Museum MACAN Announces Artist Citra Sasmita’s Tales of Nowhere, the Fifth UOB Museum MACAN Children’s Art Space Commission

Artist Citra Sasmita, 2017 UOB Painting of the Year (Indonesia) Gold Winner. Image courtesy of Yeo Workshop

Jakarta, 9 November 2020  – Museum MACAN announces the fifth commission for the UOB Museum MACAN Children’s Art Space Commission, which will feature the work of Indonesian artist, Citra Sasmita, Gold Award winner of the 2017 UOB Painting of the Year (Indonesia). UOB Indonesia is the Museum’s Major Education Partner and their collaboration reflects strong cross-sector support for art and education.

In December, Citra Sasmita’s commission for children will be unveiled across a range of online platforms. Titled Tales of Nowhere, it brings the imaginary world of Bali’s fables and myths to life. The Children’s Art Space commission is a hybrid of physical installation and online engagement, designed exclusively for children and their families. In view of the current social distancing measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the physical exhibition at the Museum will open at a later date with necessary health protocols and precautionary measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of visitors.

From a young age, Citra Sasmita’s passion for reading has sparked her imagination about people and places. Growing up, Citra began to create her own stories that depicted the life of a modern Balinese woman facing the social and technological changes of the 21st century. Through her artworks, which incorporate Kamasan, a traditional Balinese painting style technique, she retells traditional folklores and adapts them for the contemporary social context.

In Tales of Nowhere, Citra Sasmita imagines a kingdom of mythical animals, which she painted on a majestic, eight-metre-long scroll. Her painting has been digitised so it can be exhibited online. Each animal in this large painting has its own distinctive character. Among them are a slender deer, known to be wise in Balinese folklore, and a tiger as a nod to Museum MACAN (the Museum’s acronym means tiger in bahasa Indonesia). All of these characters are nameless as the artist will invite the audience to help her name them through an interactive online activity. Citra Sasmita will also encourage children to create their own stories with the animals they have encountered in her stories.

Within and beyond Indonesia, children and their families will be able to listen to Citra Sasmita as she reads fables from Tales of Nowhere. Her stories will be brought to life with the use of web augmented reality (WebAR) technology so that viewers can also experience the fables online by accessing Museum MACAN’s website. In Tales of Nowhere, animals will come alive through a 3600 virtual tour, face tattoos as Instagram filters and a WebAR feature that enables children to play with the animals.

Citra Sasmita said, “Tales of Nowhere is a representation of the pure world of childhood. It provides a safe space for children to get to know a new environment and new characters, while exploring their most valuable treasure, namely their imagination. The stories will share with children the value of kindness, peace, compassion and leadership. As children, we first learned these traits through stories told by our grandparents, passed on to our parents. We then pass them to our own children as bedtime stories and one day they will continue the legacy. These classic fables will evoke the treasured memories of our childhood.”

Fenessa Adikoesoemo, Chairwoman of Museum MACAN Foundation, said, “This is a cutting-edge installation that transcends the many boundaries that we are facing in the art world due to the global pandemic. I am grateful that UOB, our Major Education Partner, has been very supportive to the Museum in the development of this project. I am looking forward to children and families across Indonesia and beyond to experience Tales of Nowhere.”

Aprina Murwanti, Head of Education and Public Program in Museum MACAN, said, “We have been working with Ms Citra for months, through countless online conversations between Jakarta and Bali, to bring Tales of Nowhere to life. We strive to present this hybrid experience to more children because we believe that they need meaningful art interaction in between hours of online learning as they stay at home more during the pandemic. In an unusual situation such as this, it is even more important for children to meet new characters, to dream up a different world and to imagine countless of possibilities through storytelling.”

Maya Rizano, Head of Strategic Communications and Brand, PT Bank UOB Indonesia, said: “Enriching lives and strengthening societal bonds are fundamental to our philosophy of supporting progress in the community. As Museum MACAN’s Major Education Partner, we are pleased to support the roll-out of Tales of Nowhere to enable children all over Indonesia and Southeast Asia to learn about art and creativity. They will also have opportunities to learn new ways of expressing their thoughts, feelings and hopes. As children and their families enjoy Tales of Nowhere, we believe the exhibition can also motivate aspiring storytellers to create their own stories.”

The virtual experience will also be available in pop-up venues around Jakarta, with details to be released in due course.