Catherine Hostiani · 2 min read

Building an Art Ecosystem Without a National Arts Council

In Indonesia, the absence of a national arts council does not stop the art ecosystem from flourishing.

It thrives organically because of influential figures like Ibu Aan. Let me introduce her through some of the projects (and brilliant stunts) she has pulled off in the last 20 years.

1. Artsociates — an art and artist management enterprise founded in 2007 to promote local artists. She first held an architecture competition for a house design, which she built and which was highly acclaimed. When she sold it a year later, it became the first source of funding for Artsociates.
2. In a very public exchange, she traded an etching artwork by Tisna Sanjaya for a high-end car, to demonstrate the value of contemporary art.
3. Bandung Contemporary Art Awards — a biennial art competition that recently changed its format from open call to nomination by a committee of collectors, artists, curators, and academics, bringing art stakeholders together.
4. LawangWangi Creative Space and Hybridium — an art/gallery café hosting exhibitions, artist talks, and workshops.
5. Collaborea Art & Design — a commission-based studio producing art and art-based design objects.
6. An upcoming museum complex dedicated to renowned Indonesian artists, to sustain their legacy.
7. As a collector, she keeps a thoughtful collection that captures the social zeitgeist, such as a painting made using mud from the largest mud volcano in the world, a result of the Sidoarjo disaster.

Passion with action.