Public preview gives glimpse of museum's potential

VISITORS who caught the public preview at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum Macan), the first institution of its kind in Indonesia, got a glimpse of its exciting potential.

While the museum officially opens on Nov 4, director Aaron Seeto programmed six performance artists for its "First Sight" public preview during Art Stage Jakarta week, placing its focus on performance art as an artistic practice that is fundamental in the development of contemporary art.

Brown and murky-coloured ice blocks lined the driveway where visitors entered. Chinese artist Yin Xiuzhen's work Washing the River meant that he froze 10,000 litres of water from Jakarta's Pesanggrahan River, and he invited the audience to symbolically "wash" the river.