OUR CONTRIBUTORS

The following brief biographies consist of those of our contributors and resource persons for the online edition of Karbon journal. The brief biography of each of our contributors in the printed version of Karbon journal from 2000 to 2006 is still pending.


Agung Hujatnikajennong was born in Tasikmalaya, January 9, 1976. Since 2001, he has been working as the curator at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space. Besides teaching at the Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology, Agung Hujatnikajennong also writes prolifically; his art reviews have been published in various journals and mass media.

Anissa S. Febrina was born in Jakarta on February 27, 1980. She had her professional training at the University of Indonesia’s Architecture Department and worked only for three months as a junior architect in a small firm in Jakarta before impulsively quit the job that did not go in line with things she is most concern with: common people and the city. Currently, she is a City journalist for The Jakarta Post, spending her time roaming the city and writing extensively on various issues about Jakarta and its complex inhabitants.

Arief Ash Shiddiq was born in Bandung, November 8, 1978. He started to read under the tutelage of Cypress comic books. After he was able to bike, he started to haunt reading rooms around his house, and around his friends’ houses. Today, after three years of working in Jakarta as the managing editor of Visual Arts magazine in 2005 – 2008, he works as the Operational Manager at SIGIarts Gallery, Jakarta, in order to satisfy his needs to buy comic books every month.

Bambang Susantono is the chairman of the Masyarakat Transportasi Indonesia (Indonesia’s Transportation Society), 2004 – 2007. He graduated from Civil Engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology, and took his graduate degree at the University of California Berkeley, where he finished the MCP program for urban planning, MSCE program for the transportation techniques. He then went on to take his doctorate degree in infrastructure planning, at the same university. He has been working as the expert staff for the Coordinating Minister of Economy and is the secretary of the Coordinating Team for Village Infrastructure, as well as the chairman of the Secretariat for the Policy Committee to Accelerate Infrastructure Development. He is a board member of the East Asia Society of Transportation Studies EASTS (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan), and the SouthsouthNorth Foundation, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. He teaches and assists graduate students at the Graduate Program in Engineering, University of Indonesia.

Darrundono was born in Solo, Central Java, on July 29, 1934. In 1974, he became the secretary for the Muhammad Husni Thamrin Project. In 1980, he received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for his dedication for the project. This essay has been rewritten from his dissertation that had earned him a Doctorate from the University of Indonesia in early 2007. Today, Darrundono is the Chairman for the Evaluation Committee for City Environment, an independent body established by the Government of the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, to work with the Governor of Jakarta. Darrundono is also a lecturer in the Department of Architecture and Planning at the Tarumanagara University, Jakarta.

Eric Sasono was born in Jakarta and graduated from Department of Politics, Faculty of Social and Political Studies, University of Indonesia. He is now active as a member of the editorial board of the site www.rumahfilm.org, which he founded along with some of his friends. Eric received the Citra Awards for the best critic in 2005 and 2006, and has returned his awards along with other filmmakers, actors, and film musicians who then formed the Masyarakat Film Indonesia (Indonesian Movie Society). He has also received an award as best critic in 2005 from the Jakarta Art Council.

Farabi Fakih was born in Jakarta on January 8, 1981. He was an assistant researcher at the Center for Social Studies of Southeast Asia, Gadjah Mada University and a Research Coordinator in Syarikat, Yogyakarta. Now he is an assistant-lecturer at the Gadjah Mada University, a position that he temporarily leaves for his further study in history at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. He has published Membayangkan Ibukota: Jakarta di Bawah Soekarno (2003), or “Imagining the Capital: Jakarta under Soekarno”. This essay has been rewritten for the Karbon journal and adapted from the training program of postcolonial studies, Realino, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. This essay will be published in a book as a part of a series of essays.

Farid Rakun. Born in Jakarta in 1982, he studied architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia, in 2000 – 2005. After working in the construction industry for four years and making architectural drafts in Bali, New Orleans, and Phnom Penh, he decided to take a break. Apart from working as an editor in Karbon Journal from January 2010, he teaches at his alma-mater as assistant lecturer.

Grace Samboh was born in Jakarta, 1983. Veering away from her undergraduate degree in Advertising, which she gained from STIKOM YTKP, she continued her study in 2007 at the Art Criticism program, Graduate Studies, Gadjah Mada University. She is now busy gathering data and facts that the Indonesian art history has generally ignored, while finishing her graphic fable, Rawalelatu, with her two best friends.

