Infused with theatricality and political bent, Jompet Kuswidananto’s (b. 1976, Indonesia) multimodal works surface the undulating effects of Java’s complex history, its syncretic cultural and religious heritage, as well as the brutal legacy of colonialism and occupation, on contemporary society. Studying sociology and political science at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Kuswidananto began his artistic journey as a musician, emerging during the final years of Suharto’s authoritarian rule in the late 1990s. During this time, he joined Teater Garasi, an interdisciplinary performing arts collective bridging traditional and contemporary art forms to explore Java’s sociopolitical realities. This influence reveals itself in Kuswidananto’s affective explorations and syntheses of various mediums in his work, including installation, video, sound, and music.
Kuswidananto often uses fragments of found objects representing different eras, religions, and political events. It is in these idle articles where omitted and obliterated identities lost to history are implied and invoked, creating spectral compositions of fractured temporalities. These assemblages, termed ‘ghost’ figures, tease out the nuances of Java’s blended identity, from its Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic religious heritage to the problematic histories of Dutch colonialism, the deadly Japanese occupation, followed by the mania of freedom and uncertainty following the end of Suharto’s presidency. At times anomalous, mysterious, and discorded, Kuswidananto grounds these conflicting roots of Java’s identity in the potency of memory, and the charged feelings the act of remembering elicits.
Kuswidananto has exhibited across numerous institutions, including solo showcases at Museum of Contemporary Art Grand-Hornu, Belgium (2017), Esplanade, Singapore (2016), Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia (2016), and Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (2014).
His major institutional group exhibitions include: Spirits of Maritime Crossing, presented by the Bangkok Art Biennale at Venice Biennale, Italy (2024); Sharjah Biennial 14, United Arab Emirates (2019); Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia, National Gallery of Australia (2019); SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, Mori Art Museum and National Art Centre Tokyo, Japan (2017); among others. Kuswidananto is part of the upcoming Setouchi Triennale, Japan and Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India.
His installation works were recognised with the Prudential – Eye Award in Singapore in 2014, and his works are collected by institutions such as the Mori Art Museum, Japan; M+ Museum, Hong Kong; the Singapore Art Museum; National Gallery of Victory, Australia; Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago, United States; LACMA, United States; Kadist Foundation, United States; and the Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates.