PhD defence
Indonesian Art Historiography: National and Transnational Perspectives
- A.T.H. Siregar
- Date
- Wednesday 5 February 2025
- Time
- Location
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Supervisor(s)
- Prof.dr. M. Klokke
- Prof.dr. C.J.M. Zijlmans
Summary
In 1976, President Suharto called for a history of Indonesian art to be written. Two years later, the Indonesian government published Sejarah Seni Rupa Indonesia through the Ministry of Education and Culture (History of Indonesian Art). The book, published in 1979, is an essential reference for teaching Indonesian art history and is the first and only one to use the word 'history' in its title. Nevertheless, there are many problems with this book and other publications on the same subject. One is the dominance of the nationalist perspective, which denies the role of transnational actors and their historical development. Using this nationalist perspective leads to poor disclosure of historical sources, which affects their historical continuity and discontinuity. In turn, it obscures the understanding of changes in the development of modern Indonesian art. To this day, this 'art historical canon' is gradually being 'modified' and 'updated' by Indonesian and international scholars, art critics, and curators. However, the existing scholarship does not add new insights or perspectives. This leads to a stagnation in Indonesian modern art historiography, meaning that no new history has been generated, and old histories have been recycled. There is, therefore, an urgent need to broaden the narratives.
How do we mitigate the rigid linearity inherent in national canonical narratives? What are the consequences of excessive nationalism in the writing of art history? How do we challenge discourses by reintegrating the voices of marginalized or overlooked individuals into historical accounts? These are the questions addressed in this book.
PhD dissertations
Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.
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