Gustaff H. Iskandar was born in 1974. He graduated in 1999 from the Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology. In 2001, along with R.E. Hartanto and T. Ismail Reza, he founded Bandung Center for New Media Arts, an organization working in the field of research and development in media arts and multidisciplinary art practices in Indoonesia. In 2003, he founded the Common Room Networks Foundation (www.commonroom.info), an initiative managed by Bandung Center for New Media Arts and Toko Buku Kecil (Tobucil, or The Little Bookshop). Partnering with Reina Wulansari and some friends, today Gustaff works in Bandung, curates exhibitions, writes, and speaks in some discussions and symposia.

Hikmat Darmawan is an observer of popular culture, with a focus on comics and movies. He has been writing since 1994 in various publications such as Tempo, Kompas, Gatra, and Republika. His book, a collection of essays on comics entitled Dari Gatot Kaca hingga Batman: Potensi-potensi Naratif Komik (From Gatot Kaca to Batman: The Comics’ Narrative Potentials. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Orakel, 2005), is being repackaged along with his other collection of essays. He helped established a number of communities, for example Musyawarah Burung and Akademi Samali, and is now active in Urban Laboratory of Paramadina University. He now works as an editor in Rumahfilm.org. Check his another articles in On Everything Pop and his blog in Multiply.

Ifan Adriansyah Ismail. He claims of being a diaspora member. Although he was born only thirty years ago, on October 16, 1979, and has lived in merely four cities (Malang, Surabaya, Bandung, Jakarta), he dares asserting that he is a rover. This is more because from the four cities, not one was able to make him feel at home. This might be because he is a free man; or perhaps he is simply homeless. Understandably, he keeps numerous jobs and keeps on moving around, from one place to another. He has written screenplays for a TV comedy show for four years. Today, he teaches screenplay writing and comic script writing at the Akademi Samali and is the youngest editor at Rumahfilm.org. Now he adds another title to his line-up of jobs: a columnist at the Karbonjournal.org, coming to meet you every month.

Irma Chantily was born in Jakarta on February 5, 1985. After graduating from the Department of Journalism, Padjadjaran University, she became a member of the teaching staff at the Department of Photography, Film and Television Faculty, Jakarta Institute of the Arts. Besides teaching, she participates in a variety of events and exhibitions, for example as the program coordinator and writer for the photo exhibition of “Mata Perempuan: Ruang Perempuan” (The Female Eyes: The Female Chamber); a writer for the Jakarta Biennale XIII 2009 website; and a volunteer for the V Film Festival 2009. She now works as a freelance in a variety of art and cultural events.

JJ Rizal was born in Jakarta in 1975. He studied at the Department of History at the Faculty of Letters, University of Indonesia. As he graduated in 1998, he founded Komunitas Bambu publishing house, printing mostly liberal arts books. The publishing house grew and in 2005 he established an imprint, Masup Jakarta, focusing on books about the history and literary works of Jakarta. Aside from working as a book editor, he also writes for a variety of mass media. In 2001 – 1006, he was a regular columnist about the history of Batavia-Betawi-Jakarta for the Dutch magazine, Moesson: Het Indisch Maandblad. His works have been published in the collection of essays Politik Kota Kita (Our City Politics, Kompas publishing, 2006), Onze Ong: Onghokham dalam Kenangan (Our Ong: Onghokham in Our Memories, Komunitas Bambu publishing, 2007), and Sejarah yang Memihak: Mengenang Sartono Kartodirdjo (Sided History: Remembering Sartono Kartodirdjo, Ombak publishing, 2008).

M. Isfanani Haidar Ilyas is a media worker who often calls himself a media whore. During the day, he wears the costume of a clown before his executive producer because his superior is certain that that is what the audience wants. At night he wears his clown costume in front of the mirror, wondering who the heck he is, and why he can never wipe the clown make-up off his face.

Mahatmanto was born in Klaten and grew up in Surakarta, Central Java. He studied architecture at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and continued his research on the thinking of the Dutch architect Henri Maclaine Pont for his graduate thesis in his almamater. He now teaches history of architecture at the Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogyakarta, and is a member of the board of the Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA) in Yogyakarta. 

Nugroho Nurdikiawan was born in Jakarta on August 17, 1975. He finished his study in informatics at the Gunadarma University, Jakarta. He feels extremely lucky to have been able to leave the world of computers as he studied further at the department of Science Communication at the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University. He then worked in Jakarta as a manager for Information and Communication for the Pelangi Foundation, a research institute about the environment, until 2006. Now he lives in Paris with his wife.

