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East to West
Just now Here we go again. In Arka Kinari's longest and final route through the Indonesian archipelago, this year's voyage follows the trade winds steadily from east to west, and includes neighboring islands outside of Indonesia's borders, starting with Timor Leste, whose name literally means "east-east" when translated from Malay & Portuguese. You might remember Timor Leste from it's twenty-five year civil war ending in 1999. But then maybe not, since that conflict ended another twenty-five years ago. It remains the poorest nation in Southeast Asia, and also the proudest. If independence didn't come easy, maintaining autonomy from bigger and bellicose nations might be even harder. We had big plans for Timor Leste, and succeed with most of it. A storytelling performance at the Fundacao Oriente was packed despite an unseasonal evening downpour. To reach the maximum audience we spoke in English, with supertitles (sidetitles?) projected in the local Tetum language. Locals really stepped up to welcome us, from the Fundacao's hosting, to the local activist's translations efforts, dancers, bards, and experimental musicians opening the night. This is one of the many ways that pride can manifest, as an eagerness to share culture, both new and old, and through their curiosity and consideration for what newcomers might bring. The ship performance in the port was cancelled at the last minute by the harbor master, who, despite confirming our dock access months in advance, bounced Arka Kinari in order to host a massive Chinese warship. Gunboat diplomacy alive and well in the 21st century. The date was saved by inviting the dance & drum troupe scheduled to open the dock performance to instead come onboard to make a Laut Loud session. It would be hard to imagine a more lovely gang of young performers, and bonus points for inverting the normal gender roles by having the women drum and men dance. What else? The last two weeks were much like the start of each voyage- a tsunami of logistics and administration, although exacerbated this year by four border crossings (out of Australia, in and out of Timor Leste, then into Indonesia). We've become strangely expert with the byzantine rules of port immigration, customs, quarantine, to the point that we often know the procedures better than the officials, but must hold our tongues because people in uniform don't like being corrected by unwashed foreign artists. And who are the unwashed this time? Nova and I are back onboard after our forty-day world tour of random separate gigs in opera houses, projection domes, dance theaters, university halls and even an abandoned pharmacy building in rural Japan. Three of the international crew, Bochay, Claire and Yann, are staying on for now. Sahar and Chewy, the two Australians, departed, while their three Indonesian replacements- Raka, Hibat, and Alaps- just came onboard. Dora, the ship's canine psychologist, sadly can't join us until Bali because of a rabies outbreak in the eastern islands. Eight humans to keep this hunk of steel afloat, to manifest performances, archiving sessions, talks, feasts and friendships at the edge of the world, if not the end of the world. Grey Filastine 8.31º S, 123º E
By the Means at Hand
Our work, Tumbleweed diaspore , has been included in ‘ By the Means at Hand ’, Vlatka Horvat ’s project for the Croatian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale . "Engaging with the theme of Adriano Pedrosa’s main exhibition for La Biennale di Venezia, Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere , the project exists as an accumulative exhibition of artworks by a wide-ranging group of international artists living “as foreigners,” reflecting on questions and urgencies of the diasporic experience." The package travelled with us for nearly a month – from Belgium via Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy – until we hand-delivered it to the lovely people at Fabbrica 33 in Canareggio at the end of May. "The title of the project – By the Means at Hand – refers to the improvised transport systems whereby individuals activate informal networks of friends, acquaintances, and even strangers to deliver letters, parcels, documents, money, and other material goods to family members and others who live in cities or countries far away. While such practices are born out of social dispersal, migration, and displacement, the networks they give rise to build effectively on wider principles of solidarity, shared struggle, mutual support, and friendship – factors that the project emphasizes as prerequisites for co-existing with others, and as key elements in the toolkit for those living “in foreign lands.” By the Means at Hand also points to a wide range of broader themes such as alternative logistics, the spontaneous production of social relations, informal and gift economies, and the idea of trustfulness. On a subtler, yet crucial, infrastructural level, the project takes off from a recognition of the state of emergency when it comes to the climate crisis, and the substantial environmental footprint of institutionalized modes of production, transportation, and presentation of contemporary art. The project’s improvisatory system of delivering artworks to and from Venice forgoes the formal transport system, using instead journeys that are happening anyway." @vltkhrvt @croatianpavilion2024 @labiennale