Fine (Art) Dining 2025
Mira Asriningtyas and Dito Yuwono
Performative Exhibition: “Fine (Art) Dining”
curated by Mira Asriningtyas and Dito Yuwono
Featuring live performance and edible works
by Mella Jaarsma, FX Harsono, and Suvi Wahyudianto.
Hosts:
Nindityo Adipurnomo, Maryanto, and Jompet Kuswidananto.
22 June 2025 | 11.00 – 13.00
at Cemeti– Institute for Art and Society
Performers | Waiters: Muhammad Abe, Haryono Lutfi, Agus Susanto,
Anbiyaa Gusti Maha, Damaradi Pandu
Cook: Mella Jaarsma, Suvi Wahyudianto, and Sari Handayani
Centerpiece: Jompet Kuswidananto
Photographer: Kurniadi Widodo
Graphic Designer: Alfonsus Lisnanto
Production and LO: Tiara Afriani & Haryono Lutfi
Fine (Art) Dining is a performative exhibition curated by Mira Asriningtyas and Dito Yuwono, first launched in 2016. Situated at the intersection of contemporary art and gastronomy, the project stages edible artworks in a multi-sensory setting as a site of encounter, conversation, and critical reflection.
In June 2025, we were honored to host the second edition of Fine (Art) Dining, our annual benefit at Cemeti. With the theme Indonesia Gelap, this year’s edition presented performative works by Mella Jaarsma, FX Harsono, and Suvi Wahyudianto—each served as part of a five-course lunch that blurred the lines between exhibition, performance, and shared ritual. Also presented on the table was a new piece by Jompet Kuswidananto.
1/ “Enjoying the Sacrifice of Heroes“, FX Harsono – 2025
gadon / terrine with tofu, chicken, vegetable, and egg with printed sugar glaze on top
In Enjoying the Sacrifice of Heroes (2025), FX Harsono invites audiences to partake in a poignant ritual of remembering Munir, Wiji Thukul, Ita Martadinata, and Marsinah—figures who were silenced for speaking truth during the New Order regime. Through an unsettling gesture, Harsono confronts how society consumes and might slowly forgets its heroes. In today’s resurgence of neo-New Order, this act becomes a call to remember, to honor, and to resist. By engaging with the work, the audience is urged not only to commemorate the fallen but to ensure that their sacrifices were not in vain.
2/ “Rawon Pettengan”, Suvi Wahyudianto – 2025
bean sprout and beef soup
This work draws from the artist’s memory of eating rawon—a communal meal often served on the seventh day of someone’s passing. Remembering rawon brings forth reflections on waiting, on ritual, and on how loss is encountered through shared gatherings. The artist recalls how his local cleric would only select children above ten or in their third year of madrasah to attend the tahlil prayer as representatives of the prayer house. As children, we found joy even amidst loss, finding meaning in the act of praying together. This work traces how collective rituals shape memory, grief, and a child’s understanding of community.
3/ “Nase’ Pettengan/ The Rice of the Darkness”, Suvi Wahyudianto – 2025
rice with squid ink, glass noodle, serundeng, sambal, beef, and maduranese spices
“Nase’ Pettengan” is a dark-colored dish evoking memories of a time when darkness was not only literal, but also deeply political and personal. In early 1999, while cities celebrated reform, the artist’s village lived in fear—terrorized by rumors of “ninja” assassins targeting religious leaders. Suvi’s father, then a village head, led us through that uncertainty. As a child, Suvi remembers fleeing at dusk, and later, learning that the same month, Madurese people suffered brutal ethnic violence in Sambas. This dish holds memories of fear, longing, and distance—but though dark in color, it is made wholeheartedly, with no trace of bitterness.
4/ “Into the Dark”, Mella Jaarsma – 2025
meringue and lemon pie
5/ “Into the Light”, Mella Jaarsma – 2025
dropveters and blueberries
In Into the Dark and Into the Light (2025), Mella Jaarsma presents a two-part dessert-based performance that invites audiences to experience the emotional and political contrasts shaping our world. Reinterpreting her 2022 work Sawyers Dust, which responded to the mass extinction of species and the cycles of ecological collapse, these new works reflect the artist’s reaction to the ongoing crisis and the growing despair voiced in movements like #IndonesiaGelap.
Into the Dark is a lemon meringue pie—bitter and bright, yet cloaked in sweetness. Individually prepared by the artist, this offering speaks of discomfort masked by beauty, and of personal gestures amidst collective anxiety. The final act, Into the Light, shifts the tone: guests are served a personalized edible image drawn directly onto a white plate using Dutch dropveters and fresh berries. In this gesture, Jaarsma turns the plate into both a canvas and a site of transformation.
Together, these two desserts embody a sensory journey from despair to hope, from opacity to clarity. Through taste, texture, and visual narrative, Jaarsma asks: how do we confront darkness without losing sight of the light?
Documentation of Fine (Art) Dining 2025. Photo by Kurnia Widodo
On this occasion, we are deeply grateful to everyone who joined us and became part of the growing constellation of Friends of Cemeti 2025–2026 (alphabetical order):
Adeline Ooi | Che Xuanqiao | Gerrit Groen | Jonathan Harjo | Laksamana Tirtadji | Luly J. Iskandar | Nathan Gunawan
We also wish to thank our patron Virginia Yee, as well as our board member Natasha Sidharta for their invaluable support to Cemeti.
Your generous support ensures Cemeti’s independence and helps sustain our context-responsive programming in Yogyakarta and beyond.
Finally, our heartfelt thanks to the artists, performers, and the entire Cemeti team for making this year’s Fine (Art) Dining possible.
Together, we remember, resist, and reimagine an also-possible world. See you again at Fine (Art) Dining 2026!
