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Agus Suwage Indonesia, b. 1959
The Great Masturbator , 2016
Watercolour and tobacco juice on paper
76 x 57 cm
In 2005, Agus Suwage and Davy Linggar collaborated on a work entitled “Pinkswing Park” for Jakarta's CP Biennale. The installation comprised a room covered with digital prints depicting popular Indonesian...
In 2005, Agus Suwage and Davy Linggar collaborated on a work entitled “Pinkswing Park” for Jakarta's CP Biennale. The installation comprised a room covered with digital prints depicting popular Indonesian soap opera stars frolicking in the nude. Making reference to classical nudes of the art history canon, the artists’ choice to censor aspects of the installation was to highlight the changing reception of nudity and beauty ideals across time and cultures.
These intentions were overshadowed by a larger public controversy that occurred upon the installation’s display, which came to define instead the freedoms of art making in Indonesia after years of authoritarian rule under the Suharto regime. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) threatened to sue the artists, photographer, curator, and two models involved in the work if not immediately taken down, charging the work for its perceived pornographic qualities. Suwage was called in for police interrogation, and for a period risked charges that could have ended with a five-year prison term. In the aftermath, Suwage documents his experience of these events through drawing, highlighting the results of the debates for all parties involved.
These intentions were overshadowed by a larger public controversy that occurred upon the installation’s display, which came to define instead the freedoms of art making in Indonesia after years of authoritarian rule under the Suharto regime. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) threatened to sue the artists, photographer, curator, and two models involved in the work if not immediately taken down, charging the work for its perceived pornographic qualities. Suwage was called in for police interrogation, and for a period risked charges that could have ended with a five-year prison term. In the aftermath, Suwage documents his experience of these events through drawing, highlighting the results of the debates for all parties involved.
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