Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara Environmental Art in Contemporary Art A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition Zaenudin Ramli,1 Martien Roos Nagara2 Department of Fine Arts.
Faculty of Art and Design.
ISBI Bandung.
Department of Fine Arts.
Faculty of Art and Design.
ISBI Bandung Email: zaenudin_ramli@isbi.
Email: martien.
nagara@gmail.
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the representation of environmental art in the context of Indonesian contemporary art, using the Jakarta Biennale 2015 as its main case study.
This research addresses the problem of how contemporary artworks in the exhibition reflect a critique of relevant ecological and social issues.
The study employs a descriptive-interpretative analysis method of selected artworks, supported by data from the exhibition catalog and related literature.
The findings indicate that the environmental artworks in the Jakarta Biennale 2015 not only function as aesthetic expressions but also serve as a powerful medium for social critique and public agitation.
This finding contributes to the understanding of the role of contemporary art exhibitions as critical platforms for sustainability discourse in Indonesian art.
Keywords: Environmental Art.
Indonesian Contemporary Art.
Jakarta Biennale ABSTRAK Studi ini menganalisis representasi seni lingkungan .
nvironmental ar.
dalam konteks seni rupa kontemporer Indonesia, dengan menjadikan Biennale Jakarta 2015 sebagai studi kasus utama.
Permasalahan yang diangkat adalah bagaimana karya seni rupa kontemporer dalam pameran tersebut merefleksikan kritik terhadap persoalan ekologis dan sosial yang Penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisis deskriptif-interpretatif terhadap karyakarya terpilih, didukung data dari katalog pameran dan literatur terkait.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa karya-karya seni lingkungan dalam Biennale Jakarta 2015 tidak hanya berfungsi sebagai ekspresi estetis, tetapi juga menjadi medium kritik sosial dan alat agitasi publik yang kuat.
Temuan ini memberikan kontribusi pada pemahaman peran pameran seni kontemporer sebagai platform kritis untuk wacana keberlanjutan dalam seni rupa Indonesia.
Kata Kunci: Seni Lingkungan.
Seni Rupa Kontemporer.
Biennale Jakarta
INTRODUCTION
This practice is often closely associated with Environmental art is an artistic practice the concept of sustainability, an idea that that places the interaction between the artwork seeks to create a harmonious balance between and the natural environment at its core.
In this human life and the surrounding environment.
art form, engagement with nature is seen not As Margolin .
suggests, sustainability only as a visual inspiration or raw material can be understood as an ethical and practical but also as an inherent medium and message.
effort to achieve this harmony.
Therefore.
Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition environmental art does not merely function as emergence in the 16th century, this concept an aesthetic expression but also acts as a critical has undergone a significant evolution.
practice that analyzes and responds to the the 18th century, the exhibition space began state of the social environment from an ethical to establish itself as a model of a specific standpoint (Smith, 2.
In this context, the sociality, where the public could interact artist becomes a mediator who bridges public with artworks.
Art historian Pamela Bianchi awareness with pressing ecological issues, .
explains that the exhibition space is transforming the artwork into a catalyst for a complex mechanism for the circulation social and environmental change.
and hybridization of ideas.
In more modern In Indonesia, the history of environmental times, the role of the museum as a "house for art has strong roots, aligned with the emergence art" became dominant, a notion championed of the New Indonesian Art Movement (Gerakan by renowned curator Harald Szeemann.
Seni Rupa Baru Indonesia or GSRBI) in the stated that museums were the ideal place to This movement was a critical response protect fragile art from mass consumption to the dominance of conventional painting and reproduction (Bertrand, 2.
However, traditions, and it sought to free art from the over time, the role of art exhibitions, including limitations of older mediums.
The GSRBI biennales, has surpassed this function of encouraged artists to interact more with social and environmental issues around them, using The Jakarta Biennale IX in 1993 was more diverse and non-traditional media and a pivotal moment marking this shift in forms (Supangkat, 1993, 1.
This shift paved Indonesia.
This exhibition, organized by the the way for more contextual and site-specific Jakarta Arts Council, was a breakthrough for artistic practices, including environmental art.
featuring a diverse range of new media such Since then, the discourse on environmental art as installations, video, and performance, has continued to grow and gain momentum, alongside conventional media like painting especially through strategic art exhibition and sculpture (Wiyanto, 2.
This shift platforms like biennales.
According to Green demonstrates that the exhibition space had and Gardner .
, a biennale has become one of the most important exhibition formats in medium (Greenberg.
Ferguson, & Nairne, the world, serving as a venue for the exchange 1.
, a place where the meaning of an artwork of ideas, intercultural dialogue, and a place for is generated not solely by the object itself but contemporary art to gain widespread public also by the curatorial context, interaction with This large-scale exhibition format the audience, and the discourse surrounding it.
provides a space for artists to explore complex The exhibition space now serves as a platform issues, including environmental problems, on where artists not only showcase aesthetics a more ambitious scale.
but also convey messages, provoke thought.
