[in order of appearance]
Sol Cai protests Gudskul’s existing environment by rendering bare the discomfort she experienced as a woman within it.
Laksmi Lilu Herlambang illustrates her long-term fascination with seating by investigating how people sit in Gudskul on an everyday basis.
Ratih Raditi attempts to realize her concern about the inclusiveness of mental illness in art. Ruang Sejenak (temporary space) is an imagination to take a space currently used by RURU Kids (ruangrupa’s art initiative for children) and transform it into a space to heal, hide, and reflect.
Ahmad Hilal uses memes and punk-ing popular figures to comment on the t-shirt designs and ad campaign about Jakarta’s early 2020 flooding. He reappropriates netizens’ endless occupation of the footballer M. Salah (“salah” means mistake, in Bahasa Indonesia) to reflect on the process of finger-pointing and blaming in disaster mitigation.
Duta Adipati relates Kali Maja, considered to be one of the most polluted rivers in the city, back to Gudskul by putting their respective waters under a microscope. Microbial differences between Gudskul’s water and Kali Maja’s lies in the availability of Spiroket (in the former) and Shigellosis and E. Coli (in the latter).
Gusmarian reflects back on his past collective experience practicing on a traditionally owned plot of land in Koto Lamo village, Kampar Kiri Hulu, Riau province, where they built a cultural house (which burned to the ground in 2019) and planted coffee.
The subject Praktik Spasial is coordinated by farid rakun, who also edited and translated this contribution
Video editor: Kathleen Malay
Background Music: “Kereta Tak Berhenti Lama” by Senyawa
This contribution derives from a presentation given by farid rakun at Nottingham Contemporary on November 8, 2019.
Gudskul (Contemporary Art Collective and Ecosystem Studies) is a public learning space established in 2015 by three Jakarta-based art collectives: ruangrupa, Serrum, and Grafis Huru Hara (GHH), who practice and expand the understanding of collective values – such as equality, sharing, solidarity, friendship, and togetherness.
Architectures of Education is a collaboration between Nottingham Contemporary, Kingston University, and e-flux Architecture, and a cross-publication with The Contemporary Journal. An essay relating to this video is available here.
The interview with farid rakun, member of ruangrupa, happened in the context of the conference Architectures of Education at Nottingham Contemporary in November 2019. In the interview conducted by Manuel Ángel Macia, rakun explored ruangrupa’s project in Jakarta, the ideas behind the notion of ‘collective of collectives’, and the upcoming Documenta 15. Manuel Ángel Macia…