Three Days in Bold Red: Impressions from Art Jakarta 2026
Words by Kerol Izwan. Images by Art Jakarta 2026
Every October, Jakarta has a way of slowing down time just enough for you to catch your breath before throwing you into a whirlwind of sensory overload. Standing outside JIExpo Kemayoran, with the city noise humming softly in the background, there is always that quiet beat of anticipation right before stepping through the threshold. You take a breath, adjust your bag, and prepare yourself to be entirely consumed by three days of visual conversations, sudden encounters, and the relentless energy of an art community that feels like it is constantly reinventing itself.
This marks my fourth consecutive year stepping into Art Jakarta, a fair that celebrated its founding 17 years ago in 2009 and continues its long, established run as a cornerstone of Southeast Asia’s contemporary art scene. For anyone who keeps up with its identity over the years, the annual color shift is always the first signal of the tone ahead. This year, it was an undeniable, bold red. Sturdy, brave, and deeply confident, it anchored the halls of JIExpo Kemayoran from October 2 to 4.
I arrived around 2 PM, right after lunch. Opening afternoons here get notoriously packed, and four years of attending have taught me that fueling up beforehand is essential preparation for taking in three massive halls of visual density. Under Fair Director Tom Tandio, AJ2026 felt distinctly experimental while striking a sharp balance between commercial scale and spatial play. The floor remained neatly structured around its signature segments, including AJ SCENE, AJ SPOT, AJ SCOPE, and AJX, alongside tailored partner commissions.
10 On-Site Highlights:
1. Julius Baer VIP Lounge: Handiwirman Saputra
Celebrating 20 years in Asia, Julius Baer collaborated with Handiwirman Saputra to feature his recent series and new paintings alongside Kuasa Alam ("The Might of Nature")—an interactive activation where guests customized their own art prints inspired by individual connections with nature.
2. Bibit & Stockbit: Endry Pragusta (Lost at Sea)
Bibit teamed up with Yogyakarta-based artist Endry Pragusta to present a raft installation inspired by Théodore Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa. Reflecting on navigating an uncertain future with incomplete tools, the installation resonated with the importance of financial literacy.
3. Treasury Showcase: Etza Meisyara (Gravity of the Unheld)
Treasury presented this year’s Treasury Art Prize winner, Etza Meisyara. Her intermedia work Gravity of the Unheld explored the transformation of gold into a concept of nobility as a transcendent value, creating a layered experience where audiences could attune their senses to something sacred yet grounded.
4. iForte & Protelindo Group: Agnes Hansella (Hutan Kabel / Wood Wide Web)
Inspired by mycorrhizal networks, Agnes Hansella transformed thousands of meters of discarded industrial cable and optical fiber provided by iForte into an immersive, canopy-like installation featuring interactive sensors that activated real-time light flow.
5. TACO: Palette Studio (The Curiosity Engine)
TACO presented The Curiosity Engine, a circular central kinetic setup representing the sun and surrounded by tactile, drawer-like mechanisms designed by Aji Fajar / Palette Studio to awaken innate curiosity.
6. AJ SPOT: Angki Purbandono × SAL Project (Berbunga-bunga)
Presented by SAL Project, Angki Purbandono showcased Berbunga-bunga: Tribute to Red Cross Movement in South Papua, a scanography and light-box installation set on a bamboo frame, serving as a monument of reflection on community land defense.
7. AJ SPOT: Henryette Louise × ArtSociates (Mammalian Locomotion)
Presented by ArtSociates, Louise’s spatial installation combined intaglio prints etched onto copper plates mounted on gypsum within a heavy iron frame, inviting a perimeter-style walkaround.
8. AJ SPOT: Albertho Wanma & Budi Santoso × ROH (The Nature Womb & Mother Trees)
Presented by ROH, this duo presentation paired Albertho Wanma’s mahogany and fiber work The Nature Womb (Karwar Series) with Budi Santoso’s carved jackfruit wood and orange jasmine branch sculpture Mother Trees.
9. AJ SCOPE: Debut of the MTN Market
A new section supported by the Ministry of Culture, AJScope introduced the MTN Market—bringing together regional art market initiatives from outside Java's main hubs, including Mini Art Malang, Artists Art Fair (Pekanbaru), ART HEY (Banyumas), Maa Ledungga (Gorontalo), Hello Goodbye Photo Market (Bekasi), and Watercolor Art Fair (Yogyakarta).
10. AJX: Korea Focus
Organized in collaboration with the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and KAMS, AJX brought 14 forward-looking Korean galleries—including APOproject, dive.seoul, GALLERY IN, PAGEROOM8, and THEO—offering regional collectors a direct look at emerging East Asian contemporary art
Beyond the special projects, the main gallery section featured exceptional curation across diverse spaces, including CAN'S Artspace, LANO Contemporary, Stasa Gallery, Sri Sasanti Gallery, Artify Gallery, ARA Contemporary, and Esther Schipper Gallery. Works ranged from quiet, contemplative textile-and-gold panel triptychs to playful graphic surrealism and narrative oil compositions.
Meanwhile, expanding to 39 artist collectives and initiatives across Indonesia, AJ SCENE provided an essential pulse check on independent, artist-run spaces from Bali and Yogyakarta to Bandung and Jakarta.
Held against a challenging global economic backdrop, this 16th edition proved to be a powerful testament to the fair’s continuity and resilience. Welcoming 41,646 visitors over three days, Art Jakarta surpassed expectations, with galleries reporting strong sales and deep collector engagement across both Indonesian and international markets. As gallerist Andonowati of ArtSociates noted, the event remains a true melting pot where local and foreign ecosystems seamlessly align.
For Musotrees, participating as a media partner highlighted the immense creative vitality and shared generosity thriving across our neighboring art scenes. The momentum built at JIExpo Kemayoran doesn’t end here—it sets the stage for the fair's expanding footprint in 2027, starting wit:
Art Jakarta Papers (18–21 February at City Hall PIM 3)
Art Jakarta Gardens (5–9 May at Hutan Kota by Plataran)
Art Jakarta 2027 (1–3 October 2027)
