Professor Jon Cattapan, one of Australia’s leading visual artists, encourages Australian artists to look beyond the North and collaborate with their counterparts in Indonesia.
Speaking at the Lunchtime Talk series at The Australia-Indonesia Centre, Professor Cattapan shared insights from his experience in collaborating with the Indonesia Institute of Arts (ISI) in artistic research.
“The development of artistic research in the Asia Pacific is directly related to the development and refinement of Higher Research Degree programs across the region,” says Professor Cattapan.
The collaboration has involved reciprocal visits by the ISI, based in Jogjakarta, and the University of Melbourne.
It is hoped that the partnership can establish self-sustaining initiatives that would allow young Australian and Indonesian artists to work together and learn from each other.
In 2008, Professor Cattapan was deployed by the Australian War Memorial to Timor Leste as Australia’s 63rd official war artist, where he travelled with the soldiers and observed their interaction with the local community.
His work in Timor Leste is also featured in the book “Framing conflict: Contemporary war and aftermath“.
This experience has led him to be driven by innovation. “Just say yes – it will take you to the most interesting places.”
Read his full address below.
Professor-Jon-Catapan-Australia-Indonesia-collaboration-in-the-arts (56KB PDF)
