The Collector | Art-world grandees assemble in Jakarta for opening of Indonesia’s ambitious new museum of modern and contemporary art
The brainchild of billionaire Haryanto Adikoesoemo, Museum Macan saw the who’s who of the industry descend on the capital
Everyone who is anyone on the Indonesian art scene gathered in Jakarta recently to celebrate the long-awaited opening of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (otherwise – and considerably more snappily – known as Museum Macan).
At the opening party, held on November 3, well-wishers surrounded Jim Supangkat, a leading curator and sculptor – and a founder of the groundbreaking, experimental Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru (New Art Movement) in the 1970s – while octogenarian calligraphy artist A.D. Pirous and many younger creatives (including those of Bandung-based collective Tromarama) mingled with collectors and overseas museum directors.
Melissa Chiu, director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, attended, as did Eugene Tan, director of the National Gallery Singapore.
Dealers were out in force too, with local representatives of Christie’s and Sotheby’s, and gallery owners Jasdeep Sandhu and Lim Wei-Ling, from Singapore and Malaysia, respectively, clinking glasses with major collectors such as Oei Hong Djien (founder of OHD Museum, in Central Java), Museum Macan’s founder and Indonesian businessman Haryanto Adikoesoemo, and his daughter, Fenessa Adikoesoemo, chair-
woman of the Museum Macan Foundation.