2014~2022
ARCOLABS was established in 2014 as the Center for Art and Community Management within Surya University in Indonesia. Its mission is to enhance creativity and innovation through a variety of practice-based programs including visual art exhibitions, community development projects, hands-on workshops, student research and other academic and non-academic events.
After being independent of the university in 2016, ARCOLABS became a collective of curators on research-based curatorial initiatives. Consisting of three professional curators from various background – Jeong Ok Jeon (Korean) from Fine Arts, Evelyn Huang (Indonesian-Chinese) from Cultural Studies, and Nin Djani (Indonesian) from Southeast Asian Studies – ARCOLABS promotes both interdisciplinary interaction and international exchange between artists, theorists, practitioners and scholars.
From 2014 to 2015, ARCOLABS operated SPACE: Gallery Pasar in Santa Market, one of the traditional markets in South Jakarta. As the only contemporary art gallery in the market, SPACE focused on contributing to art experience in everyday life and to the revitalization of the market through art exhibitions and community development projects.
After a year of the activities in the market gallery, SPACE moved to its new location, and renamed as SPACE: Gallery + Workshop which was operated for 2 years until 2017. There the gallery was constantly developing programs through collaborations with local art communities and curators to support young artists with experimental practices.
ARCOLABS is also keen to a development of alternative art education in Indonesia and therefore has organized various art programs distinctive from formal art classes. SPEKTRUM provides college students with a series of mentorship programs developed by professional curators and artists in order for them to be equipped with the practical knowledge and experience needed in the contemporary art field. Since its inception in 2016, the program has partnered with numerous art schools from Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. XPLORE: New Media Art Incubation aims to develop new media arts in Indonesia and Southeast Asia by offering the participants the most cutting-edge knowledge and extensive perspective in new media art. This program consists of a short residency program, a series of mentorship, production, showcase, and pitching.
As a research center, ARCOLABS has conducted several researches on various topics, and its recent ongoing research topics include ecology-politics, new media art and disability, post-human art, and incubation-led curating. (Text updated in June 2022)
* Scroll down to see the list of projects held in 2014-2022.
DIRECTING/CURATING/
Jeong-ok Jeon is a Jakarta-based Korean curator who is actively engaging in Southeast Asian contemporary art, especially working on providing international exposures for regional artists in and outside of Indonesia. With interests in new media and interactive art, she has curated several science and technology based art exhibitions. She has gained an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design in the US and a BFA from Ewha Womans University in Korea. Now Jeon serves as the director at ARCOLABS and a full-time lecturer at Visual Art Education Department of Jakarta State University (UNJ).
CURATING/PARTNERSHIPS/PROGRAM COORDINATING
Evelyn Huang is an Indonesian curator and lecturer who pursues knowledge as a never ending path for her life. Evelyn has gained an MA in Creative Entrepreneurship from Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ) after her MA in Cultural Studies from University of Indonesia and BA in Visual Communication Design from University of Pelita Harapan. She curates annual media art exhibitions and international exchange exhibitions for ARCOLABS while working at International Design School (IDS) as the Academic and Program Head.
ADMINISTRATING/PUBLIC AND MEDIA RELATIONS
Dayna Fitria Ananda is a Jakarta-based art practitioner with a concentration on art management and art education. In the fields of research and writing, Dayna has a keen interest in the history and psychology of art and art exhibitions. Dayna earned her bachelor’s degree in Visual Art Education from Jakarta State University. Currently, Dayna is a curatorial assistant at ARCOLABS and art educator, providing private art courses independently.
