Grace Samboh
Updated in Sep 2023
EN – 249 words
Grace Samboh (b. Jakarta) lives and works either in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, or wherever her friends are at. She is in search of what comprises a curatorial work within her surrounding scene. She jigs within the existing elements of the arts scene around her for she considers the claim that Indonesia is lacking art infrastructure especially the state-owned or state run as something outdated. She believes that curating is about understanding and making at the same time. With Hyphen— (f. 2011), her concern is to encourage Indonesian arts and artistic research projects and publications. Her research looks at contemporary practices outside the existing centers of the Indonesian art scene and slowly reconnects them all with the past and central narratives. With Enin Supriyanto, Yustina Neni & Ratna Mufida, she used to run Equator Symposium (Yogyakarta Biennale Foundation, 2010-2018) where they explored the possibility of connecting equatorial countries through current life situation with an admiration to the past and optimism towards the future. In 2019, she joined a gallery-based initiative in Jakarta, RUBANAH Underground Hub.
Her recent endeavors are “Jakarta Biennale 2021: ESOK”; “Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories” a joint venture between Galeri Nasional Indonesia, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and Goethe-Institut (2021-2022); “Rewinding Internationalism: Scenes from the 1990s, today” organised by L’Internationale, and Van Abbemuseum (2022-2023), “Color Curtain and the Promise of Bandung” a series of roundtables reappraising Asian-African political imagination (2020-ongoing), and “Jejaring, Rimpang” in Pekan Kebudayaan Nasional 2023 (National Culture Week), Indonesia.
EN – 84 words
Grace Samboh (b. Jakarta) believes that everyone needs at least three copies of themselves. Through research, writing, and curatorial work, she jigs within the existing elements of the arts scene around her for she considers the claim that Indonesia is lacking art infrastructure especially the state-owned or state run as something outdated. She believes that curating is about understanding and making at the same time. She is attached to Hyphen— and affiliated to RUBANAH Underground Hub. She’s logs her writings at sambohgrace.wordpress.com
EN – 50 words
Grace Samboh (b. Jakarta) questions too many things at once and believes that everybody needs three copies of themselves. Through her curatorial work, research, and writings, she unravels social realities in the past and situates them in contemporary practices. She is attached to Hyphen— and affiliated to RUBANAH Underground Hub.
ID – 49 kata
Grace Samboh (l. Jakarta) mempertanyakan terlalu banyak hal pada waktu yang bersamaan dan percaya bahwa setiap orang butuh setidaknya tiga tubuh. Ia senang mengungkap bagaimana kenyataan sosial yang lampau diamalkan dalam praktik hari ini. Ia menulis, meneliti, dan melakukan kerja kuratorial. Ia bagian dari Hyphen— dan RUBANAH Underground Hub.
ID – 71 kata
Grace Samboh (l. Jakarta) hampir yakin bahwa setiap orang butuh tiga tubuh. Klaim bahwa Indonesia kekurangan infrastruktur negara dianggapnya ketinggalan zaman. Melalui penelitian, penulisan, dan kerja kuratorial, ia bersijingkat peran dalam beragam elemen dan lembaga seni di sekitarnya. Ia percaya bahwa kerja kuratorial adalah memahami sekaligus membuat sesuatu pada waktu yang bersamaan. Ia bagian dari Hyphen— dan terhubung dengan RUBANAH Underground Hub. Kerja dan tulisannya ia kumpulkan dalam www.gracesamboh.net
ID – 247 kata
Grace Samboh (l. Jakarta) tinggal dan bekerja di Yogyakarta, Jakarta, dan di mana teman-temannya berada. Ia terus-menerus mencari kemungkinan bentuk kerja kuratorial di dalam ruang hidupnya. Klaim bahwa Indonesia kekurangan infrastruktur negara dianggapnya ketinggalan zaman. Melalui penelitian, penulisan, dan kerja kuratorial, ia bersijingkat peran dalam beragam elemen dan lembaga seni di sekitarnya. Ia percaya bahwa kerja kuratorial adalah memahami sekaligus membuat sesuatu pada waktu yang bersamaan. Sejumlah penelitiannya berpihak pada praktik-praktik seni rupa yang tidak membutuhkan pusat maupun stabilitas. Dalam artikulasinya, ia mengaji-ulang hubungan praktik yang ditelitinya dengan kegiatan dan kejadian dari masa lampau serta stabilitas pusat yang kerap tidak merasa aman. Ia percaya bahwa kerja kuratorial adalah memahami sekaligus membuat sesuatu pada waktu yang bersamaan. Bersama Hyphen—, perhatiannya adalah untuk mendorong publikasi penelitian dan proyek artistik dalam konteks Indonesia. Bersama dengan Simposium Khatulistiwa (Yayasan Biennale Yogyakarta, 2010-2018), ia mengeksplorasi kemungkinan terhubungnya banyak orang di sepanjang garis yang membelah bumi ini atas dasar solidaritas, kekaguman terhadap masa lalu, dan optimisme terhadap masa depan. Sejak 2019, ia ikut menata program RUBANAH Underground Hub.
