A PROPOSAL FOR A PERMANENT FIXTURE AT ARK GALERIE IN TWO EDITIONS: SUPERLIGHT
2013...click here

In A Proposal for A Permanent Fixture at Ark Galerie in Two Editions: Superlight, Melbourne-based Indonesian artist, Ardi Gunawan duplicates the mezzanine floor of Ark Galerie and creates an exact replica of his earlier work, Superlight. Superlight is a sculptural work that consists of an assemblage of detritus that Ardi had selected according to distinct categories. For Ardi, this act of categorizing is important as it emphasizes art practice as a staged practice that is built according to specific parameters, rather than arising from the artist's intuition alone.


For this exhibition, Ardi utilized a variety of leftover items such as building materials, furniture, soft toys and used fabrics, reconfiguring and assembling them until they reach a balanced point. By doing so, he questions the convention of sculpture as a solid and permanent entity that stands undisturbed by chance. In doubling his earlier work, Ardi also becomes involved in a critical act of self-parody. The technique of parody is further employed in creating a replica of the gallery space as a response to its commercial function as well as modernist, "white cube" design, with its usual preference to authentic works that cannot be duplicated.

WRITER: Mitha Budhyarto
CONTRIBUTOR: Spiros Panigirakis and Keith Wong
PERFORMER: Nadine and Sherine Hassan
EXHIBITED AT: Ark Galerie, Jakarta, 2013