Past Residents Asep Topan
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Photo by Sergio Urbina
Asep Topan is an independent curator and writer based in Jakarta, Indonesia. He holds an MFA in Curating from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia, and attended de Appel Curatorial Programme in the Netherlands (2015-16). Asep was a member of the curatorial team of the Jakarta Biennale 2015, “Neither Forward Nor Back: Acting in The Present.” As a curator, he focuses on exhibitions’ history and theory, art and activism, as well as labour conditions in contemporary art. Asep has collectively and individually initiated numerous exhibitions, public programmes and long-term projects. Currently, he works as the vice-director for the Jakarta Biennale 2017 and as a lecturer at the Jakarta Institute of Art.
During my HICP residency at HIAP, I will undertake a curatorial research project questioning the contemporary art practices related to ecological and environmental issues. My research focuses on “forest,” “paper,” and how these relate to contemporary art practices. The main question is what kind of criticality and practices examine the aforementioned issues within the contemporary art. The research will involve studio and site visits, as well as archival research. I expect a series of discussion and public events as the outcome of this research.—Asep