Jean Couteau: A Loyal Indonesia Visual Arts Writer

How are you? Do you still write?” said Jean Couteau in a friendly manner, when I visited her simple home on the bank of river Ayung in North Denpasar.

“I am fine, Mr. Jean. I sure continue to write,” I said.

“Ehm, it’s good. Although we know that too be a writer we must be ready to always be poor,” said Jean laughing. I was also laughed, of course with a bitter tone.

Ehm, what else can we do, becoming a writer is a choice and I want to stick to that. Jean Couteau has loyally been in this profession since many years ago. Jean likes to write many things related to arts, tourism, social and cultural matters.

He started his writing career when he was a student. He has had many curatorial articles and introductions to fine arts exhibition, loose articles in  national and international various mass media, seminar papers or a complete writing in the form of books on creative process and the achievements of several artists.

Many talented youth of Bali become famous and ‘best selling’ in the fine arts market and one of the ways is through their writings. Yet, Jean Couteau continues to lead a simple life, as if luxury is never written in his fate. This becomes very ironical when he is compared to those that he orbited; they live a luxurious life.

Jean has lived in Bali since more than 27 years ago. He mingles closely with Balinese artists and intellectuals. He speaks Balinese and Indonesian fluently.

He received a master’s degree in the field of Sociology from the University of Sorbonne, France. His PhD was from EHESS (a branch of Sorbonne); his thesis was on the iconography of Balinese pictures.

That afternoon we were having a chat under the shades of a suar tree. There was a sound of water running through rooms in rocks. This famous fine arts curator and critic hailing from France were only wearing a white T-shirt and short pants. His pale face looked tired, although he kept giving his friendly smile.

We talked about the recent discourse of Indonesian fine arts. Jean said that Indonesian fine artists, especially the young ones did not seem to have a strong foundation in the midst of globalization and contemporary discourse. For instance, most of young fine artists are following the trend of Chinese fine arts.

Just following the trend of a best selling fine art has a negative impact on effort to dig into the depth of a work and on creativity. Jean says that young fine artists are too stunned with global icons and forget about local elements and icons of their own culture. “Market is too strong as compared to self-expression,” he said.

The biggest problem relating to Indonesian fine arts, according to Jean, is that there is no representative fine arts museum. It is time for Indonesia to have a structured fine arts museum for displaying the complete works of Indonesian artists. A museum plays an important role in establishing the history of  Indonesian fine arts. “The museum curator should be clear and structured,” he said.

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Musa Jonatan: A Part Time Curator

Musa Jonatan trained himself to become a part time curator.

It has been about 20 years, since Musa Jonatan become a curator for antiques and ceramics. His involvement was not something done on purpose. Collecting

antiques has been a log time passion for Musa. While he was studying economics in the late 1980’s in Tarumanegara University his interest for antiques and ceramics grew even stronger. Until now even only as a part time profession, Musa continues to do the thing that he loves most.

Starting from his fondness of collecting antiques, the man who was born on 1963 in Jakarta then continues to develop his expertise by reading literatures on history of Japan, China, Indonesia and literatures about ceramics from all over the world, especially ceramics from China. To add up to his reference, Musa avidly visit many ceramic exhibitions.

“If we only read books, we only have a very limited knowledge. As a curator, it is very important to look at the object firsthand. Visual check, measuring the weight of the object, feeling the texture, is as important as theoretical knowledge.”

Musa also like to collect imitations of ceramics. In his chosen field of work it is important to get as many references on ceramic as he can, because the quality of the imitations keeps improving over the years, especially when it comes to imitation coming rom China. “Trained eyes are needed to see the differences between the real and the imitation,” said he.

The first auction Musa handled was held in hotel Borobudur in the 1990’s. One of his acquaintances was a member of Himpunan Keramik Indonesia (Indonesia’s

Ceramic Association). His reputation was known by the association. He was invited to become a member of the team of curators appointed to be in charge of the auction.It was a one time involvement. Because a work of a curator is something he does as a part time job. Until now Musa is often took part in estimating objects auctioned at Denindo Auction.

