Alexander Supartono
Alexander Supartono

Dr Alexander Supartono

Lecturer

Biography

I am an art historian, curator and educator seeking to situate colonial and postcolonial visual culture (with specific interest in photography) within inclusive global history of art, collective art activism practices, and interdisciplinary research in the wider field Southeast Asian Studies. I am the first generation member of Indonesian collective of art workers Taring Padi. I hold a BA in Social Philosophy from Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Jakarta, Indonesia (2001), an MA in Southeast Asian Study with an Art History specialisation from Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA (2010) and a PhD in Photography History from School of Art History, University of St Andrews, Scotland (2015). My training in Western Art and photography history and my curatorial practice in contemporary Southeast Asian art and photography have equipped me with the range of methodological tools and research skills necessary in linking Art History, Photography History and Critical Theory with art and photographic practice from the global South Perspective.

Research Areas

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Prix Pictet Photography Prize nominator, UK
  • 2021 Fineman New Photography Award judge, Australia
  • Reviewer Carnegie Trust Vacation Scholarship, UK
  • Scholar Advisory Group of PHAROS project, USA
  • Juror Kwek Leng Joo Prize of Excellence in Photography, Singapore
  • Noorderlicht Associate Curator, the Netherlands

 

Editorial Activity

  • Editorial Advisory Board member "Photographies" journal
  • Editor journal "Southeast Asia Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia"
  • Guest Editor "Ojodepez" Photography Magazine
  • Advisory Board photography journal "Punctum: A Pan-Asian Point of View"
  • Editorial Board member "Trans-Asia Photography Review" journal

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Ground-Breaking Subject Matter Accolade for Dissertations in the Humanities, International Convention of Asia Scholars
  • Scottish Overseas Research Student Awards Scheme
  • Ford Foundation New York Researh Grant

 

Invited Speaker

  • The banner has been raised: The fabric of Taring Padi鈥檚 art as political tools, University of Cambridge, UK
  • Keynote on Original Copy: Political Character in Woodcut Works, Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia
  • Keynote on Art Collective and Social Realism in the 21st Century, Griffith University Art Museum, Australia
  • Educate, Agitate, Organise! Taring Padi Collective and Art as Political Tools, KASK & Conservatorium, Belgium
  • Taring Padi Collective and Art as Direct Political Practice, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
  • Collective Politic and Non-Align Art Movement, Tate Modern London, UK
  • Photo Albums and the Social Life of 19th century Javanese Antiquity Photographs, The Mus茅e du Quai Branly 鈥 Jacques Chirac, France
  • What to do with People鈥檚 Justice banner, National Gallery Singapore
  • Qua vadis Documenta鈥, Roundtable discussion Deutsche Gesellschaft f眉r Asienkunde, online event
  • Taring Padi鈥檚 People鈥檚 Justice Banner in documenta fifteen: Colonial Legacies and Entangled Histories, Framer Framed, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Oops!... Petruk did it again: A Conversation about Mobilising Image and Image Mobilisation, documenta 15, Kassel, Germany
  • Banner People鈥檚 Justice: Geneologi Artistik Taring Padi dan Praktek Seni sebagai Alat Politik, Survive garage, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  • Native Vision, Photography in Southeast Asia, National Gallery Singapore
  • The Archive as Producer: Abednego Trianto鈥檚 postcolonial Appropriation, Photography Education in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition International Conference, University of Zhejiang, China
  • Styling the Colonial: The New Approach in Indonesian Colonial Photography, Harvard University Art Museum, USA
  • Treasure Spots: Travel Albums and the Formulation of 19th century Southeast Asian Photographic Traditions, John Thomson: Reframing Material, Images and Archives symposium, SOAS London, UK
  • Constructing the Portrait of Southeast Asia: Pictorial and Thematic Commonplaces of 19th Century Southeast Asian Photography, Leiden University, The Netherlands

 

Media Activity

  • Political self-portraits and Afro-Asian poetics: six must-see shows in Singapore, Art Basel, Belgium
  • Taring Padi: Tanah Tumpah Darah, Artlink, Australia
  • Statues and Activism: Maestro Dolorosa Sinaga and Her Protege Illumintae Indonesia's Dark Past, Jakarta Post, Indonesia
  • Taring Padi: 'Moslimfundamentalisted zien ons als bedreiging omdat we punk zijn', NRC, the Netherlands
  • Reflecting on documenta fifteen: On the threshold of revolution? Metropolis, the Netherlands
  • 'Shaken to the core': the Indonesian art collective at the cenre of the Documenta 15 controversy, ABC Radio National, Australia
  • Censure 脿 la documenta 15, Diacritik, France
  • 鈥榃e Take Ownership and Responsibility鈥: Indonesian Collective Taring Padi Reflects on the Controversy Over Their Art That Paralyzed Documenta, Artnet News, USA
  • Unser Theme ist Klasse, nicht Rasse, Die Zeit, Germany
  • A Radical Collective Takes Over One of the World's Biggest Art Shows, New York Time, USA

 

Date


21 results

Between recolonisation and decolonisation: Documenta 15 and the political decontextualisation of art

Journal Article
Br盲uchler, B., & Supartono, A. (online)
Between recolonisation and decolonisation: Documenta 15 and the political decontextualisation of art. Cultural Dynamics, https://doi.org/10.1177/09213740251323341
Documenta 15, a global exhibition of contemporary art that took place in 2022 in Germany, over a period of 100 days, stands out for two reasons: (1) for the first time documen...

