Central Stage
Central Stage spotlights artists recently, currently, or soon to be featured in leading international exhibitions and recurring large‑scale shows such as biennials and triennials, as well as those recognised through major public commissions or new acquisitions by prominent museums and public institutions.
Arahmaiani
Born in Bandung, based in Yogyakarta
ISA Art Gallery, Jakarta
Arahmaiani. Courtesy of the artist and ISA Art Gallery.
Arahmaiani is a leading figure in Indonesian contemporary art and a seminal pioneer of performance art in Southeast Asia. Emerging in the 1980s, her multidisciplinary practice has long grappled with contemporary politics, cultural commodification, structural violence, religious fundamentalism, and the contested position of the female body. Working across performance, installation, drawing, and socially engaged collaboration, Arahmaiani’s works activate embodied action and community‑based participation as strategies of critical intervention and social advocacy.
Arahmaiani has presented her work internationally at major cultural institutions and biennials, including Tate Modern (London), the Brooklyn Museum (New York), the National Gallery Singapore, the Istanbul Biennial, the Gwangju Biennale, and Documenta 15 (Kassel). Her works are held in numerous public collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, Museum MACAN (Jakarta), the Asia Society Museum (New York), and the Singapore Art Museum.
Arahmaiani, Pelangi 1, 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 120 cm. Courtesy of the artist and ISA Art Gallery.
About the Artist
Based in Yogyakarta, Arahmaiani is an Indonesian multidisciplinary artist whose practice has played a defining role in shaping contemporary and performance art in Southeast Asia. Her practice brings together formal experimentation with incisive critiques of power, ideology, and subjectivities. Arahmaiani’s seminal performances, including the ongoing Flag Project (2006–present), have been staged internationally and frequently develop through collaboration with local communities and activist networks. She is also a prolific writer and theorist, with extensive publications on art, feminism, and environmental politics.
