_Bio Since 2005, Ari Bayuaji has been living between Montreal and Bali (Indonesia) where he has installed his studios, from which he criss-crosses the world to accomplish artist residencies and present exhibitions. Ari Bayuaji’s works represent his response to what is happening today from the perspectives of global political, social, and environmental issues in a most contemporary manner. He has exhibited extensively in Europe, Asia and Montreal.
_Approach Bayuaji grew up in a country where people believe that doors provide security and protection but also function as important reminders for people. In some parts of his country, doorways were constructed so that people had to bend down and bow their head as they enter the home, thereby showing respect to the hosts. Many people all over the world are moving, immigrating and being displaced from their homes as the result of global political and climatic issues. There are so many doors people have to go through in life before they find a safe haven behind doors of their own. The artist wants to focus on the doors that connect people rather than the walls that divide them. Bayuaji feels that we are living in a most inspiring time and that it is important for him to open up discussions on these important issues through his artwork.
_Project Bayuaji wants to build a strong body of work, for the Symposium, in with doors that not only focus on the brighter sides of immigration but also illuminate some of the many challenges that we are still facing in our embrace of diversity. He wishes to transform his contemporary sculpture practice into a discourse on adaptation, using the potency of the materials to create a language. — Drawings, paintings and some original door parts collected from various places in the world will be attached to three imitations of door panels. The ready-made objects he will integrate on the panels’ surfaces will be displayed in the studio to look like an installation. They are objects that can attract the visitor’s attention and might trigger a conversation. Through his «doors» the artist wants to share stories he and the visitors have experienced.
