Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine March 2018 | Page 79

Explore | Interview
77
FENESSA ADIKOESOEMO
THE WOMAN BEHIND
MACAN MUSEUM
Interview by Yani Lauwoie
Photography by Agus Siswanto
“As the first modern and contemporary art
museum in Indonesia, we found it so hard to
set everything up at first. There’s no art
museum that we can use as a benchmark
here. So, I took an internship at Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden in
Washington, DC, for three months and at
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New
York for a month and a half,” says Fenessa,
who has been visiting museums and art
galleries since she was a teenager.
Fenessa admits that she learnt a lot
during her internships, but they are not
the only museums that have inspired MACAN
Museum. “There’s no one museum that we
determine to be our inspiration; it’s a mix
from many museums. Even though we learnt
from others, we have to contextualise to
Indonesia. For example, the Hirshhorn and
Guggenheim are targeting tourists as their
visitors, while our primary market is local
Indonesians – so we have to organise our
programme to cater to this audience,”
says Fenessa.
In the space of just four months, MACAN
Museum has become one of the must-visit
attractions in Jakarta for art lovers.
Approximately 500–700 people per day visit
the museum on weekdays, and this number
increases to 1,500–2,000 per day at weekends.
“We are very happy that the museum has
been so well received,” says Fenessa.
“It’s beyond our expectations.”
But Fenessa refuses to get complacent.
She knows she needs to work even harder
to maintain the museum’s success and take
it to the next level. One key element is a
sustainable programme that engages visitors
to the museum, so they won’t just stop by as
a one-time visitor. This involves activities
including workshops, discussions and
much more.
“At the moment we display 90 out of the
800 artworks that my father has. The
collection comes from 70 artists from
Indonesia, Asia, America and Europe.
If we had only displayed the collection
permanently, there would be no reason
for people to visit the museum again.
That’s why we rotate the collection every
three months and have a sustainable
programme, so people can keep learning
something from the museum,” explains
Fenessa, who hopes MACAN Museum
will become internationally recognised.
While visitors can enjoy the ‘Art Turns.
World Turns.’ exhibition at MACAN Museum
until March 18, Fenessa and her team have
already prepared the next exhibition, w hich
will be a travelling exhibition between
MACAN Museum and two other
museums in Singapore and Australia.
Alongside her busy schedule at MACAN
Museum, Fenessa is also able to find time
for not-for-profit work. At the moment she
volunteers for HOPE worldwide Indonesia,
a not-for-profit organisation that helps the
poor and vulnerable. “Contributing in a small
way and being able to see the impact that it
makes gives me a happy feeling,” says
Fenessa, who has also volunteered for
Leocare and Global Consulting Group.
Fenessa hopes that one day she can also
contribute to a not-for-profit organisation
that is focused on environmental
conservation, particularly marine life
conservation. “I love to dive and I hope
I can contribute to the prevention of coral
deterioration. Our marine life here is like
no other in the world, and we need to start
preventing the deterioration before it’s
destroyed,” she says.
As a diver, Fenessa is happy that
Garuda Indonesia has many diving
destinations on its network, such as
Labuan Bajo and her favourite, Raja Ampat.
“Garuda Indonesia has always been my go-to
airline because the service is the best,”
she adds with a big smile.
I’ve always been interested in art and have the creative
desire in me. And my family and I have always been involved
in many things related to education.