Sculpture and Activism: Dolorosa Sinaga & Budi Santoso

Exhibition / Performance
Supartono, A. (2024)
Sculpture and Activism: Dolorosa Sinaga & Budi Santoso. 19 July 2024 - 7 November 2024
Sculpture and Activism of Dolorosa Sinaga & Budi Santoso is an exhibition of two sculptors, Dolorosa Sinaga and Budi Santoso who come from two different generations and cultur...

Taring Padi Reader: Tanah Tumpah Darah

Book Chapter
Supartono, A., Goddard, A., Seroussi, B., Laurente, D., Framed, F., proppaNOW, & Padi, T. (2024)
Taring Padi Reader: Tanah Tumpah Darah. . Griffith University Art Museum
There is no adequate translation in English for the Indonesian tanah tumpah darah, the phrase Taring Padi employ as the title of their exhibition at the Griffith Univeristy Ar...

Customised Postures, (De)colonising Gestures

Exhibition / Performance
Supartono, A. (2024)
Customised Postures, (De)colonising Gestures. [Photography, Painting, Sculpture, Video and Installation]. 19 January 2024 - 18 April 2025
This exhibition aims to establish an interconnectivity between pictorial and thematic commonplaces of photography practice in colonial Southeast Asia and the contemporary art ...

鈥淭he Silent Waiting鈥: Javanese Antiquity and 19th Century Photography in the Dutch East Indies

Book Chapter
Supartono, A. (2022)
鈥淭he Silent Waiting鈥: Javanese Antiquity and 19th Century Photography in the Dutch East Indies. In Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia (307-311). Singapore: National Gallery of Singapore
In assessing a cropped photograph of a Hindu goddess from the second base relief of the Shiva temple of Parambanan published in De versierende kunsten in Nederlandsch Oost-Ind...

Vom Eigentum zur Autorschaft: Koloniale Archive neu lessen. Ein Gespr盲ch

Journal Article
Junge, S., Ouwehand, L., & Supartono, A. (2021)
Vom Eigentum zur Autorschaft: Koloniale Archive neu lessen. Ein Gespr盲ch. Fotogeschichte: Beitrage zur Geschicte und Asthetik der Fotografie, 162(41), 5-12
A conversation on issues of ownership and authorship of colonial photographic material of Indonesia

Contesting colonial (hi)stories: (Post)colonial imaginings of South East Asia

Journal Article
Supartono, A., & Moschovi, A. (2020)
Contesting colonial (hi)stories: (Post)colonial imaginings of South East Asia. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 51(3), 343-371. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463420000508
This article seeks to explore the impact of digital technologies upon the material, conceptual and ideological premises of the colonial archive in the digital era. This analys...

Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter - Analysis, Artistic Geneology, and Archive

Book
Supartono, A., & Karsono, S. (Eds.)
(2020). Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter - Analysis, Artistic Geneology, and Archive. Jakarta, Indonesia: Jakarta Art Institute Press
Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter brings together 40 years of work explored through inter-disciplinary readings. Dolorosa Sinaga (b. 1953) is one of the most accomplished, c...

Stories Beyond Matter: Catalogue, Gallery, Anthology, and Biography

Book Chapter
Supartono, A. (2019)
Stories Beyond Matter: Catalogue, Gallery, Anthology, and Biography. In Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter (10-39). Jakarta Art Institute Press
Supartono, A. (2019). Stories Beyond Matter: Catalogue, Gallery, Anthology, and Biography. In Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter (10-39). Jakarta, Indonesia: Jakarta Art Inst...

Dolorosa Sinaga: Tubuh, Bentuk dan Substansi - Analisa, Asal-Usul Artistik dan Arsip

Book
Supartono, A., & Karsono, S. (Eds.)
(2019). Dolorosa Sinaga: Tubuh, Bentuk dan Substansi - Analisa, Asal-Usul Artistik dan Arsip. Jakarta Art Institute Press
Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Matter brings together 40 years of work explored through inter-disciplinary readings. Dolorosa Sinaga (b. 1953) is one of the most accomplished, c...

Current Post Grad projects