The idea of the exhibition space as an and advocate for change.
Consequently, art institution has a long history.
Since its contemporary art exhibitions are no longer Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara just static galleries but dynamic arenas for This research aims to fill that gap by providing critical dialogue.
a contextual, descriptive-interpretive analysis.
The Jakarta Biennale 2015 is a highly Therefore, this research is formulated relevant case study for examining the role of to address two main problems: .
How do environmental art in contemporary discourse the environmental artworks exhibited in the in Indonesia.
This exhibition was not merely Jakarta Biennale 2015 reflect and critique an art showcase but a critical platform that relevant ecological and social issues in specifically highlighted the tensions between Indonesia? This analysis will explore how economic growth, infrastructure development, artists use symbolism, materials, and space to and their impact on society and the natural convey their critical messages.
How does the The theme of the exhibition was Jakarta Biennale 2015 function as a platform for highly contextual to the issues facing Jakarta, voicing the discourse of sustainability through a continuously growing megapolis with contemporary art practice? This question significant environmental and social challenges will examine how the exhibition's curation, such as floods, pollution, and social inequality.
interaction with the public, and the physical Through exhibition space itself contribute to shaping a art received special attention as a means to narrative on sustainability and social critique.
speak about infrastructure, the human-nature In line with these research questions, relationship, and environmental issues in a the objective of this study is to analyze contextual way.
The artworks displayed here were not just visually appealing but also environmental critiques contained within rich with messages criticizing unsustainable the selected environmental artworks from development, ecosystem damage, and the the Jakarta Biennale 2015.
Additionally, this social injustices that often accompany them.
research also aims to identify and explain Based on this background, this research the exhibition's role as an effective strategic identifies a fundamental shift in the function venue for the discourse of environmental of environmental art, from being a mere art in Indonesian contemporary art.
Thus, aesthetic expression to becoming a powerful the findings of this research are expected medium for social critique and a tool for to make a significant contribution to the public agitation.
However, to date, there is a understanding of the relationship between art, lack of specific research that comprehensively society, and the environment, as well as the examines how the environmental art pieces in role of contemporary art exhibitions as critical the Jakarta Biennale 2015 concretely articulated platforms that foster public awareness and critiques of ecological and social issues in This research is also hoped to serve as Indonesia.
This gap creates an urgent need to a reference for future studies on environmental analyze how artists use their visual language art in Indonesia, which is increasingly relevant to highlight problems often overlooked by amid increasingly complex global and local mainstream political and economic discourse.
environmental challenges.
Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition that was both political and local.
METHODOLOGY
This Meanwhile, descriptive-interpretative contemporary art in Indonesia is the result of analysis approach to fully explore the a series of significant historical and theoretical The fundamental turning point was within the environmental artworks at the the emergence of the New Indonesian Jakarta Biennale 2015.
Data was collected Art Movement (Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru through literature and documentation studies.
Indonesia or GSRBI) in 1975, which was by identifying and gathering textual data from sparked by a group of young artists in exhibition catalogs, academic articles, critical response to the stagnation of the dominant reviews, and relevant books.
Visual data, conventional painting and sculpture.
The in the form of photographs of the artworks prominent art critic.
Jim Supangkat, in his from the exhibition catalog, was also collected various reviews, affirmed that the GSRBI was as the primary object of analysis.
The data a bold and surprising breakthrough.
This analysis process followed an interactive movement challenged an exclusive, confined, and monolithic aesthetic ideology, opening where data relevant to the research questions up space for more inclusive and multi- was selected.
This data was then presented dimensional art practices (Supriyanto, 2013, systematically to facilitate interpretation.
The The GSRBI artists not only experimented final stage was drawing conclusions, which with new media such as installations and were continuously verified through a source video but also dared to integrate social and triangulation processAicomparing findings political issues into their works, viewing art as from one source with another to ensure the a tool to critique reality.
validity and accuracy of the interpretation.
This shift became a strong theoretical Thus, this methodology not only describes the research object but also interprets its meaning contextually, providing a strong foundation environmental art in the West, which often for answering the research questions.
focuses on physical interventions in natural Indonesia.
Indonesia.
Unlike art has developed with a stronger nuance related to social, cultural, and political ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION Indonesian This art form is not just concerned contemporary art cannot be separated from the with the aesthetics of nature but also with global currents of the art world.
As analyzed the critical interaction between the artwork, by Smith .
in Contemporary Art: World ecological issues, and society.
In line with Currents, the 1970s became a critical period this development, the role of art institutions when artists in Asia rose against Western has also evolved.
As theorized by Dziekan hegemony by creating a new artistic language .
, museums and exhibitions no longer The Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara function merely as passive display spaces but temporary exhibitions.
