hi guys, check this news from indonesia, interview by hendro wiyanto

The photography installation "Pinkswing Park" (2005) by Agus Suwage and Davy Linggar drew violent protests from a group calling itself the Front Pembela Islam or "Front of the Defenders of Islam" (FPI)

From September 6 through October 5, 2005, the second edition of the CP Biennale was held in Jakarta

, focussing on the theme of "Urban Culture". Curated by Jim Supangkat, the Biennale’s founder, this edition featured works by seventy participants (artists and groups) from and nine other countries.

Hendro Wiyanto: What was your first reaction when you learned of the FPI’s demand to have the work by Agus and Davy removed from the exhibition because they saw it as a pornographic and disrespectful affront to the sacred teachings of Islam?

Jim Supangkat: I considered the consequences of the demand. The FPI is a group known as radical and militant, and so I expected we had to be ready for attacks and destruction. But the newspapers clearly stated that there would be no anarchistic activity. Instead, the FPI would resort to legal measures. So my first thought was that the work by Agus and Davy wouldn’t have to be removed after all.

But then the FPI brought together 500 people, who gained the permission from the police to stage a demonstration. Because of faulty information, half of them marched on the headquarters of Bank on Thamrin Street; they were taken away by the police in the district of Tanah Abang. Yet some 250 demonstrators came in buses and trucks to the Museum of Bank , where the Biennale was held.

The TV infotainment programs turned the work by Agus and Davy into the talk of the town, since one of the figures presented in the nude in this work is the popular film star Anjasmara. This probably incited the public dispute, since the FPI’s protest quickly gained the sympathy of many Muslim people. When a few Muslim leaders were interviewed, they denounced the work.

I don’t believe that all Muslims agree with the FPI. I do believe, though, that none of the Muslim organizations would deem the nakedness presented in Agus and Davy’s work religiously acceptable. What I feared most was a religious conflict on a broader scale.

for more interview about this incident : www.universes-in-universe.de/islam/eng/2005/032