Contemporary Indonesian art production is distinctive in its thematic and formal diversity, a trait that has resulted from the dynamic processes of colonial and postcolonial structures of power. Visiting Research Fellow Yvonne Spielmann is interested in how Indonesian arts of the present have emerged from a syncretistic mixing of ethnic elements and are strongly imbued with cultural and religious references. In this talk, Spielmann will discuss the contexts underlying the development of modern and contemporary arts in Indonesia, and how Indonesian art newly interprets traditional techniques and materials and marries them with Western influences and pop culture.

Yvonne Spielmann is an art and media advisor and previously the Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts. Spielmann is a prolific academic and her most recent monograph discusses Indonesian contemporary arts in the context of Southeast Asia. Spielmann is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at NTU CCA Singapore.