Speculative Entertainment No.1 Sydney Edition

Presented as part of Sydney Contemporary – 7 – 10 September 2017 

Is there something truly universal nowadays, when human conception about value has been influenced by many factors and layered dimensions? What is more valuable when all of this factors and dimensions are detached? The answer then refers to “time”. Hahan observes that human’s process, actions, opportunities, predictions, and hopes cannot be separated from time.

Join 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Hahan at Sydney Contemporary 2017 for your chance to become part of an experimental art market in Speculative Entertainment No. 1 Sydney Edition.

“Speculative Entertainment No.1” is an ongoing project that developed from Hahan’s experiments about time and privilege, as well as an interest to experiment with the art market and use it as medium. This work is intended to hack the art market, and particularly to hack the artwork collecting system which usually limited. This work was initially exhibited during ARTJOG 9 (2016), an annual artist-based art fair in Yogyakarta, and has also been presented in conjunction with 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian art at Art Central Hong Kong (2017).

This work consists of a 7.5 m x 2.6 m painting which is divided into 1,619 square lots. Each lot is sized 10 cm square and the price for each lot is twice the entrance fee of the art fair. During the exhibition period at scheduled time, the audience can become “collectors” with the same opportunities, hopes, privileges, and speculations by choosing any lot they want at the venue. The audience members who purchase the lot(s) are encouraged to speculate by re-selling it according to their own speculative price and Hahan, as the artist, will charge 10% commission from the selling.

About the artist:

Uji Handoko Eko Saputro aka Hahan (1983, Kebumen, Indonesia) lives and works in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Hahan’s art making is concerned with the tussle between ‘high art’ and ‘low art’, blurring realism with decoration. Hahan incorporates film, music and street culture into a distinct visual language, creating a sense of movement and spontaneity in what can be described as a topsy-turvy reality steeped in satirical humor. In recent years, he attempts to display an art with the concept that emphasises the interaction with the visitors and relate it with the development of art in global as well as its society. He also one of the founders of Ace House Collective, a young artists’ collective and initiative space based in Yogyakarta which trying to capture the culture of Indonesian contemporary society through multidiscipline work process, collaboration, and research.His works have been collected by several art museum including Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Brisbane, Australia and National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Melbourne, Australia.