1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

15 Japane se case could include all th e v a r ie ty of a r t p rac tice found elsewhere in Asia. Theo re tica lly it would re ify one case, and assume t h a t the complexities of a p a r t i c u l a r model were the index of complexity, indeed the t e s t - b e d for concep tua l tools, for cases to be examined elsewhere. Not all a r t cu ltu re s have e i th e r the s t ru c t u r a l dynamic between d iscourses of works and in t e rp r e t a t io n s from the o u ts e t of th e ir development of a modern a rt, nor do all have a p re -mode rn series of discourses, of the kind r e a c ted with and aga ins t to form n e o - t r a d i t i o n a l i s t d iscourses in Japan . If o th e r ing occurs in te rn a lly it must be of a d iffe ren t kind when the re is no domestic p r e - t r a n s f e r discourse to be o thered . In Indonesia the m id - 1 9 th cen tu ry the re was some decora tive p a in tin g in Java , and c ra ft decora tion for temple hangings in Bali, but no a r t discourse in p a in ting to be r e ac ted aga in s t to form e i th e r a n e o - t r ad ition a l a rt, or to form what I sha ll be forced to call a n e o - Euramerican skrt. Pa in ting as such in J av a is large ly an importation from the Dutch e ith e r v ia a n eo - co lon i a lis t school or v ia th e n a t io n a l i s t p a in te r s of the 1930s. Thus the o th e r ing which takes place in Indonesian modern art is t h a t of something which was a lready tr a n s f e r r e d . Neo­ trad itiona lism can only be cons trued as a pos ition about the re su lts of such a tran s fe r . One can also conceive of more complex in te rmed ia te cases where art d iscourses have always been s y n c r e tis t and admitted of fa r more con tigu ity be tween elements of d isp a r a te and newly imported s ty le s , alongside accumulated prior - and by then assimila ted - local ones, t h a n is admitted by the notion of t r a n s f e r to an ex is t ing discourse. Syncreticism implies adsorp tion of in teg ra l elements from d ifferen t d iscourses without th e ir overa ll globalization, ana ly tica l pa r ing down, or s trong trans forma tion .