Nuraini Juliastuti studied sociology at Airlangga University, Surabaya, before deciding to move and study Communications at the Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. With Antariksa, she established KUNCI Cultural Studies Center in 1999. She also writes about the arts and culture in a variety of printed media such as Tempo, Kompas, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Journal, Karbonjournal.org, Jurnal Lebur, and a range of art catalogues published by galleries in Indonesia and abroad. She also assists the “Aksara” program of art writing at the Cemeti Art Foundation and teaches part time at the Department of Communication, Islamic University of Indonesia. In 2007, she went to the Netherlands to study Contemporary Asian Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She is now back in Yogyakarta and conducts an experimental research project on media and technology for KUNCI.

Ronny Agustinus is one of the founders of ruangrupa, and a writer and the editor of the Karbon journal to 2002. Besides working at the Brighten Institute, Bogor, West Java, he used to be the editor-in-chief in the publishing house Marjin Kiri (2005-2007). He focuses on the translation of literary works from Latin America as well as on neoliberalism studies.

Seno Gumira Ajidarma was born in Boston, June 19, 1958. He is an Indonesian  writer-cum-photographer-cum-film critic. His short story Pelajaran Mengarang (Storytelling Lesson) was chosen by the national daily Kompas as the Best Short Story published in Kompas in 1993. He has written a number of short story collections, such as Manusia Kamar (The Man in Room, 1988), Penembak Misterius (Mystery Gunman, 1993), Saksi Mata (Eyewitness, 1994), Dilarang Menyanyi di Kamar Mandi (No Singing in the Bathroom, 1995), Sebuah Pertanyaan untuk Cinta (A Question for Love, 1996), Iblis Tidak Pernah Mati (The Devil Never Dies, 1999), and also several novels such as Matinya Seorang Penari Telanjang (The Death of a Stripper, 2000). In 1987, he received the Sea Write Award; while his short story Saksi Mata (Eyewitness) earned him the Dinny O’Hearn Prize for Literature, in 1997. He received Khatulistiwa Literary Award in 2005. Seno Gumira Ajidarma lives in Jakarta and teaches Media Studies at FFTV – IKJ and Film Studies at the Graduate School at Universitas Indonesia’s Faculty of Letters.

T. Ismail Reza finished his degrees in architecture and urban design from Parahyangan Catholic University and Bandung Institute of Technology. He is a collector of experimental rock music and moderator of the mailing list prog-rock@yahoogroup.com. Along with some of his colleagues, he established the Bandung Center for New Media Arts. This observer of the town of Bandung thinks that Bandung should explore the potentials of the underground community and those provided by the many distribution outlets, and use them as a specific and characteristic image branding. This loyal user of Apple Macintosh since 1995 works as an urban designer in UrbanE, Bandung, and was an editor for the Karbon journal until 2007.

Yoshi Fajar Kresno Murti, an architect and writer, born in Sragen, Central Java, in 1977. He has been working with the community of Yayasan Pondok Rakyat: Action Research Group on Urban Development (www.ypr.or.id) since 2000, and has conducted researches and worked with the communities at the kampongs on the outskirts of Yogyakarta.

Veronica Kusuma was born in Yogyakarta, May 17, 1980. Today she is a student in the Media Studies, Department of Film, Faculty of Film and Television, at the Jakarta Art Institute. She also works part-time as a programmer for the European Film Festival in Indonesia and produces several independent documentary works.

Veven Sp. Wardhana was born in Turen, (South) Malang , and studied at the Faculty of Literature, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. He graduated in 1984 with a thesis about the subculture tradition in the modern Indonesian literature, with Prof. Dr. Umar Kayam as his consultant. In November 2004, he resigned from Kompas-Gramedia group and in December 2005 joined the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, a ministerial institution of the German government, as a senior advisor for the Good Governance in Population Administration (GG PAS) program. He has published several books, among others: Dari Barbar sampai Timor Timur: Mengeja Budaya Massa (From Barbarity to East Timor: Spelling Out the Mass Culture, 2002), Televisi dan Prasangka Budaya Massa (Television and the Presumptions of the Mass Culture, 2001), Kemelut PDI di Layar Televisi: Survei Jurnalisme Televisi Indonesia (PDI Predicament on the TV Screen: A Survey on Indonesian Television Journalism, 1997), Kapitalisme Televisi dan Strategi Budaya Massa (Television Capitalism and The Strategy of Mass Culture, 1997), dan Budaya Massa dan Pergeseran Masyarakat (The Mass Culture and Societal Shifts, 1995)