A Contemporary, 'Cultural' Olympics

As the Olympics returned to Greece, it came with a spirit that imbued the original Olympics as an act of homage to the gods. So what has become an arena for athletic excellence is being `refined' by a meeting of world cultures. Indonesia therefore sent both athletes and Sanggar Seni Bajra Sadi, a traditional Balinese theater group, as well as artist Heri Dono, to participate in a multicultural performance.

But artists at home held their own cultural Olympics, with an exhibition of contemporary visual arts. Gathered by Nadi Gallery at the initiative of Astari Rasjid, and curated by Enin Supriyanto, 28 Indonesian artists expressed their sentiments and reflections on the Olympics, which the Greek poet Pindar in the 5th century already praised as the greatest competition. Yet while the games are widely known as a homage exclusively from men, to Zeus, not many have acknowledged the fact that women had their own Olympics as a homage to Hera, the wife of Zeus.

We all know now that modern Olympics include both men and women, and Indonesia this time obtained one gold and two bronzes by shuttler Taufik Hidayat and friends, and a silver by female weightlifter Lisa Raema Rumbewas. But most of the artists of the Olympics art exhibition, held at The Pakubuwono Jakarta, did not have any reason to expect such success.

Agus Suwage, a painter who loves to fill his canvases with self-portraits, now refrains from that habit, and instead expresses his doubts on Indonesian badminton players' ability to win a gold medal, by transforming the racket into a butterfly catcher below a flight of butterflies on the wall. Entang Wiharso, whose canvases depicting bulging eyes with eerie images to express the tension he feels at the country's situation, now paints Mencari Jempol yang Hilang, depicting a self-image floating in space, musing on how his country lost supremacy in sports. Jempol in Indonesian means `thumb,' as well as `thumbs up.' Heri Dono, known for his sociopolitical comments made in wayang-styled caricatures, again uses this mode to show the impossibility of Indonesia winning a medal at the Olympics by featuring the demigod Semar in a laughable race against a snail in Semar versus Keong. The same sentiment is uttered by Budi Kustanto's oil painting depicting a tiny human being versus a giant grasshopper in Praying Mantis, while S. Teddy shows his doubts in a mixed media work depicting a head instead of a weight in Angkat Kepala. Yet "We must win," says Samuel Indratma unyielding in Teguh Hati, for "I am the Greatest," says Faizal, miming Mohammed Ali in oil and acrylic, a sentiment also featured in Agapetus Kristiandana's oil painting of an arrogant rooster in Warrior.

Yani Mariani Sastranegara features how hard athletes have to struggle in Sang Juara, a stirring sculpture made of stone and pewter.

Meanwhile, money politics disrupting the noble values of the Olympics is critiqued by Yuli Prayitno who features titanium-colored soccer shoes resting on a number of human forefingers in his sculpture Value of Economical System. Also wishing he was like Hermes the winged messenger of the gods in Kalau Saya seperti Hermes, a sculpted wooden foot with a feather. Similarly, Dipo Andy's painting Financial Olympiad features Discobolos in a position of throwing the discus amid stock exchange statistics. Pintor Sirait's critique on our lagging behind other countries comes in a refined wall sculpture Burning sensation, executed in acrylic and stainless steel. It shows the Olympic symbol of five circles behind which a phallus-shaped rocket is positioned on which sexy images can be discerned. Why is there not one Indonesian TV station covering the games is a question that has been asked by everybody in this nation who likes to watch, rather than do, as expressed by Didik Nurhadi in Perang yang beradab and Cerita Tentang Kaum Penonton. And Melodia can therefore only dream in Mimpiku pada Olympiade featuring a boy holding a football under his arm with David Beckham as a symbol.

But it is Astari Rasjid who brings together national, political, gender and sports issues in her dark oil painting Waiting for Ratu Adil. In the Javanese belief, Ratu Adil, the god or goddess of justice will come to intervene in our world of chaos. Astari shows the fallacy of such expectation in depicting a malicious-looking Hindu goddess, holding two fatigued boxers in the Indonesian and American national colors, indicating slackness of both national and international bodies. On the other hand, everybody is competing with everybody, so where is the spirit of doing something together? This seems to be the question Astari is asking in a diptych in which two women, one in sports gear and the other in traditional outfit, act in the same pose—one ready to throw the discus, the other holding a beauty case.

It is a pity that the noble values on which the Olympics should be based, have not been able to inspire artists to bring out the best of the nation. But then, chronicles of the ancient Olympics reveal that even then not all was gold that shone.

Nevertheless, it would be another step forward if the next exhibition of contemporary art focusing on the Olympics also included a more positive outlook.

Carla Bianpoen

Copyright @ tempointeractive