Jakarta’s Top Contemporary Art Galleries and Museums

Originally founded as Mon Décor in 1983 by Martha Gunawan, this pioneering private gallery is one of the most respected art institutions in the city. With a collection of over 2,500 artworks, the space won the ‘Best Gallery of the Year’ award in 2010. In 2011, Mon Décor was transformed into an arts institution now called Art:1, and relocated to the Kemayoran area. This new space rejuvenated the city’s contemporary art culture. Art:1 is split into two buildings; Art:1 New Museum houses a permanent collection of works by prominent modern Indonesian masters such as Haji Widayat, Made Wianta, and Anusapati, while Artspace:1 focuses on contemporary works by emerging Indonesian and international artists such as Syaiful Boen and Aditya Novali, with a space that encourages interaction and exploration.

Andi’s Gallery diverges from the white cube concept, with gorgeous parquet floors offsetting the works on the walls. Founded in 1990, the gallery presents a wide range of modern and contemporary multimedia art, and has been central to the discourse of Indonesian contemporary art over the years. Holding more than six exhibitions a year, the gallery resists market forces, bringing marginal art to the fore. One of their first exhibitions, Super Realis, launched the genre of hyperrealistic painting into the mainstream. In 2009, the gallery broke new ground by presenting the work of 53 Indonesian women sculptors for the My Body exhibition, including the evocative works of Ade Artie Tjakra, Lydia Poetrie and Yani Mariani Sastranegara. With its finger firmly on the pulse of Indonesia’s art scene, Andi’s gallery is the place to find the next big thing in the Indonesian art world.

Galeri Hadiprana is the longest operating gallery in Jakarta, promoting fine art in Indonesia. Born out of founder Hendra Hadiprana’s search for beauty in the confusing, broken city of Jakarta after he returned home from studying in the Netherlands, this gallery survived the economic turmoil of the 1960s to bring art to the appreciation of the wider public. Having evolved through the decades, the gallery is now housed in a large, flexible space with movable walls – befitting of a modern art institute. Hadiprana has promoted and mentored many of Indonesia’s now-celebrated artists such as renowned writer and painter Danarto, Yusuf Affendi, and Made Gunawan. Galeria Hadiprana continues to promote the best of Indonesian contemporary art, staging exhibitions with a deep sense of respect and wonder for the country’s cultural identity and the gallery’s history.

Established in 2000, ruangrupa is an artist-led, non-profit organization that aims to support the progress of the local art scene through various initiatives, festivals, workshops and projects. Since 2008, the group opened RURU Gallery, which provides an exhibition space for young artists and curators. The group also facilitates Jakarta 32°C, a biennale showcasing the work of Jakarta students, and the international biennial OK. Video Festival, as well as publishing Karbon, the only Indonesian contemporary art magazine. Come here to see the youthful, experimental edge of Indonesian creativity.

Nadi Gallery was founded in 2000 by architect and art collector Biantoro Santoso. The gallery owns an extensive collection of art, especially painting, by acclaimed Indonesian artists of the past few decades. The name nadi means ‘aorta’ or ‘artery’, and refers to the gallery’s focus on the pulses of contemporary art. New exhibitions are staged at least six times a year with guest curators to showcase works by Indonesian and overseas artists. The gallery also facilitates exchanges between artists, critics, collectors, and curators through workshops and international art fairs.

Since Linda Gallery was founded in 1990 in Jakarta, it has been an active commercial force in the Southeast Asian arts scene. With additional branches in Beijing, Shanghai, and Singapore, Linda Gallery specialises in Chinese contemporary art, presenting the freshest work from across the region, and acting as a platform for artistic exchange and communication. Linda Gallery has hosted the work of renowned Asian and Indonesian-based artists such as Shi Hu, Basoeki Abdullah, Xiao Bing, Rearngsak, and Nico Vrielink, as well as participating in international events such as China International Gallery Expo, Art Singapore, and Art Beijing. For a glimpse of Pan-Asian art, Linda Gallery is unbeatable.

Canna Gallery is a leading contemporary art gallery that opened in 2001 in a small shop house before expanding to encompass three whole floors. It has since become a significant presence in the international art fair scene, regularly showing at Art Basel Hong Kong and ArtStage Singapore. Canna Gallery showcases cutting-edge, innovative works, with past solo shows by notable Indonesian artists such as Suraji and FX Harsono. The latter’s exhibition, what we have here perceived as truth we shall encounter some day as beauty was a powerful response to the fraught sociopolitical history of the Chinese-Indonesians in his native East Java, and the forgotten victims of the massacres in the 1940s.

The Balinese gallery BIASA ArtSpace has played an important role in developing contemporary art in Indonesia since it opened in 2005. The gallery acts as a complementary space, bringing an alternative platform to the city and continuing its mission for better social understanding through art. Past exhibitions have included the contemplative Garden of Delight by Indonesian artist Arya Pandjalu, in which the gallery was transformed into an indoor garden complete with grass, leaves, and creatures, with mixed media works scattered throughout, drawing attention to the contrasts between the natural environment and urban ecology. Another notable exhibition was Observatories of the Self by Yogyakarta-based Belgian artist Sara Nuytemans. This show presented seven interactive, kinetic installations which used reflective media, light and technology to capture the viewer and the environment, creating ‘constellations’ that explored the way humans interact with the world.