Basic Information

Participant(s): Master’s and Doctoral students in the Inter-Media Art program (7 students)
Location: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia (Participated in an exhibition “Transmigration 2015”)
Period: March 15, 2015 – March 31, 2015

Achievements (A personal report from a participant – 2)

In this project, which was my first production activity and exhibition overseas, I set a theme for myself of how the concept that I wished to represent could be communicated to local people of the developing nation who were not familiar with a context of Contemporary Art, and how my art works could attract their attention with a help of a local context.

I made enough preliminary research while I was in japan, which helped me to interact with local Indonesian people. During my project, my priority was to produce outcomes in a manner that could draw their attention. Mixing with my own art concept in Japan, and in a “catchy form”, I produced an installation using photographic images, as I thought two-dimensional expression would be more appealing to the Balinese people who excel in 2D form of art such as miniatures and shadow pictures.

In precise, the installation consisted of wood materials which I collected on the beach and painted, and of 108 pictures taken in the sea in a manner to mirror people on the water surface, which were exhibited with pieces of glasses to reflect the pictures. I brought with me a Polaroid camera and the film from Japan, as I had learned that printing techniques were not super excellent in Bali.

Local people seemed amazed by the look of my installation and interested for that reason, on which aspect my trial could be called successful. Many people asked me” What do they mean? ” and it was also a common question other artists were asked. I found it a quite natural reaction, considering that the Balinese people have a solid context which forms the basis of their courtesy or how to present offerings to the gods. I felt sorry for not being able to speak Indonesian, which could have helped me to enter a deeper conversation with them. I would like to have another exhibition when I am adequately furnished with Indonesian language.

I learned from this time’s experience that an exhibition outside of Japan was completely different from one in Japan, which of course is nothing surprising. In particular, I had the impression that art exists on different levels between developed nations and developing nations. In an overseas exhibition to hold in the future, my art works should exist as a part of communication tool, and I will pay more attention to a closer communication with the local people, wishing my art works reach them.

Exhibition

Installation