Pollution, waste, and garbage are visual traces made by modern civilization, so the visible traces can be used as a barometer of the progress of a region in developing countries, only in developing countries because it is not relevant when applied to developed countries, it will be very inversely proportional. Indonesia as a developing country with an age approaching 70 years, a lot of age of course maybe if it’s a human being he will already be in a condition of becoming old and wise enough to make changes in his body so that his age is getting longer and his health is always maintained, not instead making changes that will end his life.

Surabaya is one of the metropolitan cities in Indonesia, we will realize that Surabaya is a developed city typical of developing countries, where ecological problems always appear in it, problems that arise due to the rapid development of industry, the more large factories that stand the greater the waste produced. Not only does it stop at ecological problems, there will also be many other problems that will arise because of the complexity in this city.

In addition to the problems that arise due to the rapid growth rate of both industrialization and population in the city of Surabaya, it will also have a positive impact on the residents in and around this city, many facilities such as quality education facilities, transportation modes, health facilities, and others. These conveniences will have an impact on the welfare of the population in it. When primary needs are met, the population will try to fulfill other needs such as secondary or tertiary needs.

Art is one of the human needs, although art is not a primary need for humans, but it is art that gives color to our daily lives whether we realize it or not, so in order to meet these needs in addition to the role of art activists the role of the city as an institution that oversees an area should be there, providing facilities or infrastructure as a medium so that the arts develop and thrive in the region.

For now let’s focus on one branch of art, namely fine arts, how far is the sufficiency of fine arts needs in Surabaya as the second largest city in Indonesia, in my opinion in the city of Surabaya the need for art will be very lacking when compared to Jakarta, Bandung, or Yogyakarta, as a barometer, let’s say the number of galleries for exhibiting both provided by the government or the private sector, we can count on the fingers of how many galleries are active in Surabaya such as; Surabaya Gallery, Orasis Gallery, East Java Cultural Park Gallery. It is very ironic that a city that is already developed is lagging behind in fulfilling the needs of art, but salute to the artists in Surabaya who continue to organize art activities using alternative spaces as exhibition venues, so that even though Surabaya lacks ‘exhibition space’, it is never empty of art exhibition activities.

As a response to the issues that arise in this city, 5 artists, all of whom live in Surabaya, will organize an art exhibition entitled Surabaya Metropolis. The exhibitors will present artworks based on pure graphic techniques, techniques that allow making multiple copies of the same original¹. The participants of Surabaya Metropolis exhibition are; Soni ‘inNos’ Himantoko, Dyan Condro, Bayu Edi Iswoyo, Dien Firmansyah, Indra Prayoghi ‘impoe’.

Living objects develop reactions to stimuli by increasing their chances of staying alive, this ability is precisely what distinguishes them from inanimate objects². So as a response that they are still alive (working) in the midst of various problems that exist in this city, they are holding this exhibition, an exhibition that focuses on the positive and negative values of Surabaya as a metropolitan city, social issues or artistic issues will be raised in this exhibition. The artists will use pure graphic techniques in executing their works such as: woodcut, stencil, etc. As residents of a metropolitan city, the five artists will have different interpretations and visual forms towards the same issue, they will interpret what they feel about the issues happening around them.

Every culture is like or a collection of codes of behavior transmitted from one generation to another³, so hopefully the works presented will be able to become one of the visual traces of positive value for art in the city of Surabaya, and the issues conveyed can be captured well by the appreciator, and continued continuously.

¹ Scheder, Georg. Perihal Cetak Mencetak (Jakarta, 1993). 23
² Linton, Ralph. The Study of Man (Bandung, 1984). 77
³ Berger, Asa Arthur. Semiotika (Yogyakarta,2010). 216

• Written for the exhibition “Surabaya Metropolis” : Fine Grapic exhibition, six of serbuk kayu member that focus made grapich artwork held an exhibition with theme “Surabaya Metropolis”, they visualize and talk about positive and negative being life in metropolis city.
• In 10-14 Agustus 2015 
• At Museum Surabaya