In this section we explore selected ruangrupa projects and exhibitions since 2000. The selection is based on ruru’s own archive and available materials – and what has held the most significance for their participants and publics, then and now – alongside key critical perspectives. It offers an extensive (but not comprehensive) document of 25 years of multifarious activity.
Many of ruangrupa’s projects correspond to three main ‘types’: (1) long-term programmes initiated by ruru as producer and organiser; (2) one-off art projects ruru has organised, created or hosted; (3) exhibitions and biennales to which ruru has been invited as ‘curator’ or ‘artist’.
There are plenty of slippages between these types, and they do not account for everything ruru is and does. But they may offer some points of entry into the archive. We may also think of some of ruru’s common strategies, such as living room, ekosistem and lumbung, which recur in many variations throughout the pages that follow. In our understanding, strategies for ruru have meant useful, practical ways of survival that reflect their economic realities and their learning from place and people.
(1)
Most of ruru’s long-term programmes were initiated within their first decade and have continued with varying consistency ever since. These programmes were born out of the interests and circumstances of ruru members and friends, including artistic research and collaboration (ruru house residency and exhibition programme, since 2001; ArtLab, since 2008); publishing and visual culture research (Karbon journal, since 2000); new media and film practices (OK.Video festival, since 2003); supporting young practitioners and student networks (Jakarta 32°C festival, since 2004; curating and art criticism workshops, since 2008); commerce and exchange (Holy Market, since 2009; RURU Shop, since 2010); childcare (rurukids, since 2010); and music (RRREC Fest, since 2011). In the mid-2010s significant energies were directed towards the co-development and maintenance of shared institutional spaces – Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem (2015–18) and then Gudskul Ekosistem (since 2018) – based on collaboration and resource sharing with like-minded arts initiatives, which also provided the bases for ruru’s long-standing programmes and activities.
(2)
One-off art projects initiated by ruru often take the form of artistic research – usually collaborative, usually including workshops or debates – most often followed by an exhibition-presentation at ruru house (or later RURU Gallery). Many of these derive from ruru’s practice of hosting artists in Jakarta, informally and via their artist-inresidence programmes, and draw from long-term interests in aspects of urban life and popular culture; and many of these participants were featured in the ‘ruru&friends’ and ‘ruru.net’ exhibitions as part of ruru’s tenth anniversary programme ‘Decompression #10’ (2010–11), signifying their importance as ruru’s supporting network. One-off projects often develop from or feed into the long-term programmes described above; for instance, most editions of Karbon journal are based on an earlier one-off discussion or workshop hosted by ruru.
(3)
Since 2001, and with much greater frequency from the 2010s onwards, ruru has been invited to contribute to exhibitions and biennales. They developed diverse approaches to presenting collective work, including celebrating ruru’s fun-loving spirit in exhibitions such as ‘Lekker Eten Zonder Betalen’ (‘Tasty Meal Without Paying’, 2003); creating site-specific archival fictions, such as Singapore Fiction (2011) and THE KUDA: The Untold Story of Indonesian Underground Music in the 70s (2012–13); extending their local research on material and popular culture to new contexts, as in Kaos Project (for Istanbul Biennial in 2005) and You’re Welcome (for ‘Rethinking Nordic Colonialism Act 3’ in 2006); or transplanting ruru space into new places, as seen in their contributions to the Gwangju Biennale (2002), ‘The Grand Domestic Revolution’ (2009), the 31st Bienal de São Paulo (2014) and Aichi Triennale (2016). Exhibition-making has been present in ruru’s practice from the beginning – for instance, ‘Jakarta: Habitus Publik’, the public art programme ruru curated for JakArt Festival in 2001 – and it is as artistic director of major exhibitions that ruru may be best known internationally. These more recent projects continued the practice of transplanting ruru space, such as ruruhuis in Arnhem a year ahead of Sonsbeek 16: transACTION (2016) and ruruHaus in Kassel two years ahead of documenta fifteen (2022).