ALIA SWASTIKA
Alia Swastika is the founder and director of the Biennale Jogja, whose seventeenth edition is on view through November 25, 2023, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Swastika is also part of the curatorial team (with Natasha Ginwala, Amal Khalaf, Zeynep Öz, and Megan Tamati-Quennell) for the Sharjah Biennial 16, slated to open in February 2025.
WHAT WAS THE LAST SHOW YOU TRAVELED TO SEE?
The Liverpool Biennial 2023, which was curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa.I was invited by the British Council, along with some other curators from the Global South, Asia, and Africa. It made for a perfect meeting point. I think this edition of the biennial really tried to challenge the way it’s previously functioned, particularly with its examination of decolonial movements in the arts and its speculation on what it would look like to bring those kinds of radical approaches to Western institutions.
WHAT UPCOMING EXHIBITION ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT?
We just opened the Biennale Jogja last week, so I am still caught up in the excitement around that. It’s our seventeenth edition and the first after we completed the Equator cycle, a decade-long project that saw the biennial partner with various locations around the equator, including India, Nigeria, and Oceania. This year we wanted to include other historical contexts, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, so we invited artists from the former Yugoslavia. Under the New Order, we witnessed a disconnect between the political histories of socialist countries, so we are structuring this platform to respond to and perhaps reconnect with the past.
NAME A CRITICAL BOOK OR TEXT THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE.
The Earth of Mankind (1980) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. It was banned during the New Order, since the writer was considered Communist/socialist, but he created a superstrong female character that reflected the complexity of gender in Java and the impact of the colonial system. I read the book when I was in high school and it just blew my mind at the time.
WHAT SONG OR ALBUM ARE YOU LISTENING TO ON REPEAT THESE DAYS?
The upcoming album by Majelis Lidah Berduri. (It’s my husband’s band, so I get a sneak preview.)
IS THERE A CONVERSATION YOU WISH PEOPLE WERE HAVING THAT THEY’RE NOT, ESPECIALLY WITHIN ART INSTITUTIONS OR IN THE ART WORLD MORE BROADLY?
Yes, I think people need to speak more about the importance of supporting grassrootsinitiatives like Biennale Jogja. Of course, these kinds of places will force them to break a little out of their comfort zone, as we are openly critical about infrastructures of power. But I think that’s what gives these projects their value.
WHAT BOOK DO YOU KEEP BY YOUR BED?
Actually these days I don’t read in bed anymore. Mostly, I read out in my garden with a cup of coffee. But in my spare time (when I actually have some), I mostly read fiction. In the past few years I have focused on women writers, mostly from the Global South. For example, some of the memorable books I read recently were The Night of a Thousand Bastards by my friend Intan Paramaditha and Ken Dedes by Amalia Yunus.
WHAT OR WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE ACCOUNT ON INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, OR TIKTOK?
@artgirlrising is an account on Instagram that tries to introduce women artists to a wider audience. The language is very accessible but also very helpful, raising a lot of important points.
IF YOU WERE TO HELP BUILD A UTOPIAN SOCIETY, WHAT ONE ASPECT OF THE ART WORLD WOULD YOU BRING WITH YOU?
The hardworking but also easygoing people who work in the art ecosystem. But also the way of thinking and seeing the world from a very unique perspective.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE (NON-ART) PLACE IN YOGYAKARTA?
The hidden cafes of the Bangunjiwo. They are always so calm and quiet. Looking out on the rice fields, listening to the sounds of birds and other animals, I just feel so content.
WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING A CURATOR CAN DO FOR AN ARTIST?
Provide a space to challenge an artist’s practice—whether it’s traditional craft or community organizing—and help that practice to grow. In Indonesia specifically, I would say it would be for curators to connect artists with people hailing from different backgrounds—activists, scientists, etc—as a means of generating opportunities for them to create important projects.
I THINK WE ALL HAVE SOMEONE (IDEAL OR REAL) IN MIND WHEN WE MAKE SOMETHING. COULD YOU DESCRIBE IN ONE SENTENCE THE PERSON YOU HAD IN YOUR IMAGINATION WHEN GUIDING THE BIENNALE JOGJA THROUGH ITS NEXT PHASE?
Someone mentally strong and ideologically clear in her position, who takes the side of artists and local communities, but still has the skills necessary to run an office.