Nevertheless, there is transform into active arenas for research and an increased focus on temporary exhibitions, knowledge production.
This transformation and continuous efforts are being made to find is increasingly crucial when institutions new formats that can facilitate knowledge face complex issues such as socio-ecological exchange and visitor engagement.
Each of imbalancesAia phenomenon that Tali .
these terms reflects the changing and distinct refers to as "difficult knowledge.
" Meanwhile, roles of museums in their relationship with Hansen.
Henningsen, & Gregersen .
the public.
New exhibitions and events have become critically important for museums particular, play a vital role in maintaining the today to attract public and political interest.
relevance of art institutions and serving as a The view that the role of museums platform for comprehensive discourse and has evolved far beyond the function of conservation and protection of art objects is The Jakarta Biennale 2015 serves as reinforced by ideas in the study, "The Museum a concrete example of how the theories of as Experience: Learning.
Connection, and Dziekan .
and Tali .
Shared Space," edited by Susan Shifrin .
the exhibition did not merely display art This view argues that modern museums objects, but designed a curatorial experience must transform from passive institutions that confronted the "absence" of marginal into communal spaces centered on active narratives .
cological, social, politica.
through and transformative human experiences.
contrast to the traditional model that regards Tali's argument about museums as spaces for museums as static places for storing art, this negotiating collective memory.
This exhibition perspective focuses on the importance of proved that art is a relevant medium for learning, connection, and shared space.
methodsAiconsistent voicing socio-ecological imbalances, while Exhibitions, however, are more than also affirming the legacy of the GSRBI in just a way to keep museums relevant in the contemporary art.
Thus, environmental art experience economy.
They also serve as an at the Jakarta Biennale 2015 must be read arena for research and knowledge production.
as an integral part of this larger narrative:
The external demand to strengthen academic as a curatorial effort to present "difficult research in museums, combined with an knowledge" (Tali, 2.
through multi-media internal interest from museum staff to strategies (Dziekan, 2.
, making art both a understand exhibition-making as an integral mirror and a critique of socio-environmental part of the research process, has significantly changed the status of exhibitions.
From being a mere presentation of completed research, dynamic between "permanent/fixed" and exhibitions have now become an important, active site for analysis and discourse itself.
differences, with less emphasis on short-term Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 The idea that exhibitions have evolved Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition into an arena for research and knowledge production is highly consistent with the argument that the traditional roles between increasingly blurring, creating a need for a collaborative "network of care" (Vall & Saaze.
In this context, exhibitions no longer just present objects, but also function as a site where flexible research practices and decisionmaking occur.
The theme of the Jakarta Biennale 2015, "Maju Kena Mundur Kena" (Damned if you do, damned if you don'.
, was taken from the title of a 1980s Indonesian comedy film.
This Figure 1.
Cover of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 catalog, titled: AuMaju Kena.
Mundur Kena:
Bertindak SekarangAy (Source: Jakarta Biennale Catalo.
theme reflects a local expression relevant to a quintessential Indonesian situation, urging us to focus on the current conditions and challenges around us.
The lead curator of the Jakarta Biennale 2015.
Charles Esche, stated.
AuWe refuse to be stuck in a nostalgia of an unreachable past, or to hope for a difficult-toachieve utopiaAy (Esche, 2.
This statement was also agreed upon by the exhibition organizer, the Jakarta Biennale Foundation, which stated.
AuIn Indonesia, where we face a lack of and inequality in art infrastructure, we need to stop the illusion regarding an ideal condition we imagine is happening elsewhereAy (Darmawan, 2.
These statements show how these issues influence the way we think and act today.
In the Jakarta Biennale 2015, environmental issues became highly prominent, especially in the context of the use and misuse of Issues related to the city, history, and water and the environment became central themes that connected various artworks and permeated the entire exhibition.
This approach of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 can be examined through the lens of Panos KompatsiarisAos .
book, "The Politics of Contemporary Art Biennials: Spectacles of Critique.
Theory and Art.
" This book discusses how contemporary art biennials often struggle to balance political idealism with contradictory economic and social realities.
In this context, the Jakarta Biennale 2015 can be seen as an effort to practice an authentic "politics of critique" rooted in locality.
There were no fewer than 71 artists Jakarta Biennale consisting of 43 Indonesian artists and 28 foreign artists.
The collaborative curatorial approach at the Jakarta Biennale 2015 showed a commitment to addressing environmental issues such as floods, waste, pollution, and access to clean water.
By involving local communities like Lifepatch from Yogyakarta and Sanggar Anak Akar, the Biennale not only Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara and their Aesthetic Properties.
" This view philosophically explores the idea that there is no single rigid definition for a work of art and that the boundaries of art are constantly being Benovsky argues that a work of art can transcend traditional visual modalities, even encompassing sensory experiences like taste or bodily perception.
In the same spirit, exhibitions like the Jakarta Biennale 2015 show that art can go beyond purely aesthetic Collaborative environmental art.
