Traditional Architecture and Contemporary Art

The Estate of Kartika Affandi

Zeitraum: 12.07.2017 -

Förderung: ASEA Uninet & FFG: FEM-Tech Studentinnenpraktika

Partner: TU Wien, Abteilung Baugeschichte::Bauforschung (BF)
TU Wien, Abteilung Bauphysik und Bauökologie (BPI)
Donau Universität Krems , European Research Centre for Book and paper Conservation-Restoration (DUK)
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (UGM)

Projektleitung: DI Dr. Ulrike Herbig

Projektteam: Lukas Stampfer BSc, (BF)
DI DR. Ulrich Pont (BPI)
DI Doris Grandits (Praktikantin
Dr M.Eng. Ikaputra, Dr. Sita Laretna Adishakti (UGM)
Dr habil Patricia Engel, (DUK)

Kartika Affandi is one of the most important contemporary artists in Indonesia. Keeping up the legacy of her father Affandi she inherited not only his talent but also an interest in architecture. Whereas Affandi designed the Museum in Yogyakarta as a place to host his art and this of his family in a very particular and unique architecture, Kartika created a space for her art work hosted in a lavish garden inside of typical traditional buildings of central Java that she collected over the last years. The collection of buildings and art is a unique place where Kartika not only created a place for art but also a place where art is created in inviting interested women to workshops to produce art on their own and also displays sculptures and paintings of artists all over Indonesia.

The traditional buildings translocated to the garden are pieces of art on their own and an important part of the architectural heritage of Indonesia. In the way they are displayed and used the premises are a kind of open air museum providing an insight into different styles of the so called joglo type of buildings, which is an important part of the traditional architecture of central Java. In terms of history of architecture they are of exceptional interest as they represent a building typology that is declining. Combined with the art it is hosting today it provides a particular interesting place to research the history of the buildings and how they can be a suitable place for hosting artwork on canvas and paper.

For the architectural part of the research a comprehensive recording of the building with an in-depth building archaeological research would be needed to unveil the origin of the buildings and how much they have been altered when re-erected at the place they are right now.

For the works of art exhibited there, a survey of exhibition conditions is of substantial importance. Not only the physical conditions, but also the reception of the works of art is of great interest. To exhibit these particular works of art a particular reception of them was developed earlier and also the exhibition in the concrete environment fosters a distinct sort of reception. To understand the reception fully is one of the prerequisites of any conservation work, as presentation in a certain context is one of the fundamental tasks of conservation. Therefore the exhibition conditions in the joglo collection, which consist on 9 buildings, of Kartika should be studied in comprehensive way.

As a side work so far found notes about the architecture and the works of art by Kartika and her family members are on paper and should be part of the conservation project, as they show severe damage such as ink corrosion, a fatal decay of a particular ink (iron gall ink), a work that will be accomplished by the cooperation partner at the Donau University Krems.

The joglo collection of Kartika reflects a raising awareness about tradition and its manifestations and also the possibility to move traditional buildings and put them into a new context, which is a trend that is raising within Indonesia. You can find traditional houses of central Java (limasan) in Bali used as bungalows in touristic enterprises for providing the “traditional experience of Indonesia”. This trend reflects a general recollection on the values of tradition as a part of the cultural identity.

In this way the interdisciplinary research in Kartika’s estate can provide a new approach to research the interrelation between art and architecture but also between the tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Entrance to the main gallery (Lukas Stampfer 2017)	Screenshot of the 3D point cloud (Doris Grandist and Lukas Stampfer 2017)
3D pointcloud of the estate of Kartika Affandi (Doris Grandist and Lukas Stampfer 2017)	Doris Grandits at work using a Riegl Laserscanner (Lukas Stampfer 2017)