Looking both ways: Art exchanges between Australia and Indonesia

Looking both ways: Art exchanges between Australia and Indonesia

John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University

Wed 22 July 2026, 8.30 am – 12.45 pm

Prompted by the exhibition Pasar Malam | Night Market: Contemporary Printmaking from Indonesia and Australia at the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre, this half-day seminar explores the relationships between Australia and Indonesia around contemporary art. Starting with a focus on the Artists’ Regional Exchange (ARX) series of events in Perth from 1987 to 1999, it will go on to explore current engagements between the two countries and opportunities to develop the relationship in the future.

PROGRAM

8.30 – 9.00 am – Arrival and registration, networking

9.00 – 9.15 am – Welcome and opening remarks

Chair: Vannessa Hearman, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry

·     Thor Kerr, Dean ASEAN, Curtin University

·     Antonius Prawira Yudianto - Education, Social and Political Affairs Counsellor of the Indonesian Consulate-General in Perth

·     Annisa Bonita Pertiwi, President, Association of Indonesian Postgraduate Students and Scholars in Australia, AIPSSA

9.15 – 9.40 am - Dealing with difficult topics in Indonesia: A digital ‘walk’ through the Pasar Malam | Night Market exhibition, Vannessa Hearman. Chair: Tod Jones (Curtin University).

9.45 – 10.45 am Australian and Indonesian artists’ exchanges – looking back

Chair: Thor Kerr

·     Personal reflections on the Artists’ Regional Exchange (ARX) (1987-99), John Barrett-Lennard

·     Australia-Indonesia artistic engagements, Bianca Winataputri (Monash University), represented by Vannessa Hearman.

MORNING TEA BREAK

11.15 am – 12.15 pm Roundtable: Western Australian artistic collaborations with Indonesia

Speakers will discuss past, current, and planned artistic engagements with Indonesia and explore sources of support and collaboration for developing and presenting artistic work.

·     Abigail Moncrieff (Walyalup Fremantle Art Centre)

·     Jude van der Merwe (Indian Ocean Craft Triennial)

·     Rachel Ciesla (Simon Lee Foundation, Art Gallery of Western Australia)

·     Hannah Matthews (Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts)

·     Susanna Castleden, John Curtin Gallery

Chair: John Cruthers, 16albermarle Project Space.

12.15 pm – 12.45 pm – Open discussion and close

Seminar convenors: Assoc Prof Vannessa Hearman (School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University) and John Cruthers (16albermarle Project Space).

The organisers gratefully acknowledge support from the John Curtin Gallery, Project Eleven and Visions of Australia.

Image: Tamarra, live performance at the opening of PASAR MALAM at Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre, extending the themes of Rajah (2024), 2026. Courtesy of Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre. Photograph by Ezra Alcantara.