One of the oldest Biennales in Asia, and formerly known as Biennale Dewan Kesenian Jakarta (the Biennale of Jakarta Arts Council), Jakarta Biennale 2009 made its first move towards the international stream of cross-regional celebration of contemporary visual art based in a city. In its thirteenth incarnation, under the theme of ‘Arena’, Jakarta Biennale 2009 aims to promote the idea that art can create new inspirational and participatory spaces within the urban arena. By dividing up the entire event into three zones, namely, the Fluid Zone at Galeri Nasional Indonesia (National Gallery of Indonesia), the Battle Zone scattered over twenty spots in the city, and the Zone of Understanding at local galleries, it attempts to establish itself as a valuable showcase not only for established but also for up-and-coming artists from Indonesia and the region of Southeast Asia and students from local institutes.