Yogyakarta - A protester, who called himself Ayik, staged on Friday, 19 June 2026 against the committee of ArtJog 2026 – annual arts exhibition held in Yogyakarta – that tried to involve President Prabowo Subianto’s only child, Didit Hediprasetyo, in the events.
Afterwards, Ayik and his protester group, called Art Jokes, were beaten and arrested by security officers.
"Literature and arts have died, intellectuals without resistance desire are the extension of the regime,” Ayik said on the protest.
Tensions started when Art Jokes protesters who cover their self with head masks and black shirts threw red paint and also scattered flowers –as a symbol of death– on the terracotta facade wall after the event's opening session in Jogja National Museum's backyard.
According to Indonesia’s national media Tempo.co, Art Jokes group also expressed their concerns to the event’s committee for accepting fund from Didit Hediprasetyo Foundation.
“That is a theatrical action which is part of artistic freedom of expression,” said Art Jokes Representative Agam Wispi, who also criticized the repressive security officers for beating and arresting some protesters.
The protest was following netizens' criticism of an Art jog's Instagram poster, titled “Ars Longa Generatio", which announces Didit's presence at the event's opening ceremony. Afterward, the post was removed and replaced , but the critiques are continued.
Previously, Irene Agrivina Founder of Honf Foundation –Contemporary Arts Laboratorium in Yogyakarta, who also represents Jogja's artists community, sent an objection, questioning the independency of Artjog 2026 due to the funding issue from President Prabowo's son foundation.
"We, as artists involved in this year's Artjog, express our objection to the involvement of sponsors and the provision of space to Didit at the opening of the event, because in our opinion this is related to the responsibilities, values, and attitudes of art," Honf Foundation stated on its Instagram post.
