Farhan Siki is
an urban artist whose acquaintance with art doesn’t come primarily from
formal art education; his background includes history and language.
Farhan’s art projects in public spaces – often startling in that the
artist works on them all by himself in months – leave almost no distance
between artistic autonomy and the public space. This is indeed a new
phenomenon in Indonesian art.
Since 1998, almost all
Indonesian public-space art has involved Farhan Siki in initiatives,
ideas and implementation. The visions of the public artists behind those
projects are parallel with the critical perspectives of city planners
that take note of the diminishing relationship between citizens and the
city as an entity.