In October 2015, NCCA hosts an artist-residency with Jogja-based photo artist Dito Yuwono who is also co-founder of Lir Space in Jogjakarta. Accompanying him on this residency is Mira Asriningtyas, also co-founder of Lir Space. Based at Holtze House in the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens (GBDBG), Dito and Mira have come up with a program of discussions/workshops for invited artists/curators based in Darwin.
Theme : The Contemporary Issue
Discussion Series comprising 2 x 2hr discussions
Venue: Holtze House, George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens (GBDBG)
Discussion 1: The gallery-less gallery
5:30 for 6pm start, Thursday 15 October
How do you approach an exhibition when you’re not attached to an exhibiting venue?; what are the advantages of a gallery-less gallery, of moving contemporary art out of an object-based and/or predefined physical setting?; what are the setbacks/challenges? Visiting artist-residents from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Dito and Mira will introduce this discussion through a brief survey of the diverse formal and independent art spaces in their home city.
Duration: 2hrs
Discussion 2: Curious about the contemporary
5:30 for 6pm start, Thursday 22 October
Dito and Mira are curious about the contemporary. What does it mean? As a contemporary artist? In Darwin? Do these meanings also hold true for Yogyakarta given Darwin and Yogyakarta’s geographic proximity, and shared ambivalence in relation to an international contemporary art scene? What is internationalism in a contemporary art sense?
Duration: 2hrs
Both sessiions include some relevant reading material for discussion, sent to participants before the discussion. Both sessions will have a note-taker, with content of discussions collected and edited as part of a final publication (essay collection booklet or zine) by Dito and Mira.
Refreshments/snacks provided.
Workshop: Contemporary Landscape Photography in Indonesia
A review of artworks from Indonesian contemporary photographers who uses landscape photography to deliver their idea on socioolitical issues, followed by Instagram Takeover or Pop-Up Photo Exhibition guided by Dito Yuwono. Duration: 2 hours; to be held at Holtze House, GBDBG; day/time tbc
While in Darwin, Dito will also explore the NCCA Archives, looking for Jogja/Indonesia-related material in particular, as research towards new work. He will also touch base with a select number of Darwin-based artists.
Dito Yuwono and Mira Asriningtyas are co-founders (in 2011) of Lir Space in Jogyakarta, Indonesia, an independent contemporary art project space and cafe which works with emerging artists/curators/art audiences. Dito is a photo documentary-based artist who works individually and as part of Yogyakarta’s well-known Mes56 photography collective.
Dito and Mira’s residency is supported by the Australia-Indonesia Institute, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade.
(left) Dito presents at Charles Darwin University’s Art Forum series, 5 Oct 2015; (right) Dito & Mira at lunch post-CDU talk