Baru-baru ini, ia terlibat dalam “Jakarta Biennale 2021: ESOK”; “Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories” a joint venture between Galeri Nasional Indonesia, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and Goethe-Institut (2021-2022); “Rewinding Internationalism: Scenes from the 1990s, today” organised by L’Internationale, and Van Abbemuseum (2022-2023), “Color Curtain and the Promise of Bandung” a series of roundtables reappraising Asian-African political imagination (2020-ongoing), dan “Jejaring, Rimpang” dalam perhelatan Pekan Kebudayaan Nasional 2023.
CV-like sentences if needed
Recent exhibitions that she is involved, be it as researcher, curator, advisor or contributor, includes “Jejaring, Rimpang” in Pekan Kebudayaan Nasional 2023 (National Culture Week), Indonesia; “Rewinding Internationalism: Scenes from the 1990s, today” organised by L’Internationale, and Van Abbemuseum (2022-2023); “Color Curtain and the Promise of Bandung” a series of roundtables reappraising Asian-African political imagination (2020-ongoing); the Jakarta Biennale 2021 ESOK; “FOMO/JOMO: Hacking modernity’s dualism” at RUBANAH Underground Hub, Jakarta (2019); “Ulah Tanah (Mischievous Earth), a solo exhibition of Julian Abraham “Togar” at RUCI Art Space, Jakarta (2019); “Unorganised Response”, at Auto Italia, London (2019); “Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia”, at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2019); “Choreographed Knowledges”, a solo exhibition of Julia Sarisetiati, at Cemeti — Institute for Art and Society, Yogyakarta (2019); “Daur Amanat” (Inherited Order), a solo exhibition of Ary “Jimged” Sendy, at Rubanah Underground Hub, Jakarta (2018); “RETURNS” curated by David Teh, as part of the Gwangju Biennale, Korea (2018); “Ties of History – Art from Southeast Asia” at the Metropolitan Museum, UP Vargas Museum, and Yuchengco Museum, Manila (2018); “SUNSHOWER – Contemporary art from Southeast Asia 1980s to now” at the Mori Art Museum and the National Art Center Tokyo (2017).
Her recent essays can be found in Corina Apostol & Nato Thompson (eds.) Making Another World Possible: 10 Creative Time Summits, 10 Global Issues, 100 Art Projects, initiated by Creative Time, published by Routledge (2019); Lucy Steeds (et al, ed.), Curating After the Global: Roadmaps for the Present, co-published by Luma Foundation, CCS Bard and MIT Press (2019); Amelia Barikin & Helen Hughes (eds.), Tom Nicholson: Lines towards Another, co-published by the IMA, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and Sternberg Press (2018); Udo Kittelmann & Gabriele Knapstein (eds.), Hello World: Revising a Collection, Nationalgalerie Berlin and Hirmer Verlag (2018); jurnalkarbon.net (2017).
Profile pictures
Downloadable hi-res, please mind the photo credits as mentioned.
Photo by Tamarra;
Courtesy of Hyphen—;
Courtesy of RUBANAH Underground Hub;
Photo by Ary “Jimged” Sendy. Courtesy of Jakarta Biennale 2021: ESOK;
Photo taken by Julian Abraham “Togar”
CV
Last updated June 2022, click here to download