How to Pin Down Smoke: ruangrupa since 2000

How to Pin Down Smoke is an expansive guide to ruangrupa and their singular and multifaceted practice. Formed in Jakarta in 2000 against a background of authoritarianism, economic crisis and youth movements, ruangrupa is an art initiative whose work playfully subverts traditional art- and exhibition-making, offering a living model of collective organisation, sustainable institution-building and ways of relating to one another. Through new commissions, interviews and extensive archival documentation, this publication explores how ruangrupa’s 25-year history expands understandings of ‘art’, ‘exhibition’ and ‘publics’, integrating elements of popular culture, media technology and contemporary urban life.