114 | MAY/JUN 2017 | ISSUE 103(This page)
MAKE YOUR OWN PASSPORT,
2014/16, workshop and performance.
Photo by Daris Jasper. Courtesy the
artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.
(Oppostie page)
NOUS NE NOTONS PAS LES
FLEURS, LEIDEN, 2015, mixed-media
installation with monitors, live-feed
and flowers. Courtesy the artist.With this in mind, and as an artist who interrogates geopolitics
and state control, how do you feel about representing your
country in the Venice Biennale?A few months ago, as part of a United Nations conference in Quito,
Ecuador, I found myself in an interesting debate—it was after a talk
held by Next City, who also hosted my workshop-performance, Make
Your Own Passport (2014/16), during the conference. The topic was on
whether or not activists should run for government. Some speakers
believe that activists always need to be on the opposing side—as
though it’s better to keep things separated. But I also see activists as
those seeking change, whether working from the opposing side or not.
To be opposing perpetuates the binary “us versus them” notion.
Having said that, I’m also not sure if change is possible without a
subject’s willingness to change. But maintaining a national pavilion
at Venice demands efficient internal organization and long-term
programming, and if these demands can be fulfilled it will be a good
start for other things. This edition of the Indonesia Pavilion will be
the first that is commissioned by the Republic of Indonesia, through
Badan Ekonomi Kreatif Indonesia, the Indonesian Agency for Creative
Economy. The government may have an idea of what the pavilion
should achieve, and I have my idea of its purpose and how it should
be done. Needless to say, there have been some growing pains, but
I still believe it is important to participate, especially in the hope of
setting up the best precedent so that the pavilion is also a positive force
inside the country. A government can be so powerful in shaping an
individual’s life—and isn’t everything interconnected?
But now that you’re taking your ideas into outer space,
how does it expand the idea of the border?
When we think of borders, we tend to think of spatial territories