Tumurun Museum and Pracima Tuin Mangkunegaran present SURAKUSUMA Mangkunegaran Art Garden, a sculpture garden exhibition set within the historic gardens of Pracima Tuin, Pura Mangkunegaran, Surakarta. Officially inaugurated by Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Adipati Arya Mangkunegaran X, the opening unfolded at Plataran Pura Mangkunegaran, enlivened by performances from Surakarta-based artists.
Running from 30 June to 29 July 2024, the exhibition is accompanied by a series of public programs—including curatorial tours, art discussions, and workshopsopen to a wide audience.
Derived from Old Javanese (Kawi), Surakusuma means “Flowers of the Gods” or “Heavenly Blossoms”. The flower serves as a metaphor for art itself: beautiful on the surface, yet layered with meaning. Rooted in a dialogical artistic framework, the exhibition responds sensitively to the historical and cultural significance of Pura Mangkunegaran, offering new ways of perceiving its spatial and cultural narratives.
Historically, Surakarta has been a meeting ground of cultures since the Dutch colonial era, with Mangkunegaran at its center—a space where Eastern and Western ideas converged through intellectual exchange, architecture, and landscape design. Gardens and sculpture have long held symbolic importance in Javanese culture, from Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms to the Mataram Islamic era, later enriched by Western modernity.
Positioned as a “museum without walls”, Tumurun Museum presents Surakusuma as a living synthesis between contemporary sculpture and the natural landscape of Pracima Tuin. The exhibition features works by leading Indonesian and international artists, including Aditya Novali, Ugo Rondinone, Alicja Kwade, Bernar Venet, and others, alongside historical works by Rita Widagdo and Gregorius Sidharta.
As Indonesia’s first exhibition to foreground the sculpture garden as a conceptual and cultural framework, SURAKUSUMA situates contemporary art as a space for dialogue—between history and the present, form and environment, and art and the public—shaping new ways of imagining our shared future.
