Birth-death, death-birth, and so on are life cycles that are repeated and inevitable, but the simple life cycle should not only be passed in the simplest way, the proof of existence when going through the life cycle will be read through the extent to which he is able to act to make his life a footprint, a footprint that allows him to exist beyond the life cycle, to then go through the phase of physical form and then expand to tangible forms, form as a foundation of thought, form as a pattern of movement, and form that becomes a footprint of material existence that confirms that he is alive.

Nowadays many art groups have sprung up, the artists are certainly beginning to realize that the role of collective groups is very beneficial in their artistic career, why is that? Because in a collective group, ideally, it will be a field to absorb information from outside and then distribute it to each of its members, calculating with simple math that the more members of a group, the more information will enter and be distributed, but in reality such calculations cannot be applied in a group, because the more members of a group, the more complex the problems that arise in the group. In addition to the expected distribution of information in a group, complementing each other’s shortcomings is also an advantage in groups. Groups are also a motive for the people in them to be able to compete with each other to progress, such a climate should indeed exist in a group for the progress of the group itself.

Turning to the case study of an artist working alone trying to absorb as much information as possible by himself and then producing works, then distributing them as well, of course it makes sense to do so, but how hard the work of an artist and with the possibility of winning on a very small gamble, I really salute the artists who are able to grow individually and then become big by themselves as well, we can imagine how hard the work he has gone through. The chances of an artist winning the gamble to become a “successful” artist can be multiplied by working in a group, which is why more and more artists are now doing group activities in the process.

We often find art groups using the term community, both groups and communities have meanings that are not much different, groups have the meaning; a collection of two or more people who interact and they are interdependent in order to meet common needs and goals, causing each other to influence each other, while the community according to Vanina Delobelle; is a means of gathering people who have common interests, communities are formed based on 4 factors, namely: 1.)The desire to share and communicate between members according to common interests, 2.)Basecamp or the area where they usually gather, 3.)Based on the habits of members who are always present, 4.)The existence of people who make decisions or determine everything. Consciously or unconsciously when several people declare themselves to be in a group, these people will be bound by the boundaries that bind them as a group, and when the existing boundaries are tried to be penetrated, changed, or destroyed, it will affect the stabilization of the group itself. This does not mean that it is not possible to go beyond the group’s patronage, but to go beyond the boundary itself requires an agreement that must be made with other group members.

NOFLAG TEMPLE is an art group that several young Malang artists agreed to establish, because there are similar needs and visions. They will declare their group on December 17 to coincide with their first group exhibition with the exhibition title “BREED”, the selection of the exhibition title “BREED” itself has the meaning of breeding which is interpreted that the birth of NOFLAG TEMPLE is a process of running art practices carried out by members of this group, or it can be seen more broadly as a process of running art practices in Malang, where this group appears as a marker, but to become a marker that is used as a reference point, NOFLAG TEMPLE must work hard and prove its existence through the activities carried out later.

To establish a group is not so difficult, what is difficult is how to maintain so that this group is able to sustain. Many art groups have sprung up but many have failed, failing in the sense that they cannot sustain their existence through their artistic activities. Many groups emerge and then hold art activities such as exhibitions or the like, but only last 3 or 4 times then the group is no longer heard of, it turns out that this phenomenon is one of the causes is too fixated on the vision and mission of the group to material investment, say they have exhibited 3-4 times but there is no material feedback to them, then they will think that they did not get the expected feedback so that to make the next movement they will have difficulty. Such a pattern of group work is closely related to the discourse of lust, every society whose production system runs through the law of profit, according to Felix Guattari, tends to make a permanent separation between social production and the production of lust. The first is related to work to reap profits, the second is related to individual actions to achieve satisfaction1. However, it cannot be denied that material difficulties also occur because many groups are formed with the collective funds of their members, the more the needs of the group, the more funds must be spent to support the group. But regardless of the nominal amount that must be spent, when the group has a broader vision than just achieving material value, the expenses made will definitely not be too serious a problem that will hinder the movement of the group itself, and hopefully NOFLAG TEMPLE is the same, having a broader vision than just material feedback.

The process of breeding is the life cycle of creatures that are not immortal, to develop the information possessed in order to be able to get to the next stage living things have 2 ways, namely to continue to live (immortal) and develop the information they have, and the second is to breed (breed), breeding is an effort to convey information from one generation to the next. Of course, to do the first stage in treating information will not be able to happen to us humans, and of course humans have a life time that cannot be negotiated. In choosing the title of this exhibition, it is indeed focused as a host for the development of artistic information within the scope of NOFLAG TEMPLE’s life, it must be realized that art today is not something sacred but rather something empirical, which can be explained scientifically, therefore art must be interpreted as a science that must be disseminated as widely as possible so that it does not become something exclusive and only owned by a handful of people who name themselves as artists and all those in their field. “Everyone is an artist” is a quote that we often encounter and I agree with this quote, but in its application the level of knowledge possessed will affect the level of art produced. The production of discourses (critical, historical, and so on) about artworks is one of the conditions for the production of artworks, every critical affirmation, on the one hand, contains an acknowledgment of the value of the work that provokes it, which is therefore seen as a valuable object of legitimate discourse (an acknowledgment sometimes won through the logic of the arena, as when, for example, the dominant party’s polemic gives the challenger participant status), and on the other hand, an affirmation of its own legitimacy2. This is where the vital role of art agents is to apply art as knowledge so that the public’s sensibility towards art increases so that art actors and the community itself can get positive value from art.

This exhibition is the first step for NOFLAG TEMPLE, for the future, hopefully NOFLAG TEMPLE can become a community that not only exists but also becomes a marker point.

¹Yasraf Amir Piliang, Dunia yang dilipat (Yogyakarta,2004), 148
²Bourdieu Pierre, The Field Of Cultural Production (Bantul, 2010), 13

• Written as a curatorial introduction to the exhibition entitled BREED
• In 17-20 December 2015
• At Catra Contara. Jl. Ir Soekarno Rt.01 Rw.08 no.82, Dadaprejo, Batu