He was born in Bengkulu, on April 30 1987. Lugas Syllabus is a graduate of Indonesia Institute of Art, Yogyakarta. He had a solo exhibition titled Independence-dead in Curtural Centre Yogyakarta, which is curated by Suwarno Wisetrotomo and Aa Nurjaman in 2011. Another solo exhibition in 2010 entitled Welcome To The Family in Art Season, Jakarta. While the 2008 solo exhibition titled Neo-Adaptasi in Arya Fine Art Gallery, Singapapura.

He developed a miniature work of an army base installation of wood. There is a kind of terrain, weapons, trucks, tanks, substations reconnaissance, radar, and helicopters. Soldiers of the eyes are enlarged and reproduced. Eye has become the metaphor of vigilance, distrust, and violence in society.

Installing this miniature reminiscent of the violence committed man since ancient times until now. The history of human civilization has many colored, even determined by war. In fact, in the same time, it calls for peace as well continues to be fought. This is the paradox of violence in human beings.

Cordero is a graduate of the University of the Philippines and is a Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Awardee. His ‘street’ credibility draws from his continuing engagement in a distinctly in- your-face yet seemingly ambivalent relationship with what constitutes the contours of folk/Pinoy rock, underground and hipster sub-culture, dually persistent in a strain of art from the American West Coast.

His Nardong Tae comic series, and more recent three-dimensional incursions mining kitschy icons of B-movie/pulp fiction, materialize in this biennale via his work, Smash the Cool. This graphic pairing of painting and sculpture plays into the dark underside of the Maximum City theme in the way individuals turn up as casualties in an unceasing pursuit of the fraught project of belonging, this even as Cordero himself refuses any facile attempts at construing subjectivities.

Lutse Lambert Daniel Morin was born in Yogyakarta, on October 7, 1976. She is a graduate of Indonesia Institute of Art, Yogyakarta. She is still working as a faculty member at her alma mater as well as several other private universities in Yogyakarta. She is actively exhibiting since 1998 until today. Some of the exhibits that follow such as: Atmosphere Academic Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta (2007); Jogja Jamming Biennalle X, Jogja Cultural Park, Yogyakarta (2008); Space and Image, Citra Gallery, Ciputra World, Jakarta (2010); Art For Our Life Konyveshaz, Gallery of the Raday, Budapest, Hungary (2010). Her work titled Tanpa Batas won the title as a finalist in Indonesia Art Award, National Gallery, Jakarta.

Her work that entitled Survival Machines is a picture of his hard body and soul that must be owned by someone when they wanted to decide to live in big cities. Struggling with the time, it continues to run like a train. Scavenge for sustenance to continue steaming kitchen.

Persistence and determination are needed to achieve the ideals of a person to be great. A machine with technical trinkets and small to be a sign that humans are also required to complete the work the small stuff to achieve great things. Such demands are growing louder as we live in a city that moves fast paced, cold, crowded, and competitive.

Garcellano is a graduate of both the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines and is a Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Awardee. She was among the artists behind the now defunct but seminal artist-run space, Surrounded by Water which was active during the arrant emergence of artist-initiated ventures of the 90s in the Philippines. Her welding of openly interdisciplinary interests into her art studies has enabled multiply-layered projects such as How Deep is the Ocean, How High is the Sky II showing in this biennale.

It’s referencing of images of human bodies paused in free-fall stances, while easily construed as brutally tragic, also ironically opens up to readings invoking release as counterpoint to an invariable gravitational catastrophe—what she herself calls “a shedding of deadweight that hints of a future phoenix.”  

Salvatus is a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas and is a principal member of the eminent street collective, Pilipinas Street Plan. As himself and as his street alter-ego Boy Agimat, and also as part of the fledgling collective Plataporma, Salvatus has shown work in such sites as the Vargas Museum, Lopez Museum, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, among others. His more recent projects include those done for the Guangzhou Triennale, Koganecho Bazaar (parallel event of the Yokohama Triennale), and the 2011 Singapore Biennale.

His work for the 2011 Jakarta Biennial, Secret Garden, is a reconfiguration of a relational project that has stirred much interest in its earlier installations at the National Museum of the Philippines and the Vargas Museum. It’s referencing of improvisational tactics found amidst the prison sub-culture in his home province of Quezon, Philippines, has enabled Salvatus to further explore participatory projects increasingly characterized by a pared down aesthetic made logical by bare and inarguably non-optimal living environments.

Born in Magelang,1985, Matius got his degree from Pelita Harapan University, Tangerang. A young Indonesian composer who have won a couple awards, one of them was “The Young Composer in Southeast Asia Competition & Festival” on 2011.

On that award show, Matius made a piece called “Mukena”, the prayer attribute for Moslem women. In that piece, mukena reveals something that’s hidden and mysterious.