Figure 2.
Back cover of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 catalog, showing the list of artists involved.
(Source: Jakarta Biennale Catalo.
which involves the community in solving practical problems like flooding and pollution, effectively becomes a borderline case as discussed by Benovsky.
In this context, art promoted fine art as an artistic expression but also as a tool to spark discussion on the daily environmental problems faced by the Issues in Jakarta, which were chosen as central themes, reflect the major challenges faced by Indonesian cities regarding the environment.
Here, environmental art serves as a medium that not only reflects natural conditions but also highlights how humans interact with, and often damage, nature.
In the context of Indonesian contemporary art, environmental art has become a vehicle for raising social and political awareness and affirming the importance of sustainability.
The environmental art approach used in the Jakarta Biennale 2015 can be more comprehensively examined through a review of Jiri Benovsky's .
book, "The Limits of Art: On Borderline Cases of Artworks Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 is not only judged by its beauty but also by its capacity to spark dialogue, mobilize communities, and advocate for real change.
This affirms that the boundaries of art are not static but dynamic, and are continuously being redefined by social and political contexts.
Through the works exhibited, including collaborative projects that affirmed the need for clean water and environmental preservation, the Jakarta Biennale 2015 strengthened the role of environmental art in depicting the relationship between humans and nature.
This placed environmental art as a vital component in the discourse of Indonesian contemporary art, where global and local environmental issues are bridged by artworks that function as a catalyst for social change.
Thus, the curatorial approach at this Biennale issues but also affirmed the urgency of the environmental crisis facing Indonesia, showing that environmental art has become Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition Island in Archipelago," is a direct jab at the land reclamation projects in Jakarta Bay, which are widely promoted as modern solutions for urbanization.
However, these projects often ignore their impacts on marine ecosystems, the livelihoods of local fishermen, and other environmental issues.
By building an "island" from collected marine debris.
Salina visually unpacks the contradiction Figure 3.
Tita SalinaAos work Au1001 Island Ae The Most Sustainable Island in ArchipelagoAy.
Video performance, 2015.
(Source: Jakarta Biennale Catalo.
development narrative and the hidden reality of environmental degradation.
The trash, as the main material, does not only represent physical pollution but also symbolizes the "waste" of public policies that are neglectful of an important tool in contemporary art for raising collective awareness of sustainability and environmental justice.
Tita Salina's work, "1001 Island Ae The Most Sustainable Island in Archipelago," exhibited at the Jakarta Biennale 2015, far transcends its visual description as an The piece is a sharp and layered social-environmental critique, rooted in the real issues faced by urban communities in Indonesia, particularly Jakarta.
Analyzing this work requires a reading not only of its form and material but also of the social, political, and symbolic contexts contained within it.
Through her artistic practice.
Salina positions herself as an activist who uses art as a medium to challenge dominant and often destructive development narratives.
The work functions as an ironic allegory that satirizes the claims of "sustainability" often made by large-scale development Its title, "The Most Sustainable the environment.
This pile of garbage becomes a monument to the ignored ecological crisis, a visual reflection of the true condition of the This work can be analyzed through the lens of ecocriticism, a theoretical approach In this context.
Salina's work not only reflects a damaged environment but also actively places humans as the primary agents of that destruction.
The artistic performance in which she invites the audience to directly view the "island" encourages interaction and critical reflection that goes beyond the confines of the gallery and museum.
This aligns with the concept of critical practice in art, where the work focuses not only on the final outcome but also on the creative process that involves different stakeholders and sparks public discussion (Smith, 2.
The ecocritical analysis of Tita Salina's work can be further strengthened through the Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara conceptual framework presented in Branislav contemporary art has a vital role in responding JakovljeviN's .
The Performance to Indonesia's most complex and crucial Apparatus: On Ideological Production of environmental issues.
Behaviors.
JakovljeviN argues that performance Salina's artistic approach in "1001 Island," art functions as an "apparatus" that not only which focuses on socio-political critique and reflects but also actively influences and advocacy, can be enriched by comparing it produces ideological behavior.
with other environmental art practices.
For Beyond that, this work touches on example, the book Between Species / Between the issue of the politics of space and power.
Spaces: Art and Science on the Outer Cape Reclamation projects are often driven by strong (Sullivan.
Kendra & Dylan Gauthier, eds.
economic and political interests, while the 2.
shows a different approach but with a voices of local communities, such as fishermen, similar goal: exploring environmental change.
tend to be ignored.
By creating an "island" Instead of direct critique of policy from stranded trash.
Salina gives visibility like Salina's, this residency emphasized an to the hidden impacts of these policies.
This interdisciplinary collaboration between art is a form of artistic resistance that highlights and science to study "ongoing changes" the vulnerability of nature and the social caused by natural factors and climate change.
marginalization that occurs amid the rapid The resulting projects, such as a banner about currents of urban development.
