TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Gallery is currently holding an art exhibition entitled "Media Art Kitchen-Realita yang Menyimpang" (Media Art Kitchen – An Inappropriate Reality) fromSeptember 4 to 15. Various artists from Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore have gathered to display their unique creations for all to enjoy.

The event was hosted by The Japan Foundation along with the biennial Ok Video, the Jakarta International Video Festival.

Media Art Kitchen curator from the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Keiko Okamura, said this event was initiated last year by inviting young curators from Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia to Japan. After Jakarta, this event will continue to go on in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Manila, the Philippines and finally end in Bangkok, Thailand, in December this year.

Aside from an exhibition in various countries, the event will also include art workshops and laboratories where artists can express their artistic minds.

"We also collaborated with Kineforum for film screenings," said Keiko.

Ok Video is an international video festival that has been held biennially since 2003. This year, the committee has chosen a unique theme of "Muslihat" (Deception). In Indonesian, muslihat means a cunning effort, strategy or tactic. Ade Dermawan, Indonesian curator of the festival, said this theme represents the phenomena of outsmarting technology used by the public as consumers.Muslihat can also have a mystical meaning; turning the impossible into something possible.

Some 91 videos are currently on display during this international video festival. Aside from Indonesia, 28 other nations are also participating in showing off their masterpieces, including the United States, Argentina, Australia, Austria, the Netherlands, Bolivia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Iran, Lithuania, Poland and France.

NUNUY NURHAYATI