Chapter 16 - A City on the Move: Bandung Today

Summary

Organized by Hou Hanru and Hans Ulrich Obrist and featured in locations across Europe between 1997 and 1999, the groundbreaking exhibition Cities on the Move highlighted an evolving understanding of modernism based on the post-World War II cities of East and Southeast Asia. Curating a visual experience that mimicked the controlled chaos of late-twentieth-century Asian cities, the show brought together more than 150 artists and architects in an attempt to identify hybrids and commonalities in a pan-Asian cultural development that arose in the wake of colonialism and the Cold War, and has continued into the age of “hypercities”like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Tokyo.

In discussing the development of Cities on the Move, Obrist stated: Normally curators know what they are looking for, but our research was a complicated process. We never worked out a complete exhibition concept— it was only during our travels that the whole complexity of the urban conditions started to dawn on us. As a result of this research it became clear that the theme of the exhibition would be the city and its dynamic variables. A city is never static, it never sleeps. Using these materials, we put together an exhibition that is in constant motion itself.

Ironically, this exhibition only traveled through Europe, securing the established divide between Asia and the Euro/America-centric visions of internationalism. Nonetheless, the exhibition opened new opportunities for discussion and innovation across borders, helped define a lexicon for better understanding contemporary Asian art entering the global markets, and left an indelible mark on international festivals and biennials for years afterward. ▶16.1

BANDUNG, INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

Bandung, the capital of West Java, has been a city at the heart of intellectual revolution since World War II and the Indonesian march toward independence, and represents a major urban center of ideological evolution, innovation, and conflict in Southeast Asia. Between organizations like Darul Islam and Muhammadiyah leading the path toward an Islamic state after the Dutch occupation, and the Institute of Technology in Bandung (ITB) offering an innovative approach to education and cultural development, Bandung has been a greenhouse of ideas for advancing different conceptions of Indonesian culture from the modern era and into the twenty-first century.