The work whales by Marina Zurkow or paintings becomes a powerful tool for advocacy and that blended scientific observation with agitation, arousing public awareness about the personal reflection by Mark Adams, showed importance of protecting the environment and new ways of depicting and communicating exposing the ecological injustice that is taking Environmental art, in this context, is highlights that environmental art can operate no longer just about the representation of through various methodologiesAieither as a beautiful nature but about communicating provocative activist critique like Salina's work ecological challenges and encouraging critical or as a reflective interdisciplinary collaboration reflection on the human-nature relationship.
as documented in the book.
Both approaches This Overall.
Tita Salina's work strengthens are equally important in strengthening the the position of environmental art as a relevant role of art in responding to contemporary and urgent tool for advocacy in the context of ecological challenges.
urban growth in Indonesia's major cities.
This Tisna SanjayaAos work, "Rumah Ibu (Imah work does not merely present environmental Buday.
," exhibited at the Jakarta Biennale it also analyzes and critiques the 2015, is an installation and performance piece systems that perpetuate the crisis.
Through held at Gudang Sarinah.
This installation social context.
Salina successfully transforms trash into a political statement, proving that approach often seen on pollution issues.
Tisna Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 social-environmental Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition the solution to the ecological crisis lies not only in technology or policy but in spiritual contemplation and a change in ethics regarding how we interact with the environment.
Involving local farmers in the creative process is a crucial aspect of Tisna's approach.
This places his work within the realm of critical practice (Smith, 2.
, which social intervention.
This action is not merely Figure 4.
Tisna Sanjaya's work, "Rumah Ibu (Imah Buday.
" (Mother's House / Cultural Hous.
Installation, performance, 2015.
(Source: Jakarta Biennale Catalog, 2.
aesthetic but a political statement that affirms the importance of local wisdom and the role of grassroots communities in maintaining In the Indonesian context, where farmers are often marginalized by presents the environmental crisis not just development policies.
Tisna elevates their as a physical or economic problem but as a voices and places their traditional knowledge spiritual and ethical crisis rooted in the shifting at the center of contemporary art discourse.
human relationship with nature.
An analysis This involvement transforms the artwork from of this work demands an understanding of a passive object into an active dialogue among the materials, symbolism, and socio-cultural the artist, farmers, and the audience, where context that are intricately intertwined.
knowledge is formed through collaboration.
The core of this work lies in its use of This work also effectively bridges local materials and symbolism.
Tisna imprinted tradition and contemporary art.
The use of his body 33 times onto canvases using spices organic materials and spiritual references and organic materials that he cultivated with connects Tisna's work to Indonesia's rich local farmers from Cigondewah-Bandung.
cultural traditions that hold a holistic view The number 33 explicitly refers to the number of nature.
He shows that solutions to modern of times Allah's name is mentioned in zikir, environmental problems can be found in a spiritual practice in Islam.
This symbolism traditional local wisdom, a perspective often transforms the artwork from a mere physical overlooked in Western-oriented development representation into a spiritual meditation.
Tisna asserts that art can function Tisna not only immortalizes himself but also as a bridge that communicates the complexity his spiritual relationship with nature.
of this relationship, inviting the audience to implies that caring for nature is as important trace and interpret the hidden message.
The as worship and that the environmental crisis is artist's desire to immortalize, express, and a human failure to maintain spiritual harmony communicate "something" that is "stored" with its creator.
Thus, this work argues that in his work is why he continues to create to Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara voice this hidden message.
Once the work is in a public space, it becomes the audience's task to trace, discover, or interpret that hidden message (Wisetrotomo.
Paramastuti, 2.
Overall, "Rumah Ibu (Imah Buday.
" is an exceptional example of environmental art in Indonesia that not only focuses on visual depictions of environmental damage but also delves into its deeper root causes: the spiritual crisis and the disintegration of the human-environment relationship.
This work proves that contemporary art has a vital role in voicing environmental issues from a unique perspective, linking ecology with spirituality, and affirming the importance of collaboration and local wisdom in achieving sustainability.
Figure 5.
Leonardiansyah AllendaAos work.
AuRumahAy (Hous.
, installation of objects of varied dimensions, 2015.
(Source: Jakarta Biennale Catalog, 2.
Tisna Sanjaya's approach in "Rumah Ibu (Imah Buday.
" aligns with the themes raised in the study, "Living Art: Indonesian Artists Engage Politics.
Society and History" (Kent.
Hooker, & Turner, eds.
, 2.
The research asserts that Indonesian modern and contemporary art cannot be understood separately from its historical, social, and political context.
Tisna's work, with its critique of the environmental crisis rooted in spiritual and ethical issues, directly reflects several key issues discussed in that study.
Tisna expresses his artistic ideology by positioning himself as part of the community and using his art as a tool to challenge The representation of art and politics is also strongly felt.
this work shows a powerful interaction between art and daily life, where the participation of local farmers becomes an important political statement.
