Colonial exhibitions, hybrid architecture, and the interpretation of modernity in the Dutch East Indies

ABSTRACT

To gain more economic profit and strengthen its colonial power, the Dutch brought Western technologies and products to their colonies and organized colonial exhibitions, modeled on the successful international exhibitions in Europe. This article analyzes colonial exhibitions in the Dutch East Indies and the ways that Dutch architects used various local architectural forms for those ephemeral events to attract visitors and to modernize the colony. The empirical case study discusses hybrid architecture in the Dutch East Indies at three events: Pasar Gambir of Batavia, Jaarmarkt of Surabaya, and the 1914 Semarang Colonial Exhibition. Through analysis of archival and historical documents, I argue that the use of local architectural forms in colonial exhibitions helped the colonies to adapt to modernity and created places where local people could practice a Dutch lifestyle and create their own idea of modernity.

KEYWORDS:

• Colonial exhibition
• Pasar Gambir
• Jaarmarkt Surabaya
• hybrid architecture
• modernity
• the Dutch East Indies

Acknowledgements

The author wish to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers and the editor of the journal for their helpful comments and suggestions that considerably improved the manuscript. The author also would like to thank research assistants and librarians who helped the author in collecting the archives and materials for the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Yulia Nurliani Lukito as a lecturer at the Department of Architecture, Universitas Indonesia. Her primary research explores intersection between architecture, technology, and culture especially in relation to hybrid architecture and colonial exhibition, and is currently working on industrial heritage and colonial modernity in Indonesia. Her publications include books, journals and articles on topics such as colonial exhibitions and vernacular architecture in Indonesia.

Additional information

Funding

This article is part of a research on architecture and modernity in Indonesia funded by the Kementerian Riset, Teknologi dan Pendidikan Tinggi of the Republic of Indonesia under PDUPT [grant number 426/UN2.R3.1/HKP05.00/2018]. This article’s publication is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Sustainable Higher Education Research Alliance (SHERA) Program for Universitas Indonesia’s Scientific Modeling, Application, Research, and Training for City-centered Innovation and Technology (SMART CITY) Project [grant number AID-497-A-1600004], [sub grant number IIE-00000078-UI-1].