Caitlin Hughes
PhD
Caitlin Hughes is a PhD Candidate in Art History and Curatorship at the University of Melbourne, where she currently researches Indonesian contemporary art after 1998. She completed a dual Bachelor of Arts (Art Theory, Asian Art History) and a Bachelor of Art History and Curatorship (with First Class Honours) at the Australian National University, Canberra, in 2020.
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Thesis
Energy Exchange: Post-Global Art in post-1998 Indonesia
The art from Indonesia's post-New Order period (1998-now) is characterised by experiences of multiplicity and non-linearity. The canon can no longer be considered a smooth trajectory, but rather a scattering and diffusion of subject matter. It was out of the rupture of Reformasi (1998-2007) that a critical undercurrent in art practice emerged, shaped by two entwined motivations: to decentre and to decolonise art from earlier historical precedent.
Existing accounts of this trend have been complicated by Java-centricity in Indonesian art history, and an overreliance on 'global' art narratives. In analysing selected events, exhibitions and artworks, this thesis contextualises the shifting paradigms by which Indonesian artists have sought to relate their artworks across geographical and cultural boundaries; theorised here as forms of 'post-global' art.
From these decentred-decolonial foundations, a remodelled picture of post-1998 art history demonstrates the consistent interest in displacing art beyond nationhood, regionality or even contemporaneity, in search of new narratives.
Research interests
- Contemporary Art
- Art Historiography
- Indonesian Art
- Asia-Pacific Art