It also addresses art and identity, as Tisna's approach Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 of combining spiritual and local wisdom elements .
ikir, organic spice.
reflects an exploration of religious and regional identity, which is one of the focuses of the study.
Tisna SanjayaAos artistic ideology, which places him as part of the community and uses his art as a tool to challenge destructive development narratives, can be understood as a form of contemporary iconoclasm in a cultural As discussed in Image Controversies (Mersmann.
Kruse, & Bartetzky, eds.
, 2.
iconoclasm does not always mean the physical destruction of a monument but can also be the act of challenging or deconstructing a dominant narrative.
Leonardiansyah Allenda's work, "Rumah" (Hous.
, exhibited at the Jakarta Biennale 2015, is an installation that intelligently and sharply critiques unsustainable development practices, particularly in the context of ecotourism and Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition This work cannot be understood The portrayal of cities that highlights the solely from its physical description.
beauty of buildings often conceals the primary meaning lies in the social context and environmental damage behind them.
Allenda the symbolism of the materials used.
Allenda uses his installation to break this illusion.
utilizes art as a medium to deconstruct the displaying a "house" made from the remnants contradiction between a "green" or "eco- of destruction, he forces the audience to friendly" image and the reality of the ecological confront the neglected consequences of these damage that occurs on the ground.
This aligns with the view of Burhan.
The core of AllendaAos critique lies in the Anusapati, & Morin .
that contemporary materials he used: discarded wood blocks art can transcend conventional boundaries from the remnants of homes affected by to expand discourse through the exploration development projects.
These materials aren't of a work's ideas, mediums, and functions.
just inanimate objects.
they are silent witnesses Environmental art, in this context, becomes a to a process of destruction.
The wood blocks powerful tool for highlighting the contradiction symbolically represent the physical traces of between the promise of development and the displacement and habitat destruction, of both reality of destruction.
humans and nature.
By placing these materials Ultimately.
Allenda's work is not merely in the exhibition space.
Allenda effectively a visual documentation of a phenomenon but moves a reality that is often hiddenAibehind a means to convey social critique and spark development projectsAiinto the public sphere a shift in perspective.
The installation invites to be seen and contemplated.
the audience to think more deeply about the This work directly critiques ecotourism imbalance between urban progress and the practices in Indonesia, which often serve often-overlooked as a mere "surface layer" for development.
Through this critical practice.
Allenda affirms As revealed in the text, ecotourism is not that contemporary art in Indonesia has a vital as simple as being labeled "green".
it must role in responding to complex environmental be accompanied by a deeper awareness of Allenda shows that many "development" narrative lies a story of ecotourism projects are solely profit-oriented, destruction waiting to be uncovered.
building facilities within natural landscapes Artworks that explore environmental without considering the life cycles and balance issues like this invite the audience to think of the ecosystem.
His work serves as a visual more deeply about the imbalance between reminder that every development, even when urban development and the often-overlooked packaged with a positive narrative, always damage to nature.
Contemporary art that has a real and often destructive impact on the highlights these themes does not merely act as documentation but also serves as a means "Rumah" also touches upon the issue of hypocrisy in the development discourse.
to convey social critique and trigger a shift in perspective toward the environment.
Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara Leonardiansyah Allenda's approach in his work "Rumah" can be contrasted with environmental art practices that place more emphasis on personal health and sustainability.
The study, "Arts in Nature with Children and Young People: A Guide Towards Health Equality.
Wellbeing, and Sustainability" (Moula & Walshe, eds.
, 2.
offers a different perspective.
This research focuses on the collaboration between art and nature to improve the well-being of children and adolescents.
While AllendaAos work uses art as a sharp critique of the destructive impacts Moula WalsheAos perspective highlights the therapeutic and ecological educational potential of art in Allenda's approach is confrontational, using the remnants of destruction as material to deconstruct the hypocrisy of "green This Figure 6.
Komunitas QuiquiAos work.
AuKunangkunangAy (Fireflie.
, fiber art, installation of objects of varied dimensions, 2015.
(Source: Jakarta Biennale Catalog, 2.
spectrum of environmental art.
Allenda represents the side of art as activism that Instead of using a conventional narrative or highlights structural and policy failures.
statistical data.
Komunitas Quiqui conveys Meanwhile, the approach outlined in the its message through sensory experience and study by Moula and Walshe shows art powerful metaphors.
An analysis of this work as a means for healing, education, and requires an understanding of the intricate the restoration of a spiritual relationship interplay of its use of space, material, and with nature.
Both approaches are equally The work not only presents important in the contemporary art discourse environmental conditions but also triggers on the environment, offering different yet complementary ways to respond to ecological and neglect have damaged the beauty and challenges in the modern era.
harmony of nature.
The installation by Komunitas Quiqui.
