Farid Rakun, the Director of Jakarta Biennale, visited Liverpool last month to check out the UK’s biggest visual arts festival and explore new UK/Indonesia collaborations.
Farid Rakun is an active member of the Jakarta-based artist collective ruangrupa. He is also a lecturer in the Architecture Department of the University of Indonesia. Since 2016, he has been taking the role of the Managing Director of Jakarta Biennale.
In a quest to explore more potential UK and Indonesia collaborations, particularly through Jakarta Biennale’s growing network and programs, Farid recently visited Liverpool to visit a number of art festivals and exhibitions, also to meet up with curators and festival directors in Liverpool who continue to contribute to the city’s contemporary art scene.
‘The first thing that surprised me the most during when I first arrived in Liverpool was the strong presence of pop music heritage around the city. Of course, there were obvious musicians such as The Beatles, but there was also the presence of 90’s Britpop music scene which is still very much alive on the streets of Liverpool’, Farid recalls.
‘I noticed that Liverpool and Jakarta have more similarities than we think.’
Farid also shared that he was lucky enough to travel to the UK during Pride month, and remembered how he founded the Pride exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool to be striking, reflected through how proud Liverpool was as a city was pioneering for the support of this movement in the UK.
One of the main reasons for this visit was also to attend the opening of this year’s edition of the Liverpool Biennial, titled ‘Beautiful World, Where are you?’. Widely known as one of UK’s largest contemporary art festival, the Biennial, which runs from 14th July – 26th August, invites artists and audiences to reflect on a world of social, political and economic turmoil with free exhibitions and events across the city.
‘Through this visit I am looking at the possibility of an artistic collaboration between Jakarta and Liverpool, not only through the Biennial but also with other institutions I came across with during this visit, such as The Florrie, John Moore University, and Granby Workshop.’ Therefore Farid felt that these visits were important as without them Jakarta Biennale would not have built natural affinities towards Liverpool’s context.
