Recap: Opening of the GUD Instituut Living Room
On 24 September, the GUD Instituut Living Room opened its doors on the deck of the Nieuwe Instituut. The inception of this Indonesian ruang tamu, or living room, marked the start of the broader Arus Balik–Shifting Currents project. Emerging from a close collaboration between the Nieuwe Instituut, Museum Het Schip and Gudskul, this four-month programme presents a multitude of explorations into the pasts, presents, and futures of Indonesian-Dutch design legacies.
25 November 2024
It’s just after 16:00h when the first people make their way up the stairs, to the newly furnished GUD Instituut Living Room on the deck of Nieuwe Instituut. A welcome drink awaits them at the gerobak, or wheeled cart: a mobile kitchen equipped with a small stove, coffee and tea supplies, spices and utensils. Contributors, colleagues, acquaintances, friends and curious visitors meet each other over a glass of wine or an Indonesian Good Jamu soda.
The GUD Instituut Living Room is a collaboration between Gudskul and Nieuwe Instituut. It is a meeting space, melting pot and central base for the Arus Balik–Shifting Currents programme. The design reflects an Indonesian ruang tamu, or living room, where narratives from the Indonesian diaspora flow like a warm cup of tea and themes of hospitality and communal comfort are unpacked. Using the artworks from the previous Resituating Colonial Archives/Simpang Susun Arsip Kolonial exhibition and collaborative living room-making workshops with Gudskul, the space is designed to elicit narratives of history and memory through real-life experience and social interaction.
In curatorial terms, the living room constitutes a significant break with conventional exhibition practices in which the audience is typically viewed as outsiders with little prior knowledge. In contrast, the living room emerges from the belief that audience members bring a variety of useful insights, underlining the value of interaction and fading frontiers between visitors and organisers. In this sense, the living room is viewed as a space that is able to shift and slow down visitor experiences. Here, nongkrong, or hanging out collectively, entails communal mingling and casual interaction, as well as sharing knowledge, food and experiences.
The relations that manifested themselves in the run up to, during and after the opening of the GUD Instituut Living Room are the result of years, and more intensively, months of coordination and collaboration. The pre-production phase leading up to the space’s festive opening entailed a comprehensive, collective mapping of material and object surpluses throughout Rotterdam. The project team’s WhatsApp group chat became a dynamic archive of their exploratory strolls through the city, online scavenging and various rummages through local second-hand stores. Through this gradual and deliberate process, the GUD Instituut Living Room began to take shape.
The evening is cordially opened by Setareh Noorani (researcher and curator, Nieuwe Instituut), Rifandi Septiawan Nugroho (researcher and curator, Gudskul), Angga Cipta (visuals artist and curator, Gudskul) and Najiba Yasmin (Programme Manager International VIsitors Programme, Nieuwe Instituut). Then, Marishka Soekarna (DJ Cempaka) takes place behind the DJ booth. Warm rhythms ranging from nostalgic Indonesian gems to quirky Asian and post-punk tunes fill the room.
Meanwhile, chef Agus Hermawan and his companions are crafting a two-course Indonesian menu for the evening. Agus leads the culinary taskforce of the Indonesian Diaspora Network in the Netherlands, that aims to showcase the richness of the Indonesian cuisine through events and workshops. As he prepares the dishes, he shares insights about his culinary techniques, the Indonesian kitchen and the flavours. The first course features a vibrant salad composed of romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, pineapple and salted peanuts, all drizzled with a dressing of lime, ginger, sambal oelek and a fresh emulsion of coconut and lime. For the second course, Agus prepares a traditional nasi goreng at the gerobak.
Although this opening evening adequately set the tone for the kind of atmosphere that the GUD Instituut Living Room intends to radiate, the space is in a continuous state of becoming. Over the course of the next months, it will grow, transform, retrace its shape and take on different identities as it becomes the stage for a multitude of workshops, gatherings, informal meet-ups, music sessions and more during the unfolding of Arus Balik–Shifting Currents. You are warmly invited.
_The GUD Instituut Living Room is organised by Delany Boutkan, Ina Hollmann, Setareh Noorani, Rifandi Nugroho and Gesyada Siregar. It is co-hosted by Angga Cipta, Benny Widyo, Dicky Takndare, Gatari Surya Kusuma, MG Pringgotono, Reza Afisina, and others. The programme of discussions, workshops and other diverse gatherings includes contributions from Albert Rahman Putra (Gubuak Kopi) and Krista Jantowski, Dito Yuwono (Cemeti), Farid Rakun, Isabel Driessen and Andrés López (el Kantoor), Nuraini Juliastuti (as part of her mentorship at HKU), Paoletta Holst, Robin Hartanto Honggare, ruangrupa, Setiadi Sopandi (Museum Arsitektur Indonesia), Yasmin Tri Aryani, and others. Extended _ruang tamu (living rooms), will be hosted in various places in Indonesia and Rotterdam, including Gudskul, Kiosk Rotterdam, ook_huis/Take-A-Way (and others to be confirmed). The opening night took place in close collaboration with Lany Pradjarahardja and Wiwi Tjiook from the Indonesian Diaspora Network. The chef cook was Agus Hermawan. Jamu drinks were served by Milad Nabiaalah from Good Jamu. Music from DJ Cempaka.