LaboKarya at Museum MACAN

Indonesian fashion and art collaborations
By FAM

Creative brand Uglyism. Image courtesy of Uglyism and Museum MACAN.

As the pandemic takes its toll on retail as well as all physical cultural activities in Indonesia, contemporary spaces such as Museum MACAN have chosen to creatively collaborate with the local art and fashion communities with initiatives such as Arisan Karya and LaboKarya. 

Amalia Wirjono, Head of Development, Museum MACAN explains that LaboKarya is a continuation of Arisan Karya, which translates literally as Artwork Raffle, an art drive that was initiated at the height of the social restrictions amidst the pandemic last year. In its first iteration, 350 works by contemporary Indonesian artists were raffled as a way to raise monetary support for the art community. 

LaboKarya, a play on the words kolaborasi (collaboration), laboratorium (laboratory) and karya (artwork) in Bahasa Indonesia, worked a little differently as a collaboration across industries. The museum connected leading local brands with Arisan Karya artists to develop limited-edition art merchandise in the following brand and artist pairings: Uglyism x Girls Pay the Bills, The Goods Dept x Mufti Priyanka, UNKL347 x Agam Dwi Nurcahyo (MAGAFAKA) and Indofood x Agan Harahap. 

The LaboKarya products were launched on 31 May 2021 in a half-hour event on YouTube, with a virtual press conference, the debut release of a music video by local indie group Elephant Kind — which featured the RAD Supersonic roller skate community — and a live styling session hosted by Nasta Sutardjo and Ayu Dila, the designer duo behind Uglyism, which produces unique clothes and bags of “unfamiliar beauty”.

Uglyism x Girls Pay the Bills, CORPORIS jacket, ‘Cunning Linguist’ collection. Image taken from @ugly_ism Instagram page.

Elephant Kind music video still featuring RAD Supersonic wearing clothes from ‘Cunning Linguist’ by Uglyism x Girls Pay the Bills for LaboKarya.

Museum MACAN not only instigated the collaborations, but also mediated the process, conducting two virtual talks to discuss the products and their value as collectables in the art world, as well as the importance of collaboration. These programmes go towards fulfilling the museum’s aim to champion art education in Indonesia. “Both programmes come out in times of pandemic, as a response to the need of motivation to create and survive in an isolating period,” says Amalia. “As a museum, our role is to evolve with the society we’re in and be part of the daily reality of the people.”

The Goods Dept, a platform for local brands founded in 2010, is no stranger to collaborations, and their participation in Labokarya continued in their tradition of creating tote bags with artists and brands. Permata Yudha, Head of Creative, Product and Business Development at The Goods Dept, says, “What’s special about the collaboration is the craftsmanship – we stitch many patches around the tote bags, allowing the message from the artist to take centerstage. In this collaboration Amenkcoy draws wise words from a mother’s prayer – that you will bring anywhere you go with this tote bag.” Commenting on the importance of collaborating with the artist, he says, “It means that we have to communicate, tolerate and meet in the middle. Our years of experience working with brands, people in the creative industry and artists have taught us this.”

Pandemic restrictions meant new ways of working together. Girls Pay the Bills — a collective made up of 11 young, independent artists that work in various art forms — collaborated digitally with Uglyism. “We did not know each other before we started this collaboration,” says Nasta and Dila of Uglyism. “It’s a great new discovery for us, and we had so much fun that we created a full collection rather than a limited-edition piece. Most of the time, we chatted on WhatsApp, sending our progress and bouncing ideas off of each other to create the collection.” United by their belief in women’s liberty to be physically and sexually free, they created ‘Cunning Linguist’, an athleisure ready-to-wear collection that explores female pleasure.

Through the LaboKarya initiative, Museum MACAN successfully bent the boundaries for art, fashion and music and more to come together to create new possibilities of working across disciplines, and it is hoped that the momentum it has created will generate more of such collaborations. “We cross our fingers that the world gets better soon, and let’s see what we can do next,” says Amalia. “One thing for sure, the collaborative spirit is something that we’ll keep for good!”

More information about LaboKarya here, including links to purchase the limited-edition products.