In November 2016, Aaron Seeto was appointed director of Museum MACAN in Jakarta, Indonesia. MACAN is an acronym for Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara, Nusantara being an Indonesian and Malay term for ‘archipelago’. The museum—the first institution of its kind in Indonesia with a planned focus on art education—is the vision of Indonesian collector Haryanto Adikoesoemo, and will house and showcase his private collection as well as run a programme that intends to engage Indonesian audiences with home grown and international contemporary art. The opening of Museum MACAN was therefore something of a milestone for the Indonesian art community and an opportunity for the local public to see art that hitherto could only be seen abroad. The museum opened to the public on 4 November 2017 with the inaugural show: Art Turns. World Turns. Exploring the collection of Museum MACAN.
Aaron Seeto was formerly Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, where he led the curatorial team responsible for the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT8) in Brisbane. For eight years prior, he was the Director of Sydney’s 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. While at 4A, Seeto commissioned major projects and solo exhibitions by artists such as Shen Shaomin, Yang Fudong, Qiu Anxiong, Ming Wong, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Song Dong and Dadang Christanto; and helped to build the organization’s reputation as a leading institution for contemporary Asian art.
The visit is organised in collaboration with the embassy of the Netherlands in Jakarta.