Grace Samboh

Grace Samboh is in search of what comprises a curatorial work within her surrounding scene. She jigs within the existing elements of the arts scene around her for she considers the claim that Indonesia is lacking art infrastructure, especially the state-owned or state run, as something outdated. She believes that curating is about understanding and making at the same time.

With Hyphen —, her concern is to encourage Indonesian arts and artistic research projects and publications. Her research looks at contemporary practices outside the existing centers of Indonesian art scene and slowly reconnect them all with the past and central narratives. With Enin Supriyanto, Yustina Neni & Ratna Mufida, she used to run Equator Symposium (Yogyakarta Biennale Foundation, 2010-2018) where they explored the possibility of connecting equatorial countries through current life situation with an admiration to the past and optimism towards the future. Since 2019, she directs programs for RUBANAH Underground Hub, Jakarta.

Her current temporal attachments are: a doctorate in the Arts and Society Studies, at the Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta; curatorial team for the upcoming Jakarta Biennale “ESOK” 2021 and “Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories,” a joint venture between Galeri Nasional Indonesia, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and Goethe-Institut (2021-2022).