TEMPO.CO, Surabaya – No less than 200 pieces of visual art such as paintings, installations, photos, videos, prints, sculptures, and architecture are exhibited in the ARTSUBS 2024 event at Pos Bloc, Jalan Kebon Rojo, Surabaya, East Java from October 26 to November 24, 2024.
Participated by 154 artists, the exhibition titled Ways of Dreaming is said to be the largest in Indonesia in terms of the number of participants, art pieces, and exhibition area reaching 3,900 square meters.
Based on Tempo observation, the art pieces are arranged in three spacious rooms in a historical building formerly used as the main Post Office, with zone one on the first floor, zone two on the second floor, and zone three on the back side of the first floor.
The cultural heritage building was also previously used as Hoogere Burgerschool (HBS) where President Sukarno once attended school. According to Surabaya history observers, dating back to the 1840s, the place is recorded in inscriptions to have been used as the Surabaya Duchy.
ARTSUBS 2024 CEO Rambat stated that the large-scale art exhibition was intentionally held to make the people of Surabaya realize the importance of contemporary art exhibitions for the community. Rambat hopes that ARTSUBS can attract collectors who previously only appeared at exhibitions abroad or outside East Java.
“We know that there are many people in Surabaya capable of becoming collectors. And many collectors from Surabaya purchase artworks from abroad or outside East Java. They should be able to emerge in Surabaya, but maybe they are not brave enough or have not yet believed,” said Rambat on Saturday, October 26, 2024.
ARTSUBS 2024 Artistic Director Asmudjo Jono Irianto mentioned that the hundreds of exhibited artworks were grouped into 12 topics according to their materials. The current artists’ perspectives on the ongoing actual situations are also included in the categorization.
According to Asmujo, organizing the largest exhibition for the first time was not an easy task. Especially since Surabaya has never held such a large art event. Nevertheless, he is optimistic that ARTSUBS 2024 can attract art enthusiasts from Surabaya and its surrounding areas to attend the event.
According to the committee’s target, during the one-month exhibition, at least 30,000 attendees are expected to come. “The goal is to open up opportunities for the contemporary art market in Surabaya or East Java,” said Asmujo.
Curator Nirwan Dewanto stated that Surabaya as the second-highest economy city after Jakarta would be incomplete if it could not host a national-scale contemporary art exhibition. Nirwan hopes that ARTSUBS can become an annual event.
“Our dream is to make Surabaya a city with sustainable contemporary art, not just occasionally,” he said.
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