Many scholars have noted the importance of international exhibition of Indonesian art to Indonesia’s foreign relations. From the earliest period of the nation’s sovereignty in the mid 20th century, when delegations of artists were sent to USSR, China and the US, and painter Affandi was included in the 1954 Venice Biennale, through to the final decade of the New Order, when the 1990 “Festival of Indonesia” brought Indonesian art and culture to 50 US cities, and the 1993 Asia Pacific Triennial introduced dissident voices from Indonesia to new audiences in Australia, exhibitions have been crucial to the projection of Indonesia’s culture on the world stage.

In this panel discussion, curator Asep Topan and international arts relations specialist Afrina Rosmani will discuss their experiences in curating exhibitions on the international stage. The discussion will be chaired by Elly Kent, curator of Delmar Gallery’s current exhibition, On Tradition: Contemporary Art from Indonesia.

Asep Topan is an art curator and lecturer based between Jakarta and Sydney. He worked as the curator of Museum MACAN (2018–21) and for the Jakarta Biennale in 2015 and 2017 as co-curator and deputy director, respectively. He is currently enrolled as a High Degree Researcher at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the University of Sydney.

Afrina Rosmani is a public relations specialist in the newly established Museums and Heritage Agency in Indonesia, a role she took up after 14 years as International Relations Officer at the National Gallery of Indonesia. She is currently undertaking a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of Sydney.

Elly Kent is a researcher, writer, translator, artist, educator and intercultural professional who works in academia and the arts in Indonesia and Australia. Her research focuses on the art of Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, and she is the author of Artists and the People: Ideologies of art in Indonesia (NUS Press, 2022). Elly is a lecturer in Indonesian language at the Australian National University.

On Tradition: Contemporary art from Indonesia features artists and collectives from across the Indonesian archipelago and is co-presented by 16albermarle Project Space and Delmar Gallery.