Mayanto: Space of exception

Maryanto (b.1977, Indonesia) will feature in a solo presentation of charcoal drawings and sculptural installations. Drawing from the term Space of Exception, a reference to Giorgio Agamben’s state of exception.

Agamben stated that the “suspension of the whole juridical order itself … marks … the limits, the threshold of the juridical order”. The “space of exception” involves taking a position outside the existing “natural” state, thereby defining the boundary of the space beyond or outside the normal order or a place where normal law does not hold, for example in Guantanamo Bay. Maryanto takes inspiration from this concept in his work and refers to it as a meditation on space and an exception from reality. From a starting point of “perceived reality”, Maryanto’s installations of drawings and sculpture set out to create a “space of exception” environment set apart from such perceived reality that allows for experimentation, research and discussion to happen.

Maryanto’s work “Pandora’s Box and Tales of a Gold mine”, 2013, was a studio presentation at the Rijksacadamie where he created a charcoal installation within the gallery space. “Camouflage”, 2014, is a recent work using an outdoor façade at Gillman Barracks consisting of wheat-pasted prints and painting that “camouflage” or emulate the natural environment.