Basuki Resobowo, De Kolonisatie (1983), mural. Image courtesy of Watch65 19 Sep 2025
14:00 - 16:00
Moving Memories: Countering Historical Silences, Narrating Archives of the Indonesian Left
As part of the exhibition Lawan!, on show at Framer Framed from 12 to 21 September 2025, collective Watch65 presents Remembering and Solidarity-Making: 60 Years after 1965, a memorial exhibition in remembrance of 1965. On 19 September, as part of a one-day symposium, Watch65’s archival website, GerakIngatan (gerakingatan.omeka.net) is launched. Aligning its efforts with like-minded memory projects on 1965, both in Indonesia and overseas, the ethos of GerakIngatan is to decolonise Indonesian historiography and reclaim the nation’s narration from the clutches of those in power.
As a community archive, GerakIngatan’s primary objective is to counter archival silences. It is dedicated to collecting, curating and activating records of Indonesian leftist movements. Since 1965, the Indonesian state has systematically dominated the country’s historiography. Most recently the Prabowo Subianto administration has embarked on a controversial plan to rewrite national history. Seeking to nuance that history – and to tell it from the vantage point of the Indonesian Left – Watch65 aligns their work with growing movements that resist the state’s ongoing attempts to silence alternative voices. They’re expanding their understanding of leftist movements in the past to help them imagine possibilities for progressive movements in the present and future.
GerakIngatan’s core tenet rests on the interplay of two components: movement and memory. Its philosophy is one of moving memories: to be meaningful and to inspire, memories preserved in otherwise ‘still’ documents must be put in motion through narration (arsip bercerita). One focus of the platform is the documentation of the narratives, life’s work and stories of Indonesian exiles in the Netherlands and Europe.
GerakIngatan’s initiator, Dr. Rika Theo, Information Specialist of Political Science and Media Studies at UvA and archivist at IISG, introduces the archives. Walking the audience through the website, Dr. Theo elaborates on GerakIngatan’s digital curation and storytelling, the politics/practice of community archives and their potentials to propel progressive activism. Ita Fatia Nadia, an Indonesian historian and feminist, shares her experiences with Ruang Arsip dan Sejarah Perempuan (RUAS, a space for Indonesian women archives and history). As she is also most recently involved with the Alliance for Indonesian Historical Openness, the session is a more extended update on the current situation in Indonesia in relation to the government’s attempt to re-write history – and an interim prognosis on challenges that lie ahead for those doing memory works on/in Indonesia. The event is moderated by Dr. Yatun Sastramidjaja.
Register via the website of the University of Amsterdam. Read more about the first half of the symposium here.
About
Watch65 is a Netherlands-based voluntary association that is committed to the ongoing fight to uphold justice for the victims of gross violations of human rights in Indonesia. Founded in 2018, Watch65 brings together activists, writers, journalists, researchers and political exiles who participated as volunteers in the landmark International People’s Tribunal on Crimes Against Humanity in Indonesia 1965.
Remembering and Solidarity-Making: 60 years after 1965 is commissioned by Watch65 and co-produced by Watch65 and Framer Framed.
- GerakIngatan
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Collectives / Diaspora / Indonesia / Colonial history / Art and Activism /
Exhibitions
Exhibition: Lawan!
An exhibition that brings attention to the legacies of post-colonial imperialist expansion in the Indonesian archipelago and West Papua
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