Nick Cohen, in the Observer, cites example after example of avant-garde artists entering a vicious circle of exhibitions as their refusal to confront selected groups reduces the power and point of their art. The most powerful exclusion belongs to Islam, but all those who participate in the identity politics of the left are excised from their focus. Their works are brittle and pointless:
Their justifications for edgy art won't work any longer and not only
because the average member of the educated bourgeoisie likes nothing
better than f-words and pallid bodies on a visit to the theatre or
gallery. After the refusal of the entire British press to print
innocuous Danish cartoons, the stench of death is in the air. It is now
ridiculous and impossible to talk about a fearless disregard for easily
offended sensibilities.
Artists in Britain may find the reaction of Jim Supangkat, who curated a biennale at Jakarta in 2005, including the controversial installation with a semi-nude representation, "Pinkswing Park", that faced protests from fundamentalists, the Front of the Defenders of Islam. Mr Supangkat proceeded to close down the Biennale and his prescient contradiction that resisting fundamentalism could lead to the erroneous viewpoint that Islam opposes freedom of expression was proved by his own actions. Unbelievable.
Wiyanto: You announced that, in two years, the CP Open Biennale will no longer be organized. Is that a final decision?
Supangkat: The decision to discontinue the CP Biennale is final. To the artists, who expressed their sympathy and regret about terminating the CP Biennale, I said, "The CP Biennale has to die like a martyr, but the CP Foundation and myself are still alive."
Wiyanto: In your opinion, after this incident will the 'religious control' carried out by certain groups have a greater effect on contemporary art in Indonesia? Will a kind of resistance develop among Indonesian artists in response to such imposed control?
Supangkat: I don’t think that the FPI represents the majority of the Muslims, even though the principles they defend can never be denied by Muslims. But applying their protests to the field of art – protests that lie beyond the platform of art and the problems of the modern world – can only lead to us reaching the wrong conclusions. Any attempted resistance, and, even worse, if this is merely rhetoric, could only be connected to accusing Islam of opposing the freedom of expression, and finally, to accusing Islam of opposing art. In my mind, drawing such a conclusion is unfair, and it worries me that such rhetoric will be soon adopted by the West. My question is this: Can people of the Western world understand this to be an incident that could only take place as the result of civilizations clashing?
Wiyanto: In your opinion, is it necessary for curators in Indonesia to appropriate a religious knowledge or a certain religious understanding? In a recent discussion in Jakarta on religious pluralism, the religious attitude was also formulated as "tolerating the intolerant". Do you feel that your response to the protests now puts you in such a position?
Supangkat: I think that your question alone is already an accurate analysis.