He brings the power of music into a fine art event. The tunes didn’t come up as a real visual form, but that what makes our imagination go even broader.

MENG SHU-YOU, work as an Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of Arts and Design, National Taipei University of Education. As a Taiwanese artist with living experience in the U.S and Australia during the post 911 period. She has dealt with the influence of Coca-colonization from cultural and commercial perspectives. Her latest project Mei Li Bai Bai that will be exhibited in Jakarta biennale , brings the concept of Mei Li bai bai continues her previous project Melting Down/Selling put which carries the process of melting candles and forms. Among her art work she has adopted different material such as ceramics, wax, cement, woods and already made object

The ideology of decaying plays the role of post modern attitude. It is a seriously describing of melting that expressed in the pop culture figures. In mandarin Chinese the title Mai Li Bai Bai is sarcastic. Mai Li means American power and Bai Bai signifies a Taoism religious ceremony for offering God, ancestors or ghost, meanwhile Bai Bai also sounds similar to Bye – bye in English. Therefore, the project Mei Li Bai Bai refers to the cultural conflict between ancient and modern an reflects the contradiction between local and global within the phenomenon of urbanization, maximum city.  

RE Hartanto, an artists from Bandung who is graduated from the Faculty of Art and Design Institute of Technology Bandung in 1998, and Rijkakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2002). He is active in exhibition, following a residency in a number of countries in the world, and pocketed several art awards.

He is working on 99 projects face. Since last July, he invited about 100 people from various professions, ethnic, religious, and groups. One by one they portrayed as closed-up with his eyes glancing suspiciously.

All the portraits were on display lined so impressive human faces are mutually suspicious of each other. There is also a video containing a moving eyes from side to side. All images were insinuating that multicultural nation mired in mutual hatred, alien, threatening, and do not believe it. Could it be blurry portrait of this diversity is also going to befall the nation of Indonesia, especially if it fails to build a harmonious life?

Lahir di Guatemala, 1974, seniman yang kerap menjadikan dirinya sendiri sebagai obyek dalam performance art. Dia mengikuti the 17^th. Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty and the Distance, Sydney; Biennale of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, 10^th, Habana Biennale 2009, dan Moscu Biennale 2007.

Salah satu karyanya, “El Peso dela Sangre” menampilkan dokumentasi performance art yang dilakukannya sendiri. Dia duduk tenang, dengan kepala basah oleh cairan merah menyerupai darah. Darah itu meleleh membasahi muka, leher, hingga ke bajunya yang berwarna putih. Dia ingin berbicara soal kekerasan melalui tubuhnya. 

An artist who was born in Padang, 8 July 1980, he has been heavily involved in various joint exhibitions since 2000. In 2009, his work The Dream won the award as the best works of the Seven Stars Art Award from the National Museum of Jogja. His work titled Intersection been exhibited in Indonesia Contemporary Sculpture, Andi's Gallery, Grand Indonesia, Jakarta.

In working his art, he combines the capabilities of carpenters, mechanics, and artists. His works are mostly in the form of machine that made of woods which can be operated, but its function has shifted from the interests of the ordinary into a unique kind of toys, it could drag us to realize other things which are more serious.

We can enjoy the work mechanism detail of the machine wood creations. More than that, we also can make it work as a stepping stone for the telescoped human problems today whose lives are becoming mechanical. Like the engine, our life is governed by routines that trap with the schedule of monotonous days.

Sihol Sitanggang was born in Banyuwangi (East Java), 1970, graduate of Mechanical Engineering, National Technology Institute of Malang. Works as entrepreneur. Joint with Canon School of Photography, 2004, Workshop Photography Journalistic in Galeri Foto Journalistik ANTARA, 2006, and Master class Workshop by Germany photographer, Peter Bialobrzeski in Galeri Foto Journalistik ANTARA, 2007. Since 2005 Sihol has concentrated on social and cultural issue that take place in Indonesia.

Rahmad Gunawan was born in 1981, learn the documentation photography in ANTARA Journalistic Photo Gallery. He has exhibited his works a few times, and he works as a free-lance photographer in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Sihol and Rahmad documented the testimony of Ramagede Tragedy, the massacre incident by the Dutch troops to the villagers in Rawagede, Karawang, Wes Java, 1947. They photographed the witnesses whom are still alive from that dark tragedy, including the victims’ living widow. They also captured the actual ambience of Rawagede.

Kelompok ini terdiri dari beberpa seniman Yogyakarta, yaitu S Teddy D, Yustoni Volunteero, Bob Sick Yudhita, dan Iwan Wijono. Mereka dikenal sebagai para seniman kontemporer asal Yogyakarta yang menggabungkan antara hasrat mengembangkan eksperimentasi seni rupa, pemikiran, aktivisme, merambah beragam media, dan bermain-main.

