When the Museum MACAN (Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara) opened in 2017 in Jakarta, it stepped into a void. As the first museum in Indonesia to show and collect modern and contemporary art from the country and beyond, the inaugural director, Aaron Seeto, had a unique, if not daunting, remit. Starting from scratch, Seeto and his team laid the foundations for an institution that although privately funded, by businessman Haryanto Adikoesoemo, had the public at the forefront of its design. From the get-go, Seeto sought input from the existing art scene and has continued to nurture and develop the museum's audiences.

Seeto's primary aim for Museum MACAN was to resonate with Indonesian society by organising relevant public programmes and exhibitions. In 2020, the museum hosted the first solo museum show of acclaimed Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarmo, Why Let the Chicken Run? (2020 - 2021), a retrospective spanning her career of over 20 years, showcases her practice that is shaped by the Javanese environment and includes several of her performances. Suryodarmo is conscious of exoticisation and this subtly echoes in her performances. Suryodarmo's employment of cultural indicators from several Indonesian regional practices informs the subtext of her performances, though they remain understated. For example, Alé Lino (2003), inspired by the Bissu, intersex people or the fifth gender of the Bugis people based in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Suryodarmo leaned against a pole for three hours to explore the concept of emptiness. In Transaction of Hollows (2016), she used a Javanese bow as a reference to the indigenous Jemparingan archery style.

Museum MACAN is embedded in the context of Southeast Asia and, by default, understands the social, political, economic and technological barriers that inhibit art education. When the museum opened in 2017, there were scarcely any art textbooks in the country. Under Seeto's leadership, the museum's team carefully curated an educational programme by engaging with teachers and developing constructive learning materials for the classroom. These publications went through a review process with a committee of teachers. During the pandemic, the museum was also in close contact with these educational professionals to deliver educational programmes online. To date, 2,70,000 students and teachers have been directly involved in MACAN's educational programmes.

Museum MACAN does not only make education its goal but also honours education as a means to foster imagination and creative thinking. Through the programme, In My Own Words, students have participated in writing workshops and then created descriptive labels for exhibitions that encompass not only words but also doodles. Regular children’s tours led by the museum’s education team, offered for 3 to 12-year-olds, introduce young audiences to key concepts from complex exhibitions. The current show Voice Against Reasons (2023), which brings together 24 artists from Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam around the notion of speaking out about injustices, has been interpreted not just for children but also educators who are similarly invited on specialised tours.

Since its inception, the museum has cemented itself as a space where audiences are encouraged to interact with art through different registers. From selfies in Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Rooms that were shown in 2018 to learning about the Indonesian National Revolution through the artworks of S. Sudjojono, the museum balances the playful and the political. At the end of January, Seeto will end his directorship. Ahead of his departure, he spoke to STIR and reflected on his seven-year tenure.

Tap the cover video to watch the full conversation.