Art Exhibitions are Becoming ‘You’ Exhibitions
My passion for arts can be dated back to years before I considered pursuing it in high school. Even when I spent most of my high school days with a class of art enthusiasts, I could only share my enthusiasm to a very selective few, ones who would want to roam in exhibitions and reflect our perspectives to the displayed works.
Today, I find more of those who would want to visit contemporary art exhibitions, even art fairs, despite the fact that their interest isn’t in the art or the artist. ‘You don’t have to go to a [insert contemporary artist name’s] exhibition to actually know who [insert contemporary artist name],’ sounds like a familiar comment heard among gallery visitors.
It seems that today, we consume the arts like never before. Contemporary art exhibitions have become a bait for visitors, but not so much for the sake of the artist. This is observed by Vox to which resonates very much to the youth lifestyle scene in Jakarta.
Several months ago, the relatively new Museum MACAN (Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara) hosted its most anticipated exhibition to date to the urban audience that is Jakartans. You could hear the roar of art enthusiasts, screaming in its title, ‘YAYOI KUSAMA: LIFE IS THE HEART OF THE RAINBOW’.
For me, the existence of Museum MACAN has relieved me as (finally!) a contemporary art museum is planted in Jakarta. Its collection includes major contemporary artists who have shaped my passion in arts including Heri Dono, Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, and Yayoi Kusama herself. A truly exciting time for those who find the passion.
From a personal observation, I find that the Museum welcomes both art enthusiasts and visitors who are new to the realm. Yet, as any new businesses would do, a strategy in hand to build it successfully ought to take place as soon as it is opened. And how do you lure Jakartans to a contemporary art gallery? Do the next kekinian exhibition.
Vox’s observation on how society is appealed to visit an art exhibition connects the dots on how to revive the arts to a new audience, while at the same time degrades an experience for one to be immersed beyond the pictures.
As I have reflected this before, this trail leads to Kusama’s impressive exhibition at Kebon Jeruk. Today, more exhibition visitors barely had a taste of the artist’s authentic flavour, for they pay the visit for their own personal benefit: their own exhibition that is their Instagram feed. As a familiar comment one would hear, ‘I came here just for the pictures.’
Installation art influences the way we become immersive to the concept of the artwork itself. The way a space can be used to contextualise an idea, an insight, a critical point of view by the artist, allows viewers to be welcomed and understand that observation. Familiarised in the presence of Kusama’s installation rooms, you no longer have to look and reflect but you could be part of it and—if I must say it—‘be the art’.
When Ivan Kralj wrote about his frustrating experience in Galeri Nasional Indonesia last year, it echoed the same complaints and recurring expectations when visiting recent art exhibitions in Indonesian major cities. This was also heard in the Kusama exhibition, where flocks of visitors are more in awe of the picturesque scenes for their own Instagram well-being rather than acknowledging the concept that is Kusama’s life.
Kusama’s exhibition in Jakarta is one case where Vox’s observation concludes in. By bringing the presence of contemporary art to educate, they also promote themselves through the popularity of Yayoi Kusama. Additionally, Jakartan youths are weak in the knees when they find the latest insight on where to take their next-best Instagram shot, so it was no surprise that the museum held a private viewing specifically for influencers and Instagram public figures.
This correlates in the way we post in our social media feeds as a channel to exhibit our existence online. Rather than being immersive in the presence, we have a tendency to be approved by the number of likes we are given, thus the experience is better documented and displayed rather than experienced in the moment.
It feels better to have our own exhibition displayed online, admired through double-taps of likes.
What better way to have yourself approved in the art of Kusama, allowing a feeling of gratification for one, and for Museum MACAN as well. This leads an opportunity to promote more youths to come to the gallery itself. Even though they are merely there for the pictures, the museum still earns its benefit and promotion without having to push forces. A win-win.
As the thirst for Instagram shots are stronger by the minute, with endless content creation and marketing endorsements and giving opportunities for influencers to promote an Instagrammable lifestyle, more contemporary art exhibitions are slowly being promoted less of the artist and more for the sake of you.
Perhaps, the question does not linger in how we should consume the arts but starts from how we have let ourselves be consumed by virtual likes.
