In May 2025, Japanese artist Kei Imazu, based in Bandung, will present her first museum solo exhibition in Museum MACAN Jakarta, blending traditional techniques with digital technology to examine the interplay between history and futuristic visions.
Titled The Sea is Barely Wrinkled, a reference to Italo Calvino’s 1983 novel Mr. Palomar, the exhibition uses the sea as a metaphor for hidden depths beneath calm surfaces.
Imazu’s work draws from her research on Sunda Kelapa, a historic port in North Jakarta that was once a hub of pre-colonial trade and later a stronghold of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).
The exhibition reflects on the 1629 sinking of the Batavia off Western Australia, symbolising colonial ambitions thwarted by nature, while drawing parallels with Jakarta’s current ecological challenges, such as flooding and land subsidence.
Kei Imazu said, “It is an honour for me to present my first museum solo exhibition in Indonesia, at Museum MACAN. It is a very rewarding experience to explore Jakarta’s complex history and environmental issues through my artistic practice. Often, unseen and forgotten forces shape our current reality. Myths serve as the voice that conveys these hidden narratives, and through this exhibition, I seek to give form to that barely audible voice.”
Since moving to Indonesia in 2018, Imazu has been inspired by local oral traditions and myths. In this exhibition, she incorporates figures like Dewi Sri and Nyai Roro Kidul into her work to illustrate the spiritual connection between people, land, and sea.
The exhibition features large-scale installations with layered textures and blue-toned fabrics, evoking the ocean’s depth.
The Sea is Barely Wrinkled by Kei Imazu will run from 24 May to 5 October 2025 at Museum MACAN in West Jakarta. Don’t miss it!
Children’s Art Space Features Adi Sundoro’s “GORENGAN Bureau”
Alongside Kei Imazu’s exhibition, Museum MACAN’s Children’s Art Space will host GORENGAN Bureau, an interactive project by Jakarta-based artist Adi Sundoro. The installation transforms the gallery into a playful civic office where children can engage in city-planning activities.
The title GORENGAN Bureau is an acronym for Good, Organized, Responsive, Engaged Neighborhood Citizen Bureau, with a Bahasa Indonesia translation (Gotong Royong Membangun Angan) emphasising community collaboration.
Inspired by the reuse of confidential papers as fried food wrappers, Sundoro’s project invites children to map their ideal city using stamps, submit their aspirations on mock fried food wrappers, and receive identity cards as active citizens.
As Indonesians, you must have bought fried food on the street and discovered that the paper used to wrap fried food is used paper. Often, these papers are highly confidential matters that include a person’s name and personal data.
Adi Sundoro said, “Presenting ideas around personal data, city mapping, and urban life in the context of Children’s Art Space is a challenge, as these concepts may not be familiar to children. Thanks to the support of MACAN’s education team throughout the development process, this presentation was made possible. This experience has greatly enriched my artistic practice, and I hope it encourages more artists to explore imaginative ways of introducing complex ideas to young people at an early age.”
