Design/Art - Boundaries Renegotiating

In its second inauguration, ArtSociates carried out an exhibition titled Design/Art: Renegotiating Boundaries, bringing a regimen of 47 artists and designers into its fold. Substantially, this exhibition - curated by Asmudjo Jono Irianto - was not exclusively an art exhibition and vice versa, but instead examining the convergence between design and art, through the works of Mella Jaarsma, Nindityo Adipurnomo, Tromarama, Fajar Abadi, Benny Messa, Bagus Pandega, Aditya Novali, Faisal Reza, Amirul Nefo, and others. Upon scrutiny, discourses and practices between art and design in Indonesia are particularly distant and detached for the most part. Furthermore, design art is well-off in its convenient design domain. Albeit that decency, discourses and exposures on design art were so minimal. And thus this exhibition responded to that issue as a positive distraction on the ground of design itself. Rest assured, at first impression Design/Art might seem problematic to those who prefer clear and definite categorization of design and art; but through an alternative viewpoint, it is safe to say that this exhibition served as an exploration space for designers and artists, to diffuse the boundaries of each discipline, transcending the exact definition and fixed provision.