guests as they moved from Majapahit Hotel to Tunjungan Market. Led hand-in-hand by a drummer, the walk itself became a procession or a marching band-like parade.
The exhibition layout was also well-designed, offering a comfortable visual experience and allowing for smooth visitor circulation, preventing congestion and enabling a more thorough appreciation of each artwork. The displayed works felt remarkably compatible with the venue, almost as if they were specifically created for the 3rd floor of Pasar Tunjungan. Furthermore, the sound element integrated into each piece significantly enhanced the visitors’ overall experience.
Artistically, each work resonated with me on a personal level. However, some pieces particularly moved me, giving me goosebumps because, despite narrating historical events, their themes ironically remain strikingly relevant to Indonesia’s current socio-political landscape.
If you are interested in visiting, please check the official ARTJOG and Artchemist Instagram accounts for details on ticket purchases and exhibition schedules, or visit artjod.id.
readesignmagazine.com 
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