The ‘kampung formula’: Infrastructural adventurism and public art in Semarang, Indonesia

Abstract

Describing the artistic and curatorial work of the Indonesian art collective Hysteria over the last 15 years, this paper considers public art as a practice of devising relations with various urban sites and actors. I focus on Hysteria’s core strategy of organising art festivals and exhibitions in kampungs– working-class urban neighbourhoods – with the aim of creating novel spaces for artistic expression, showing that the kampung serves both as inspiration for artistic experimentation and improvised public space in the absence of proper art infrastructure. Further, kampung space allows economically precarious artists to engage the city, that is, explore its social make-up and uncover economic opportunities. A long-term perspective on Hysteria’s work reveals that activities provide members as well as involved artists with valuable urban knowledge and connections. Turning the kampung into a subject of public art and infrastructure of encounter through what I call the ‘ kampung formula’, Hysteria managed to establish itself as a representative of the poor and key interlocutor of urban development agencies, becoming eligible for a number of pro-poor project grants. Describing the relational network of art, kampung and the wider city, I therefore propose to see public art as a kind of ‘infrastructural adventurism’ that provides glimpses into various aspects of both formal and informal economies in the Indonesian city and extracts knowledge and value from marginal urban places.