The core of Komunitas Quiqui's critique titled "Kunang-kunang" (Fireflie.
, exhibited lies in its use of the firefly symbolism, which at the Jakarta Biennale 2015, is a highly poetic contrasts with the neglected urban context.
and symbolic social-environmental critique.
Fireflies universally symbolize natural beauty.
Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition wonder, and a healthy environment.
Their art has a vital role in arousing collective presence indicates a preserved ecosystem This work invites the audience However, in densely populated big to reflect on fundamental questions: why is cities like Jakarta, fireflies are increasingly natural beauty disappearing? What is our rare, almost extinct, due to light pollution role in its loss? And how can we restore it? and habitat destruction.
By creating artificial The installation proves that contemporary art "fireflies" from knitted yarn coated with can be a powerful tool to spark a shift in the phosphorus and installing them in poorly lit or community's perspective on the environment, neglected areas in Penjaringan.
North Jakarta, transforming neglected spaces into a canvas Komunitas Quiqui effectively highlights the to convey a message of hope and protection.
loss of natural beauty caused by neglect and Komunitas Quiqui successfully transforms environmental damage.
simple objects into a critique that is both poetic The placement of this work in a densely and contemplative, asserting that beauty and populated area also holds a profound social harmony can be rediscovered if we are willing It is an artistic intervention that to see and act.
brings environmental issues from the abstract The installation "Kunang-kunang" by realm into the daily reality of the community.
Komunitas Quiqui shows alignment with the By utilizing spaces that are often overlooked concepts put forth by Marlyne Harles .
and hold no aesthetic value in the public eye, in her book.
Collectives.
Localities.
Networks.
Komunitas Quiqui symbolically transforms This work highlights how art collectives can these spaces into a focal point for reflection.
operate outside of formal institutions to create This work invites both local residents and new platformsAinamely, public installations visitors to re-examine their environment, not just as a place to live but also as a vulnerable social and environmental issues.
Through spacesAito "Kunang-kunang," Komunitas The "Kunang-kunang" installation is Quiqui effectively addresses social problems a critique of the loss of harmony between .
and environmental ones .
humans and the environment.
The glowing with a community-based approach.
The use knitted yarn in the darkness symbolically of symbolism relevant to daily experience reminds us of the remaining beauty that can proves that collective art has an important still be saved if there is collective awareness.
role in shaping contemporary art discourse This critique is not explicitly directed at a from the "grassroots," despite having different single policy but at the widespread mentality aesthetics and local contexts.
of neglect in society.
The work highlights that Firman environmental damage often begins with "Menggantung small-scale indifference and neglect.
exhibited at the Jakarta Biennale 2015, is an Through Quiqui Komunitas Djamil's Air" (Hanging social-environmental Wate.
The installation visually and conceptually Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara direct and sacred, into the contemporary exhibition space.
The installationAithe traditional pose of villagers carrying water from a wellAiis a very powerful This pose reflects the hard work, patience, and respect for water as a precious source of life.
Firman Djamil effectively contrasts this gesture with the mentality of Figure 7.
Firman Djamil.
AuMenggantung AirAy (Hanging Wate.
, installation of objects of varied dimensions, 2015.
(Source: Jakarta Biennale Catalog, 2.
consumption and convenience inherent in city life.
In the city, water is often considered a limitless and easily accessible commodity, which diminishes the awareness of its Through the title "Menggantung Air" highlights the failure of Indonesia's urban (Hanging Wate.
in these simple containers, resourcesAia he visually conveys the message that water, fundamental issue that directly impacts the while abundant in nature, becomes something survival of the community.
An analysis of vulnerable and difficult to access within a this work requires a reading of the symbolism failed urban system.
of its materials, the gestures it mimics, and This work explicitly critiques the failure the social contradictions it contains.
This of urban systems to manage water resources.
work not only documents a phenomenon The "Menggantung Air" installation is a but also confronts the audience with a sharp visual metaphor for a precarious and unstable comparison between traditional wisdom and modern-day failures.
necessity, is depicted as "hanging" in simple Water.
The core of artist Firman Djamil's critique containers, vulnerable to spilling or running lies in his choice of materials: one hundred out at any time.
This represents the paradox young coconut water containers hung from of the clean water crisis plaguing many one hundred bamboo poles.
These materials Indonesian cities, where distribution is uneven, are not merely a medium.
they are symbols pollution is rampant, and communities must laden with meaning.
Coconuts and bamboo struggle to obtain it.
This critique aligns with the viewpoint of abundance, local wisdom, and tropical culture.
ecocriticism, which examines the relationship Their use in this work serves as an antithesis between cultural representation and the to the modern materials often used in urban natural environment.
Firman Djamil uses cultural heritage .
he gesture of carrying Firman Djamil brings the narrative of village water, natural material.
as a lens to critique life, where the relationship with nature is the failures of modern systems.
