Framer Framed in Surabaya – Sensible Past: Of Distances and the Fabrication of the Frame
Framer Framed is proud to present Sensible Past: Of Distances and the Fabrication of the Frame in Gedung Balai Pemuda in Surabaya, Indonesia. The exhibition is presented in the context of The International Convention of Asia Scholars: Crossways of Knowledge and realized in collaboration with KITLV and the Integrated Arts – Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung (UNPAR).
The exhibition Sensible Past: Of Distances and the Fabrication of the Frame stems from continuous research in the context of the Atelier KITLV-Framer Framed artist-in-residence by Theo Frids Hutabarat (2022-2023), as well as conversations with recent Atelier KITLV-Framer Framed residency participants Clara Jo (2023-2024) and Mirelle van Tulder (2024-2025). The residency, facilitated by Framer Framed, was designed for artists to develop a project based on their engagement with materials from the Dutch (post-)colonial era currently held by KITLV – Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden.
Sensible Past: Of Distances and the Fabrication of the Frame (2024). Photo: Framer Framed and UNPAR
Sensible Past is a group exhibition that explores how artistic practices challenge embedded values of the colonial archive and provide alternative frameworks for sensing the past. The exhibition takes place in the historical West Wing of Gedung Balai Pemuda. While the main building offered an exclusive space for Dutch and European citizens for recreation and play, the West Wing was developed to serve colonial parties until 1945. In that year it was temporarily occupied by members of the Youth of the Republic of Indonesia (PRI) to fight against the Dutch army. After independence, Gedung Balai Pemuda was used as a military and regional quarters, as public meeting halls and more recently as a cultural activity centre.
Inhabiting such a space with a century-long history of drastic changes in its identity, Sensible Past started from the curiosity of how a space is framed by different mediums and technologies of power, and through time – fabricated into versions of histories. The presentation utilises a frame as a modular texture to house a variety of works. These works critically engage with the sense of distance and exoticism of colonial imagination and our imagination of the (colonial) past. They redirect our attention towards the impacts caused by forces of colonial framing – with the possibility of reflection and repair. Alongside the presentation is a short film screening programme, an interactive ice tasting session, and a piano and lecture performance to create vernacular, non-formal sites of learning.
Sensible Past: Of Distances and the Fabrication of the Frame invites us to rethink archival and artistic practices as well as counter-institutional circulations of knowledge. It is aimed at recognising embodied and communal learning processes and exploring ways to articulate notions of memory. Sensible Past considers how archives are alive and living, with their potential to transcend colonial hosting spaces and create infrastructures of solidarity through collective actions of reframing.
The exhibition takes place from 28 July until 1 August, 2024 in Gedung Balai Pemuda in Surabaya, Indonesia. For more information, visit the ICAS13 website.
Sensible Past: Of Distances and the Fabrication of the Frame. Photo: Framer Framed and UNPAR
Public Programme
– Het komende geslacht zal U prijzen: Archiving and transforming Paul Seelig’s echoes from the colonial era – Lecture concert by Kasih Karunia Indah
July 29, 2024 | 19:00 – 20:00
Paul Johan Seelig was a European composer inspired by the sounds of the Dutch East Indies. Famous in the Indies during his time, Seelig was particularly focused on the preservation of traditional music (Van Dijk, 2008). Interestingly, he was also experimental as a composer, creating works that transformed motifs and melodies that existed within the Dutch Indies. Following Seelig’s project of preserving and transforming ‘Indische’ motifs in his compositions opens up imaginative possibilities of what happened in the past. Simultaneously, it allows us to interpret the interwoven relations that exist in our current postcolonial era.
- – IJs – Performance by Fajar Abadi
July 30, 2024 | 15:00
Ice was once considered as a mineral, because it was ‘mined’ in areas with colder climates. Ice has also been a commodity exclusively for the wealthy. For the exhibition, Fajar contributes a performance about ice that references a variety of beverages within its ecosystem, like syrup-based drinks and Ayer Belanda, or soda. These beverages will draw on studies of various resources as well as archives.
- – Crossroads/ Persimpangan – Short film screening programme curated by Gorivana Ageza in collaboration with Bahasinema
July 31, 2024 | 18:30 – 21:00
This screening programme highlights the journey of Indonesian society through sociocultural shifts, interests and values, considering local, national, transnational, and global dynamics. These conditions constitute Indonesian identity as something that is ambiguous, paradoxical, floating, while also being hybrid and adaptive.
Contributors
Chen Jhen
Clara Jo
Dewi Sofia Laurente
Emily Shin-Jie Lee
Fajar Abadi
Gorivana Ageza
Irfan Hendrian
Kasih Karunia Indah
Mirelle van Tulder
Theo Frids Hutabarat
Yacobus Ari Respati
Yustinus Ardhitya
Zaldy Armansyah
Framer Framed is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; Municipality of Amsterdam; and VriendenLoterij Fonds.
- The International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS13): Crossways of Knowledge
- KITLV - Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
Links
Colonial history / Indonesia / Residencies / Southeast Asia /
Exhibitions
Exhibition: Breaking Waves
The exhibition Breaking Waves by artist Clara Jo on epidemiological and maritime movement
Exhibition: Anonim
Final presentation of Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat's Atelier KITLV-Framer Framed Artist in Residence project.
Agenda
Atelier KITLV: Declaring Distance
Ways of imagining and engaging with the colonial archive with Atelier KITLV
Network
Fajar Abadi
Artist
Gorivana Ageza
Scholar
Yacobus Ari Respati
Art teacher and curator
Irfan Hendrian
Artist, industrial printmaker and graphic designer
Kasih Karunia Indah
Artist and student
Yustinus Ardhitya
Artist, designer and lecturer
Zaldy Armansyah
Artist
Chen Jhen
Designer
Mirelle van Tulder
Dewi Sofia
Freelance creative and scholar
Clara Jo
Artist
Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat
Artist
Emily Shin-Jie Lee
Public program and research
Magazine
Colonial history / The living archive / Residencies /
The living archive / Colonial history / Art and Activism / Residencies / Southeast Asia /
Announcement: Atelier KITLV-Framer Framed Artist in Residence
Colonial history / Indonesia / Art and Activism / Residencies /