Indonesia, Jogjakarta, architecture, art, critical regionalism
Abstract
The notion of 'art worlds' is useful for thinking about meetings of meaning in art, and by implication architecture, across boundaries of nation, culture and identity. Because architecture is less easily separated than some other arts from the conditions of its material production, it inevitably sits, often uneasily, between these material conditions and its status as 'art'. The aim of this article, which began life as an exploration of the relationship between contemporary architecture and national identity in Indonesia, is to adapt the notion of 'art worlds' to architecture and to use it to consider the production of contemporary architecture in Indonesia, especially by reference to the approach of one architect who explicitly thinks and speaks of his work in terms both of 'art' and 'worlds'.
