Two distinguished visual artists from Indonesia visited ANU last month. Dr Willy Himawan and Mr Hendhy Nansha teach at the Institut Teknologi in Bandung (ITB), an institution that has had a long and close relationship with ANU academics. Willy lectures in painting, while Hendhy teaches ceramics and metal at ITB’s Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain (Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, FSRD).

Both were invited to visit CASS after Associate Dean (International) Béatrice Bijon and Chaitanya Sambrani from the School of Art and Design (SoAD) met with them during a visit to Bandung in May.

During their short time in Canberra, both artists took the opportunity to visit the SoAD studio spaces and advise students—a special opportunity for our emerging artists. They also met with SoAD academics in visual art, design and art history as part of their task of benchmarking FSRD teaching and learning against ours. They also examined Canberra’s cultural offerings, visiting the national cultural institutions and contemporary art spaces.

The visit occurred at a time when ANU is building a comprehensive partnership between CASS and FSRD-ITB. This will result in student mobility between Canberra and Bandung and provide opportunities for academic and professional staff to collaborate. The partnership is building on Associate Professor Sambrani’s record of collaboration with ITB, going back more than a decade.

The visit was supported by Dr Mukhamad Najib, Cultural Attaché at the Indonesian Embassy and Mr Gunarmand Nainggolan, the Minister Counsellor. They received the visiting artists and their ANU hosts and expressed their wholehearted support for developing connections between the two institutions.

Both CASS-ANU and FSRD-ITB hope to develop a relationship that is mutually beneficial and that will strengthen ties with one of our closest Asia-Pacific neighbours.

Article by: Associate Dean (International) Béatrice Bijon