As curator if antiques, his responsibility ranges from determining the age of an object, and estimating the appropriate price for the object. “A chip or crack on the ceramic, would reduce it’s price up until 2/3 or ¾ of the original price.” It is not the same with the wooden objects or furniture.

According to Musa, Indonesia has a wide range of ceramic wealth. Many people from countries such as China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia comes to Indonesia just to look for the ceramics.

Musa admits that he also collected ceramic. “But I collect just to add reference to my work. If we don’t have the real object as a comparison, how would we determine which one is real and which one is not?”

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I Gede AryANA: Public Needs To Be Familiarized With the Central Bank

Museums are perceived by many as mystical. The Museum of Bank.

Indonesia will be arranged to be an edutainment facility. He was dressed in batik print uniform, with black cloth trousers while holding a handie talkie in his hand. His appearance was simple; nevertheless it is quite obvious that he is a man that likes to present himself in a tidy and im-maculate manner.

I Gede Aryana, a man born in Gianyar Bali on May 13, 1960; is an employee of Bank In-donesia, who was assigned at the Special Unit of the Mu-seum of Bank Indone-sia. In the Bank he serves as the Deputy Manager acting as the operator of the museum’s operational activities.

Tuesday, 9 Feb-ruary. Visited at the Museum of Bank Indonesia building, I Gede aryana were given the opportunity to distribute information regarding his vision, func-tion, and role in the importance of public. The following is the review;

Why is it that Bank Indonesia, as the central bank, feels that it is nec-essary to open a museum?

Public views museums as an ancient, dusty, even mystical place. That is prob-ably what makes them chooses the mall during holidays, for its comfort. When in reality, a museum is a facility to educate. A wise man once even said, “If you wish to learn of a nation, visit the museum”.It is from there that Bank Indonesia had the notion to establish a museum. Aside from that, there is the importance for the public to learn about the central bank’s journey, because there is only one in every country, and the central bank of Indonesia is Bank Indonesia. So, it is a duty for Bank Indonesia to distribute the information to public concerning the history, roles and functions of a central bank.

How far of importance does Bank Indonesia take in exploring the museum knowledge?

We take it very seriously, firstly because of the connection to the said responsibility. If one wishes to learn about common banks then just visit a common bank, because there are plenty. On the other hand, when one wishes to know more on the roles and functions of a central bank, then visit Bank Indonesia. Then it has become the responsibility of Bank In-donesia as the central bank to provide the access, the way, by building an attractive museum.

Our seriousness is not only in the physical construction. We also have public programs, in order to learn the means of packaging museum marketing.

What is the structural correlation between Bank Indonesia and the Museum of Bank Indonesia itself?

The Museum of Bank Indonesia at this point is still in the processing phase. In this on-going phase, it is still stationed internally within Bank Indonesia. The workforce that manages this is the Special Units of the Museum of Bank Indonesia. Special Units mean it still has an ad hoc characteristic. Possibly in the near future, when it is complete, Bank Indonesia will consider self-managing some divisions, such as for publications or regarding certain evets. The rest of course will still be handled by Bank Indonesia alone. There is no charge to visit the Museum of Bank Indonesia. What was the consideration?If we utilize this museum as a profitable facility, it will be wrong. Because initially this museum was meant as an educational facility. When we talk of education, the calculation will not be letting out five rupiah to get 10 as profit. Educational facilities are placed to enhance a nation’s intelligence. When the people that come to this museum go home with added knowl-edge on the journey of the central bank, that alone has become a benefit for Bank Indonesia.

In the Museum of Bank Indonesia, there are facilities and infrastruc-tures such as the temporary exhibition space, cinema room, etc.

How far can third parties cooperate with the Museum?

We captured the atmosphere. For now we have a temporary exhibition space, however the construction is not yet complete. When it is (com-plete), onward we would be inviting public elements, especially those with concern towards the progress of art and culture, for example fine-artists to hold their exhibition here.Since this is already a public area, then there are wide opportunities for co-operations. Do bear in mind there are terms and conditions to coith.

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