His work Through Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Environmental Art in Contemporary Art: A Case Study of the Jakarta Biennale 2015 Exhibition doesn't just present a problem but also offers water "hanging" in simple containers, he the reflection that local wisdom may hold visually exposes the fragility and instability of overlooked solutions.
The installation invites a complex system that is often invisible to the the audience to re-examine traditional ways The installation makes the audience of valuing and managing resources while contemplate not only water but also the questioning why urban systems, with all political, social, and economic systems that their sophistication, have failed at the most govern its distributionAithe infrastructure fundamental level.
Firman Djamil successfully transforms Overall.
Firman Djamil's work is a infrastructural failure into an artistic medium, brilliant example of environmental art that affirming that art can serve as a critical lens to coherently combines aesthetics, symbolism, reveal and question the very foundations that and social critique.
He successfully transforms support modern life.
simple objects and everyday gestures into a powerful political statement about the urgency of the water crisis.
His work affirms CONCLUSION that contemporary art in Indonesia has a vital Based on the analysis of the works role in bridging the past and the present, as exhibited at the Jakarta Biennale 2015, it can well as local wisdom and modern challenges, be concluded that environmental art has to spark collective awareness of sustainability.
transcended traditional aesthetic boundaries An analysis of Firman Djamil's work, and serves as a vital critical platform for the "Menggantung Air," can be enriched with discourse of sustainability and social justice the conceptual framework from the book, in Indonesia.
This research finds that these "Infrastructure (Daugaard, works effectively reflect and critique specific Schmidt, & Tygstrup, eds.
, 2.
This book ecological and social issues in Indonesia, argues that contemporary art often operates by from land reclamation to water management blurring the boundaries between the artwork Aesthetics" itself and the surrounding infrastructural The artworks analyzedAisuch as the Firman Djamil's work perfectly installations by Tita Salina.
Tisna Sanjaya, illustrates the concept of "infrastructural Leonardiansyah Quiqui, and Firman DjamilAishow that infrastructure that is usually invisible or environmental art has become a powerful overlooked the center of aesthetic attention.
medium for critiquing real issues.
Artists Allenda.
Komunitas Firman Djamil's work performs an use material symbolism .
rash, spices, used "inversion" of urban water management woo.
and cultural gestures to deconstruct the Instead of making art about contradiction between a "green" development water as a natural resource, he creates art narrative and the reality of environmental about the failure of the infrastructure that is This proves that art not only reflects supposed to distribute water.
By displaying conditions but also serves as an advocacy tool Jurnal Panggung V35/N3/09/2025 Zaenudin Ramli.
Martien Roos Nagara to voice ecological injustice.
Through its role, the Jakarta Biennale Microalgae Cultivation.
Jurnal Panggung, 31.
, 150Ae151.
2015 successfully positioned itself as an arena Wisetrotomo.
, & Pramastuti.
for knowledge production and activism.
With Political Drama in the Memory and a curatorial approach focused on local issues Visualization of a Painter: A Critical and collaboration, the Biennale became a Study of Djokopekik's Painting Trilogy.
strategic platform that bridged theoretical Jurnal Panggung, 32.
, 256.
discourse on the environment with the realities experienced by the community.
The Books exhibition proved that art institutions can Benovsky.
The Limits of Art: On play a significant role in triggering collective Borderline Cases of Artworks and awareness and encouraging critical reflection Their Aesthetic Properties.
Springer.
on pressing environmental challenges.
Bertrand.
Contemporary Curating.
Through the use of material symbolism.
Artistic Reference and Public Reception:
cultural gestures, and powerful narratives.
Reconsidering Inclusion.
Transparency these works are able to trigger collective and Mediation in Exhibition Making awareness and encourage critical reflection on Practice.
Routledge.
urgent environmental challenges.
This finding Bianchi.
Displaying Art in The Early affirms that contemporary art in Indonesia has Modern Period: Exhibiting Practices great potential as a catalyst for social change, and Exhibition Spaces.
Routledge.
proving that the legacy of the Indonesian New Daugaard.
Schmidt.
, & Tygstrup.
Art Movement (GSRBI) lives on in a critical (Eds.
Infrastructure Aesthetics.
and relevant artistic spirit.
De Gruyter.
Overall.
Dziekan.
Virtuality and The Art of contemporary art in Indonesia, through Exhibition: Curatorial Design for The exhibitions like the Jakarta Biennale 2015, has Multimedial Museum.
Intellect Bristol.
great potential as a catalyst for social change Green.
, & Gardner.
Biennials, that can raise public awareness about the Triennials.
Documenta:
The urgency of the environmental crisis.
Exhibitions That Created Contemporary Art.
Wiley-Blackwell.
Greenberg.
Ferguson.
, & Nairne.
***
Thinking About Exhibitions.
Routledge.
Hansen.
Henningsen.
, & Gregersen.
REFERENCES