Celebrating and Launching 'Living Art' with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia

On August 3rd our community of scholars from the humanities, arts and social sciences came together to celebrate the launch of a very special book: Living Art: Indonesian artists engage politics, society and history, edited by Elly Kent, Virginia Hooker and Caroline Turner. Extensively illustrated, Living Art makes an original and exciting contribution to the literature on Indonesian art. It acknowledges and analyses the diversity of Indonesia’s contemporary art and offers new insights into Indonesian art history, as well as the contemporary art histories of Southeast Asia and Asia more generally.

The launch, which was generously co-sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, opened with comments from H.E. Dr Siswo Pramono, Indonesian Ambassador for Australia and the Republic of Vanuatu, and closed with a special performance choreographed by Amrih Widodo and performed by Gede Eka Riadi. It was a special evening of cultural celebration, and a wonderful way to promote this new book from members of the ANU’s community of Indonesia scholars.