Mereka menampilkan kegiatan seni rupa “Tribute to Semsar Siahaan.” Semsar adalah icon artist yang lugas dan kreatif untuk memilih posisi strategis dirinya dalam masyarakat. Seorang seniman yang berterus terang menyatakan keseniannya berpihak kepada rakyat, yang termajinalkan dalam ketidakadilan sistem, dalam proses pembangunan peradapan bangsa ini.

Kelompok ini merespons ingatan tentang Semsar dengan membuat aksi melukis, performance art, main musik, dan berpidato. Berangkat dari konsep tertentu, tetapi mereka lebih mengandalkan spontanitas di lapangan saat beraktivitas. Bekas-bekas action itu ditata ulang secara artistik, dihilangkan yang tidak pas, kalau perlu ditambahi, namun tidak merubah greget total sebagai action trace.

The artists who was born in Tangerang, Banten is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts, State University of Malang. He has been held many works on a number of joined exhibitions. Some of joint exhibition that he has been followed who have followed includes: Mengenang Sang Pembangun at the Crown Hotel Jakarta (2011); the joint exhibition 2^nd God that organized by the Jakarta Art Movement in the National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta. Susilo also have had won the award as a finalist in art competition organized by The Beppu Asia Biennale of Contemporary Art, Japan (2009) and painting competition finalists "Jakarta Art Award 2001".

His current work is like a shooting game. He provides rifle and field mouse which is a pest in agricultural areas. The visitors can go try to shoot an animal that you are an enemy to the farmer.

some rats of the game are wear a tie, gown, or jacket. This could be a hint for people who become pests to other human beings. The shot is a form of punishment for those who become a common enemy.

TAYEBA BEGUM LIPI

“Bizzare and Beautiful”

Installation 2010

Medium : Stainless Steel Razor Blade

Jakarta is facing an acute problem regarding “acute management”, especially concerning the traffic. The local citizens are forced to accomplish the problem by themselves. The Governement isn’t reliable. The city of Jakarta pushes its citizen to be strong and highly inisiative.

Lahir di Kampala, Uganda, dia belajar di Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, Baroda, India. Dia kemudian tinggal di Thailand, dan aktif berkarya seni lewat fotografi, instalasi, drawing, video, dan performance art. Dia berpameran di sejumlah negara.

Karyanya, “Threshold,” menawarkan perjalan dalam ruang yang menyendiri. Lantai ruangan dipenuhi karung pasir. Dinding ruang itu ditempeli foto-foto hasil dokumentasi dari kehidupan kota dengan segala masalahnya. Pengunjung masuk dan melihat foto-foto itu dengan diterangi lilin. Pengalaman ini bisa memberi pemngaruh yang sangat privat, tergantung pada persinggungan antara memori, referensi, atau imajinasi pribadi setiap orang.  

Vertical Submarine adalah komunitas seni asal Singapura yang terdiri dari Joshua Yang, Justin Loke, and Fiona Koh. Karya mereka berupa instalasi, drawing, atau lukisan dengan teks, penuturan, dan beberapa humor. Proyek mereka dilakukan di Spain, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, AThe Philippines, Mexico City, Australia, dan Germany. Kelompok ini memperoleh sejumlah penghargaan, seperti the Credit Suisse Artist Residency Award 2009, The President’s Young Talents Award 2009 and the Singapore Art Show Judges’ Choice 2005.

Kelompok menampilkan ilustrasi ornamen cantik dengan elemen pedang. xIlustrasi ini menggambarkan tradisi ilustrasi figuratif di kawasan Asia Timur, termasuk di Singapura. “Humanity won't be happy till the last capitalist is hung with the guts of the last bureaucrat!”

Balanon and Valencia extend their collaborative efforts in this third materialization of their CrocoGator series. They both incidentally and curiously came out of early medical science disciplines before eventually going into fine arts at the University of the East in the Philippines. Valencia, in particular, has been involved in such variably graphic-oriented fields as mural painting, the street sub-cultures built up by youths on skateboards and swapping comics/zines, and production design for independent film and music video projects.

Balanon, on the other hand, comes out of work with the Mowelfund Film Institute with creative affiliations including the Philippine Educational Theater Association, Grupo Alas Dose, Surrounded by Water, and Komikera. Both artists prominently draw, figuratively and literally, from the illustrative language of animation, and their work for this biennale plays on tropes of movement, effacement, and loosely, assembly- line labor.

In their own words: “the project puts together two distinct modes of art production as practiced by each individual collaborator to create a singular work based on a given framework. It is also an attempt to synthesize disparate forms such as installation, process-based art, street art, animation, and video art.”

