Alec Steadman and Sanne Oorthuizen

Bodies of Power / Power for Bodies (BOP)

Indonesia · Curating

Bodies of Power / Power for Bodies (BOP) is an independent curatorial platform based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, that collaborates with artists and collectives who are deeply invested in rethinking the civic role of art.

Their new initiative A Pond is the Reverse of an Island brings together two marginalised communities in Jakarta – refugees and informal kampung residents – with artists, architects, activists, school and university students, lawyers, and journalists. They all ‘act together’, developing artistic strategies to directly address issues faced by the communities; and ‘think together’, speculating about what a more equitable society might look like.

Alec Steadman & Sanne Oorthuize Afield Peer 2020

Alec Steadman and Sanne Oorthuizen are curators and community organisers living in Yogyakarta. Their practice focuses on social and ecological justice. Their work is centred within communities, but their are also invested in exploring how galleries can be activated as sites for civic action, broadening how and by whom art spaces are used. Their were Chief Curators at Cemeti-Institute for Art and Society (2016–2019), the oldest contemporary art space in Indonesia, where they developed collaborative and community focused programmes, introducing the subtitle ‘Institute for Art and Society’ to express the organisation’s renewed social focus.

In 2018, they initiated together Bodies of Power, exploring the social role and political agency of cultural practice and focusing on artists and collectives from Indonesia and abroad who work directly with communities through various forms of DIY civic action.

Alec Steadman & Sanne Oorthuize Afield Peer 2020