Australia
Statement
Malcolm Smith is an artist and art manager from Australia who is now based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is one of the co-founders of Krack!, an artist run printmaking studio and gallery in Yogyakarta, that works collaboratively with artists to produce and exhibit print-based works that are visually innovative and respond critically to events, developments and cultural debates in the Asia Pacific region. Since 2013 Krack! has exhibited works in Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, China and Italy, delivered workshops with local and international artists, and collaborated with senior as well as emerging Indonesian artists.
Before moving to Indonesia, Malcolm worked in contemporary artspaces around Australia including the Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary art (now NCCA), Object: the Australian Centre for Craft and Design and the Australian Centre for Photography. He has undertaken residencies and presented workshops and projects across Australia and South East Asia. He has exhibited in Australia, Indonesia, China and Europe. He has a Masters in Cultural Studies at Universitas Sanata Dharma in Yogyakarta.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from July 2019 to September 2019
GlogauAIR Project
A Plague of Rats
This project relates to my ongoing research about hegemonies, ecologies and communities. I intend to build 20 robotic rats using Arduino and equipped with different sensors. The rats are set loose, like a plague, in a large space like a gallery or museum. They learn to map the space and undertake collective activities within it.
Initially the rats explore the space randomly, collecting data from their environment and sending this to a centralized brain, or “Essence”. This “Essence” compiles and processes all of the rats’ data, building a map of the space and the position of the rats within it. “Essence” also sends individual instructions back to each rat, and can be tweaked to produce different kinds of group behaviors in the rats.
I will develop a small prototype of this project for an exhibition in Yogyakarta in July. I would like to develop it on a larger scale (20 rats) in Berlin. If possible I would like to find venues to ‘perform’ the rats in Berlin during my residency. The project will involve collaborators in Jogja and Berlin. I am hoping it will be possible for them to work with me at times in the studio at GlogauAir, but I am only seeking accommodation for myself.
CV Summary
EDUCATION
- Program Magister, Ilmu Religi Budaya (MA, Cultural Studies)
Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta - BA (Communications)
University of Technology, Sydney
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
- 2018 Artjog2018: Enlightenment, Jogja National Museum
- 2017 Carte Blanche: Anxiety Mizuma Gallery, Singapore
- 2016 Out of Joint, Dia.Lo.Gue artspace, Jakarta
- 2015 Artjog: Infinity in Flux, Taman Budaya, Yogyakarta
- 2014 Modern Times, Newsagency Gallery, Sydney
- 2013 Signature Hair, Part of the Disana Project, Cemeti Arthouse
Greetings from Silverside, Newsagency Gallery, Sydney - 2012 Semi Precious, Newsagency Gallery
Ships Passing in the Night, Lir Space, Yogyakarta - 2011 The Calling, s.14, Bandung
SELECTED PROJECTS WITH Krack! STUDIO
- 2019 Evolutionary Tradition: Asian Contemporary Print Art Exhibition, Szechuan Museum of Fine Art, Chongqing, China
- 2018 The Misfits (Krack’s 5th birthday exhibition), Krack! Gallery, Yogyakarta
- 2017 Resistance is Futile (With Krack studio), Krack! Gallery, Yogyakarta
- 2016 Obat Kuat (With Krack studio), Krack! Gallery, Yogyakarta
- 2015 The Krackatorium (With Krack studio), Krack! Gallery, Yogyakarta
- 2014 Tanah / Impian (With Krack studio), Krack! Gallery, Yogyakarta
Flux Kit, Turin Italy, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia - 2013 Krack 3D! (With Krack Studio), Krack! Gallery, Yogyakarta
Krack! Pameran Perdana (with Krack Studio), Krack! Gallery, Yogyakarta
SELECTED CURATORIAL PROJECTS
- 2011 Certificate no. 000358/ (The ongoing impact of nuclear accidents in Russia), Sangkring Artspace, Yogyakarta and Galleri Soemardja, Bandung
- 2010 Lake, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery
Dream Home, Australian Centre for Photography - 2009 The Lake, Australian Centre for Photography
Nollywood: Pieter Hugo, Australian Centre for Photography
Inheritance, Australian Centre for Photography
Batteries Not Included (Co-Curator with Joseph Allen), Australian Centre for Photography - 2008 Avatar: The New You, Australian Centre for Photography
- 2007 Portal: The Space between the Real and the Other Real. Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design
SELECTED WORKSHOPS AND PRESENTATIONS
- 2018 “Happily Ever After”: Obat Kuat advertising in Ylgyakarta in the 20th Century Ascoltaci, Sanata Dharma University
- 2015 Obat Kuat: Modern Masculinities in Indonesian advertising, 1910 – 2015, Inter Asia Cultural Studies Conference, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya,
- 2014 New Strategies of Artist Initiative/Community Spaces, IVAA-ArtJOG Forum, Langgeng Art Foundation, Yogyakarta
- 2013 The Paper Trail (Presented by ANU School of Art and Krack Studio), Indonesian Visual Art Archive, Yogyakarta
- 2012 Applying for International Artist Residencies (Intensive 3 day workshops)
14-16 March 2012, Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA), Yogyakarta, Indonesia
7-9 April 2012, Zerostation, Siagon, Vietnam - 2005 Asialink Arts Management Residency, Indonesia, Cemeti Foundation (now IVAA), Yogyakarta
SELECTED WRITING
- 2016 Soft Diplomat, Equator newsletter
- 2014 Solid Krack!, Inside Indonesia
- 2013 The Instrument Builders Project, Realtime Online
- 2012 Realtime Traveler – Yogyakarta, Realtime Online
Survive Garage, Catalogue essay, Newsagency Gallery, Sydney - 2011 Driving in an Indonesian Traffic Jam, Art Monthly feature
