ArsKala Principle (Principle Time Art) is an initiative, a studio and an art project. The name is taken from a combination of two words to create ArsKala: Ars (Latin: arts) and Kala (Javanese: time) followed by the English word ‘Principle’. Located in the eastern part of Yogyakarta, amidst the temple relics from the classic Sanjaya era, including: Kalasan temple, Plaosan temple and Prambanan temple. Arskala Principle puts itself socially amid fields of local and global interactions.
Arskala Principle sees art as a way to express the uniqueness of an experience, as well as the work of knowledge production . Through art, Arskala Principle is interested in the various practices of contemporary tagging within diverse historical, social and socio-cultural contexts and forms, generated by further development of tradition, media culture and technology. In its practice, ArsKala Principle creates artwork, workshops, research, exchange, collaboration and residencies. Principle ArsKala was initiated by Endang Lestari and Sudjud Dartanto in 2014.
Artists with work at this location:
Endang Lestari (b. 1976, Banda Aceh) graduated from Indonesia Art Institute, Yogyakarta for her graduate and postgraduate study. She was raised within Javanese culture and then moved to Aceh, Sumatra as a teenager. Most of her work refers to women figures in various narrative contexts through different media and techniques, in objects, two-dimensional works and installations. Her interest in psychoanalysis and unconsciousness experience, along with its connection to gender, identity issues, history and memory, bring a surrealistic quality to her work. This surrealism approach frees her to explore the merging of universal, local, and subjective symbols. In her recent work, Endang puts realism and fictional languages together. She has participated in several exhibitions and residencies in Indonesia and abroad, such as a solo exhibition, Electralogy, Shigaraki, Japan, 2011. She was chosen to participate in the Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Biennale #1,2009 and #2 2012 and was also a finalist for the Bandung Contemporary Art Awards, 2010. Endang lives and works as an artist, educator, and researcher in Arskala Principle Studio, Kalasan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Ivan Bestari MP (b. 1981, Yogyakarta) completed his formal education in Visual Design Communications, Akademi Desain Visi, Yogyakarta and received his graduate degree from the Product Design program, Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana. He has been learning recycled glass flame working since 2011 from a glass flame working craftsman in Yogyakarta and has since been developing recycled glass methods. In 2012, he founded Otakatik Creative Workshop community as a space to explore design, expressive arts, and experiments of local and waste material processing methods. Ivan’s work tends to explore biomorphic, flora, and spore forms. Production tools creation, material character acknowledgement, and hand intimacy on Ivan’s works show a binary opposition of the fabrication issues and material standardizing. He mostly works on production of cultural issue which is done as a do it yoursel and do with others. He participated in a number of exhibitions including Bioartenergy, 2012; Maker’s Block: A Build, Craft & Design Experience, Suntec City Mall, Singapore, 2014; Cut n Remix Jogja Gallery, 2014. He lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Deni Rahman (b. 1979, Jakarta) completed his graduate study and is currently studying for his postgraduate degree at Indonesia Art Institute Yogyakarta. Deni grew up in an urban, Javanese culture and uses humorous narrative and parody as social and cultural criticism. He works with numerous media and techniques, especially printmaking, etching, and objects. He manages ‘Grafis Minggiran’ studio and teaches at Indonesian Art Institute, Surakarta. He has exhibited in local and international exhibitions, such as U(Dis)topia, Yogyakarta-Dresden-Berlin exchange project, 2010 and Crossing Signs, Yogyakarta-Dresden-Berlin, 2011. He was selected to participate in the Jakarta Biennale, 2011 and was awarded the Best Three Works, Jogja Mini Print Biennale 2014 and Nokia Art Awards, 2010. Deni lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Kristina Rutar (b. 1989, Šempeter pri Gorici) completed her study at the Faculty of Education, Department of Art Education, University of Ljubijana, Slovenia. Kristina is highly motivated to explore ceramics. She participated in several international exhibitions in the last five years. Studying ceramics and printing affects her works. Kristina’s work explores the limit between ceramics sculptures and a spinning technique. She tends to build individual forms with spinning techniques in pure work context, sculpture hued, to crack the works which are usually seen as a traditional art works. The contemporary approach to her works assimilates the old style by questioning the unlimited with countless observations. She often has solo exhibitions, such as Relation, Gallery Media Noc, Maribor, Slovenia, 2013; Objects, Gallery of Sculpture Association, Slovenia, 2013; and group exhibitions including Crossing Borders, SOMarts, San Fransisco, USA, 2013; and Exchange Group Exhibition, Mahmoud Mokhtor Museum, Cairo, Egypt, 2012. Kristina lives and works in Slovenia.
Lenny Ratnasari Weichert (b. 1970, Bandung) studied at the Indonesian Institute of Arts ISI Yogyakarta. Her work derives from a multitude of corresponding identities, entrenched in a deeply rooted curiosity about the conflicting aspects of human uniqueness. Having always been at the crossroads of a ‘glocal’ reference system, her art contemplates a multi-layered embeddedness of personality, spirit and gender within this context. By connecting a distinctive multi-faceted heuristic journey between the Orient and Occident, she investigates religion, subcultures, taboo and the positioning of women in society. Lenny has participated in numerous international exhibitions in Europe and Asia. Recent exhibitions include Langkawi Art Biennale, Malaysia 2014; FOCUS+INDONESIA, National Museum Szczecin, Poland 2014; Dresdner-Biennale, Dresden, Germany; German-Indonesian projects U(Dys)topia 2010; and CROSSING SIGNS 2011. Lenny lives and works in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Singapore.
Taufik Ermas (b. 1984, Bukittinggi) studied painting at Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta. In recent years his work, which includes both painting and sculpture, has rigorously considered the human body and its forms, especially hands and feet. In his paintings he explores how gestures can convey narratives, while his sculptures add another dimension to this examination of forms, condensing the values of painting, both in terms of form and finish. He has exhibited in Indonesia and Asia and recent exhibitions include Trienalle Sculptures, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta; Manifesto, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta; Fragments of Lie, Bentara Budaya, Yogyakarta and Maximum City, Jakarta Biennale, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta. Taufik lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Taufik Ermas