In the late 90s and early 2000s, groups of young people who organize activities, publishing and exhibition/discussion space emerged in Yogyakarta, which at the time, was often called alternative space. In the realm of visual arts, the emergence of this alternative space marked the new generation of Indonesian artists who were aware of not following mainstream as the orientation anymore, and rather focusing themselves more on personal forms of art and chose activism as the way out.

Ruang MES 56, as the exponent of this generation, is one that is still surviving until now. As an art collective focusing on photography, they witnessed the transition from analog photography era to digital, experienced the time when the ‘art’ status of photography was questioned thus being invited to visual arts biennales. The journey of this collective surely left a trace on the arts and photography history in Indonesia, which at least helped in forming the current condition, where photography as a popular practice is thriving in a massive way; while on the other hand, photography as art medium is quite stagnant. The role of a collective here is as the agent for knowledge, and the development of society’s capacity is being examined and repeatedly questioned.

Through this “Stories of A Space. Living Expectation: Understanding Indonesian Contemporary Photography through Ruang MES 56 Practices.” book, the MES 56 collective conducted a kind of self-critics toward their role or progress in the last ten years. The initiative is shown through the method and structure of this book, where they invited six writers to contribute by writing on the progress of MES 56 from their own competence perspectives. As for the structure, this book is compiled into three main subjects, including the history of photography in Indonesia, photography in the context of visual arts in Indonesia, and the reflective efforts which move back and forth in seeing the history and the basic questions raised from the journey of MES 56. The first two subjects serve as the background for the existence of MES 56 which stands in two visual realms: photography and visual arts. The last part is a form of effort to represent a variety of events which constructed MES 56 until it reaches its current formation; this is in order to foresee the future.
This book fills the open gap of photography literature in Indonesia, whether it is from the historical or discourse perspective.

Duel Language publication: Bahasa Indonesia / English

Hardcover Hotprint Deboss
14 x 21 cm
284 Halaman
Full Color
HVS 100gram Pure White