Arus Balik – Shifting Currents Symposium: Day 1
Join us at the Arus Balik – Shifting Currents Symposium, where a wide range of panelists explore and discuss the histories of inequality and violence of contemporary architecture. It is part of Arus Balik - Shifting Currents, a collective programme on the past, present and future of the designer heritage shared by Indonesia, the Netherlands and the Indonesian diaspora.
27 September 2024 07:00 - 20:00
A.F. Aalbers, Rebuilding and expansion of Sociëteit Concordia, located on Bragaweg (Jl. Braga) in Bandung. 1940. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, archive AALB ph183-a
Understanding contemporary architecture and design practices that navigate histories of inequality and violence requires careful reflection, dialogue and action. How can we find the vocabulary, tools and artistic languages to acknowledge these pasts, while expressing the futures we wish to share? The symposium, organised in the light of the wider Arus Balik - Shifting Currents programme, invites architects, artists, designers, collectives, historians and design researchers to contribute insights, blueprints, vocabularies and tools that might bring us closer to reassessing the futures at stake through an intersection of pasts and lived realities.
In four sessions, spread out over two days, invited panellists will offer their moments of shifting paradigms and currents. At the heart of this symposium is a non-hierarchical and multivocal approach to knowledge, analysing the possibilities of design experimentation when nourished by situated, local perspectives and innovative archival research.
Programme
- 09:00 Walk-in
- 09:30 Welcome by Museum Het Schip and look back to An Evening With: ruangrupa
- 09:45 – 12:00 Session 1: New Design Vocabularies / The Past in the Present
- 12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
- 13:00 – 15:00 Session 2: Diasporic Imaginaries
- 15:00 – 15:30 Closing remarks by Gudskul
- 16:00 – 18:30 Workshop How The Book Could Read Us? with Gatari & Benny
- 18:30 – 22:00 Dinner/Cooking + Music Performance
Session 1: New Design Vocabularies / The Past in the Present
- Chair: Sadiah Boonstra
- Speakers: Berlage di Nusantara (Angeline Basuki, Ester van Steekelenburg and Petra Timmer), Hermawan Dasmanto and others
Architecture and design are created through the interaction of people, ideas, cultures and power structures. In the colonial era, Dutch architects such as Michel de Klerk, Henri Maclaine Pont and Thomas Karsten designed within a Western tradition that selectively absorbed and reflected local Indonesian architectures. Conversely, Indonesian architects such as Soejoedi Wirjoatmodjo, Friedrich Silaban, and Liem Bwan Tjie absorbed Western ideas and practices, which in turn shaped Indonesian architecture and design. As perceptions of colonial history begin to change, these designs are seen in a different light. How do we understand these designs today? Can we embrace the products of cultural exchange in a colonial context while remaining critical and transparent about the power relations that have shaped these designs? How do architects and designers today engage with these design legacies in their own practice? And what is the future of these legacies?
(Programme continues below)
Session 2: Diasporic Imaginaries
- Chair: Made Ngurah Amanda Pinatih
- Speakers: Nazif Lopulissa, Christopher Reinhart and Setiadi Sopandi
Transnational global processes such as colonisation, trade and other often exploitative economic relationships have given rise to widespread diasporas. The networks formed through education, travel, and various forms of diasporisation have played a crucial role in shaping diasporic vernaculars, which have become increasingly important in the 21st century. Architectural and design communities scattered across the globe are linked by shared diasporic experiences. These experiences have created fragmented temporalities of artistic relationships that navigate the intersections of the past, present, and future. Both designers and architects reflect on their ‘in-between status’, bringing to light forgotten histories of resistance, connection and solidarity that are enacted across different worlds. This session explores how the diasporic imaginary is shaped and influenced by different temporalities, localities, traditions, identities, and subjectivities, and how these elements contribute to the formation of collective memories and projections of the future. Furthermore, how do diasporic individuals navigate and re-imagine their positions through architecture and design, using objects, documents, knowledge systems and ideas gathered from their geographically dispersed locations?
Language: English | Location: Auditorium, Nieuwe Instituut | Entrance: free (RSVP)
RSVPAbout Arus Balik – Shifting Currents
From this September, Nieuwe Instituut, Museum Het Schip and Gudskul present the Arus Balik – Shifting Currents programme. Supported by DutchCulture, the Prince Claus Fund, the Marinus Plantema Foundation, Museum Arsitektur Indonesia, Berlage di Nusantara and others, this initiative aims to bring together architecture and design networks that link the regions and their diasporas, recognising architecture and design as material witnesses to colonial histories and pathways to possible shared presents. How can we rearticulate design legacies between Indonesia and the Netherlands and investigate future pathways?
