Due to the time difference the conversation will be recorded beforehand.
Conversation with
farid rakun, ruangrupa (artist, writer, editor, teacher and instigator, Jakarta)
Nora
Sternfeld and Luisa Ziaja (/ecm-director team, Vienna)
Moderation: Beatrice Jaschke
(/ecm-director team, Vienna)
A talk about togetherness when we are forced to be in lockdowns. How can we assemble
under the ban? We share thoughts and experiences within, about and beyond curatorial practices under the conditions of a public
that is temporarily paused.
Trained as an architect (B.Arch from Universitas Indonesia
and M.Arch from Cranbrook Academy of Art), farid rakun wears different hats, dependent on who is asking.
A
visiting lecturer in the Architecture Department of Universitas Indonesia, he is also a part of the artists’ collective ruangrupa,
with whom he co-curated TRANSaction: Sonsbeek 2016 in Arnhem, NL, and currently serving as a collective Artistic Director
for documenta fifteen (Kassel, 2022). As an instigator, he has permeated various global institutions such as Centre Pompidou,
La Biennale di Venezia, MMCA Seoul, Sharjah Biennial, Bienal de Sao Paulo, Harun Farocki Insti- tut, Dutch Art Institute (DAI),
Creative Time, Haute école d'art et de design (HEAD) Genève, and basis voor actuele kunst (BAK).
He has worked
for Jakarta Biennale in different capacities since 2013 and currently serving as an advisor.
ruangrupa
is a Jakarta-based collective established in 2000. It is a non-profit organization that strives to support the idea of art
within urban and cultural context by involving artists and other disciplines such as social sciences, politics, technology,
media, etc, to give critical observation and views towards Indonesian urban contemporary issues. ruangrupa also produce collaborative
works in the form of art projects such as exhibition, festival, art lab, workshop, research, as well as book, magazine and
online-journal publication.
As an artists’ collective, ruangrupa has been involved in many collaborative
and exchange projects, including participating in big exhibitions such as Gwangju Biennale (2002 & 2018), Istanbul Biennial
(2005), Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Brisbane, 2012), Singapore Biennale (2011), São Paulo Biennial (2014),
Aichi Triennale (Nagoya, 2016) and Cosmopolis at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2017). In 2016, ruangrupa curated TRANSaction: Sonsbeek
2016 in Arnhem, NL.
From 2015-18, ruangrupa co-developed a cultural platform Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem
together with several artists’ collectives in Jakarta, located at Gudang Sarinah warehouse, Pancoran, South Jakarta. It is
a cross-disciplinary space that aims to maintain, cultivate and establish an integrated support system for creative talents,
diverse communities, and various institutions. It also aspires to be able to make connections and collaborate, to share knowledge
and ideas, as well as to encourage critical thinking, creativity, and innovations. The results of these joint collaborations
are open for public access—and presented with vari- ous exhibitions, festivals, workshops, discussions, film screenings, music
con- certs, and publications of journals.
In 2018, learning from their experience establishing
Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem and together with Serrum and Grafis Huru Hara, ruangrupa co-initiated GUDSKUL: contemporary art collective
and ecosystem studies (or Gudskul, in short, pronounced similarly like “good school” in English). It is a public learning
space established to practice an expanded understanding of collective values, such as equality, sharing, solidarity, friendship
and togetherness.