LIST OF PROJECTS
EXHIBITION
- Art & Technology
- Mediascape: Materials, Senses and Beyond (2021)
- Five Passages to the Future (2019)
- Warta Kala (2019)
- Pekan Seni Media #3: Sinkronik (2019)
- Nomadic Traveler (2017)
- Dialogue with the Senses (2016)
- Visualizing the Invisible (2016)
- New.Future (2015)
- Typotopia (2014)
- Arbotics (2014)
- Ordinary Negotiation (2013)
- Art & Inter-culture
- Hereafter: Curatorial Research (2020)
- Chromatic Network (2020)
- We The Fest (2019)
- The Concept of Self: individuality and integrity (2019)
- Made Of: Stories of the Materials (2018)
- Breathing on Paper (2017)
- The Concept of Self: On power, identity and labels (2017)
- Goodness Culture (2017)
- PopCon Asia: Graffiti Revolution (2016)
- City, Remembrance and Reimagining (2015)
- New Icon: Pop in Asia (2014)
- Traversing Cultures (2014)
- Art & Young Artist
- Terra Incognita (2017)
- The Sky is Portable (2016)
- Ring Road Project (2016)
- Barterin (2015)
- Toko Bunga Anggrek (2015)
- Carbuncle (2015)
- Powder Room (2015)
- Konser Pasar (2015)
- GONI (2015)
- A Glass Box (2015)
- Rendezcous (2014)
EDUCATION
- Forum
- Asia Art Space Network with Asia Culture Center (ACC) Korea (2021)
- Southeast Asian Art Forum partnering with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore (2021)
- Incubation
- XPLORE: New Media Art Incubation (2018 ~ annual)
- SPEKTRUM: Student Art Exhibition (2016 ~ annual)
- Workshop
- Diam Diam Bergerak: Stop Motion Animation (2020)
- The H&H Experience: Performance Art (2020)
- You are the Replica of Your Own: Digital Collage (2020)
- Fun Robotica For Kids (2019)
- Basic Electronic Art (2019)
- Domestic Hacking (2019)
- Bio Material & Textile (2019)
- Tiba-tiba Fashion: Making accessories from mix materials (2019)
- Ecobrick: Utilizing plastic waste into bricks (2019)
- Collage Fan: Creating paper fan from collage (2019)
- Furoshiki: The art of Japanese fabric wrapping (2019)
- A Story of Landscape: Photopile (2019)
- Homemade Screenprint (2018)
- Collaborative Printmaking (2018)
- Travel through Art Medium and Technique (2017)
- Visual Mapping (2016)
- Experimental Tapestry (2016)
- Photo Woven Image (2016)
- Scrapbook from Found Objects (2016)
- Food Miniature from Clay (2016)
- 3D Decoupage (2016)
- Cut and Nut: Reform your old T-shirt (2015)
- Disrobot Radio: Audio Collage (2015)
- Do-It-Yourself (2015)
- Extraterrestrial Zone: Custom Toy (2014)
- Hack-Make: Smartphone becomes a digital microscope (2014)
- Art Talk
- Contextual Storytelling with Art (2018)
- Discover Your Artistic Soul (2017)
- Methods and Practices in Art Research (2016)
- Artist-in-Residence Program (2015)
- Curatorial and Arts Management (2014)
- Comics (2014)
- Lecture & Seminar
- The Korea-Indonesia Contemporary Art: Post-human & Art (2021)
- Media and Youth (2019)
- Art, Science and Nature: Towards Future Possibilities (2019)
- Indonesia Express (2018)
- How a Portfolio Communicates (2018)
- Nomadism in Contemporary Art in Korea and Indonesia (2017)
- Glocal Metal: The Blurring Boundaries of Black Metal and Javaness Cultural Legacy (2014)
- Towards Future of Indonesian Pop Culture (2014)
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
- Korea Arts and Culture Education Service “Made in Cirebon: Arts and Culture Education ODA Indonesia” (2020 & 2021)
- Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation “International Exchange Workshop on Art Education” (2019)
- Gyeonggi Creation Center “Artist-in-Residence Exchange” (2018-2019)
- Korean Arts Management Service “Project VIA” (2015)
- Korea Arts and Culture Education Service “International Project of Korea Culture and Arts Education” (2015)