Established on Bandung in 2004, Videobabes is duo artist who love to used the medium of video art. They are Ariani Darmawan and Prilla Tania. In Jakarta Biennale 2009, videobabes participated by presenting a video installation at the National Gallery of Indonesia. In 2008, videobabes was involved in celebration of the 10th Year of Selasar Sunaryo Art Space in Bandung by presenting the work of Ball Paint on Canvas. Meanwhile, in October 2008 their work Mister Meet Greet was exhibited at the Grand Soufflet Festival, Rennes, France.

This group is processing layer of audio-visual by playing tempo, rhythm, and sound to pursue a certain effect. By special arrangement within the space of all other activities, the presence of their works has their own mixed power. At a certain moment, it mixed impact is more than the visual, audi, or tempo riveted.

Teror Hari Ini shows the pieces of the everyday bustle of urban society which contrasted with the quiet landscape, closed up certain objects, as well as activities in a different space. All rotated rapidly to then slowed and stopped at certain points. The series of images that could trigger further reflection about our trip down the drama of life.

He is is an Iraqi artist and currently an assistant professor at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He is known by the society of his provocative interactive on installations video.

Bilal's projects over the last few years have indeed discussed the dichotomy of virtual versus reality by elevating the relationship between audience and artwork. Its main purpose is to transform a passive experience into active participation.

In his work titled Domestic Tension, the viewers can log in to the internet to interact or shoot Bilal with paintball guns. During this duration, people can access to watch Bilal virtually for 24 hours in all space, so there is interaction with him via live web cam and chat rooms. This is an effort to increase awareness of virtual war and privacy in the digital age.

Lahir tahun 1961, Xu Zhongmin merupakan salah seniman kontemporer China yang menonjol saat ini. Lulus dari Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, dia pindah ke Beijing, dan terlibat dalam sejumlah pameran. Dia lantas pindah ke Inggris tahun 1992 dan meneruskan pameran di Eropa, Jepang, dan Afrika Selatan.

Karyanya “Ladder,” menampilkan tong besar dengan dua tangga untuk memanjat. Tiba di bagian atas, pengunjung bisa melongok ke dalam tong itu. Tampak diorama manusia kecil yang berjejer rapi dan merambat ke atas.

Secara visual, karya ini memperlihatkan keunikan karena pengunjung bisa naik ke atas tong, juga permainan teknik yang memunculkan gerakan manusia-manusia kecil dalam tong. Manusia yang memanjat memperlihatkan upaya untuk tetap bertahan di tengah berbagai masalah.  

Lewat karya “Ruang Kontemplasi,” dia menampilkan alat pancing dan bubu ikan, cangkul dan sekop, dan kumpulan renungan pribadi terkait persoalan-persoalan praktek beragama. Benda-benda itu disusun bertingkat dengan posisi melingkar, membentuk ruangan. Seperti dinding sumur yang mencuat ke atas.

Itu cara dia untuk berbicara soal kontradiski agama sebagaimana terjadi di Indonesia. Agama sangat dijunjung tinggi masyarakat sehingga membentuk masyarakat lebih religius, tapi sekaligus juga mengandung potensi-potensi konflik. Kekerasan dan potensi perpecahan karena perbedaan agama seringkali terjadi, terutama karena pemahaman beragama yang sempit. Kesempitan pandangan ini kian merasuk ke berbagai bidang kehidupan, semisal sekolah, lembaga sosial, peraturan-peraturan daerah yang berbasis agama. 

Karya Yudhi menarik karena banyak mengolah kertas menjadi kendaraan otomotif, seperti mobil, tank, pesawat, atau campuran. Selain keterampilan teknis kertas yang dibetot menjadi elemen mesin, penampilan kendaraan otomatif itu sendiri juga asyik karena telah dipelesetkan melebihi fungsi semula. Sebagian kendaraan itu ditempeli senjata atau peralatan perang dengan bentuk mengejutkan.

Kali ini, dia menghadirkan semacam tank dengan roda besar dan gagah. Tak ada ruang untuk orang dalam tank ini, kecuali tempat untuk menaruh senjata panjang yang menakutkan. Kita bisa menarik banyak tafsir atas kendaraan bersenjata ini, termasuk mempertanyakan potensi kekerasan dalam diri kita sendiri.   

Yusra Martunus was born in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra, in 1973. He completed his education at the Indonesia Institute of Art, Yogyakarta, he later became a member of the Group window in Yogyakarta. The group is getting appreciated nationally and internationally for its ability to incorporate games, social problems, visual preoccupation, and endless trials.

At this time, Yusra made a mass grave by digging in the courtyard of the National Gallery. The direction of the grave faced the qibla measuring 2 meters x 6 meters x 1.5 meters depth. Former quarry land is left to accumulate around the excavation. There also 20 body bags strewn around it.

What we get when looking at the mass graves that were presented as real as is it? Maybe we can remember about violence, death, life, or humanity. Whatever the vibration we feel, the cemetery is the final end of human life for the world.