Non-human perspectives & Conservations
Wagiwagi is an ongoing art-driven urban program; it is simultaneously an arts collective, a ‘Terracotta Embassy’ in Indonesia, as well as a platform and incubator for innovative ideas which responds to environmental issues.
Conceptualizing Wagiwagi is the idea that culture can be a primary driver for sustainable living, and that we need to reflect this on fact if we are to live together successfully in future.
Photograph by Yipei LEE, Mahoni and Pine, Majalengka, 2022
Wagiwagi brings together artists, scientists and citizens from around the world; together, the collective responds to environmental issues that are not only human centric but also explores non-human perspectives and cultural exchanges in hypertext society. Conceptualizing Wagiwagi art labs is the idea that culture can be a primary driver for sustainable living, and that we need to reflect this on fact if we are to live together successfully in future.
Wagiwagi is the philosophy of contemporary society, which is concerning the interpretation of future life and attempting to explore the ecosystem from a non-human-centered perspective. We are reconstructing and rethinking about the dialectical methodologies of the system “resource-commoner-institution”, including the collaboration and creation of scientists, artists and citizens responding to our environmental issues from the angles of sunlight, plants and land, as well as the basic system design in the architectural space which will transform into the conceptualization of art labs.
In the geographical Austronesian Siraya and Atayal languages, “Wagi” represents the sun; Wagiwagi means Greeting to nature, and also What a great idea! The Chinese translation “瓦 Wa” represents the tile, which carries the media of the boundary between nature and human; the former “集 Gi” means collective and collaborative; the latter “籍 Gi” echoes the identity and belonging of all things.
Therefore, starting from the collaboration between SUAVEART and Jatiwangi art Factory, the collaborative implementation may be an alternative field created in the process of identification, exploration, establishment, resistance, running-in and negotiation, pointing to a certain life practice of “living together” in stages also includes reflection on various reasons for culture as the driver for sustainable living.
In 2021 summer, an excited news brought by Taiwanese friend Sherry, that Jatiwangi art Factory wants to explore the sustainability of art practices between communities. Not only limited to artist career, but a long-term relationship beyond the art. Later on this concept is projected under the terracotta embassy, one of agendas under the terracotta city project which is exhibited in documenta 15, Kassel, Germany for 100 days, and later on invited to present at “Asia NOW” public project at Monnaie de Paris.
We think, except for Margret, Bamboo curtain studio, there is no other art collectives would concern the community building with Indonesia like SUAVEART we do. Nevertheless the difficulties of religion, language, mindset etc are hard to avoid. The barriers are related to time, consciousness, passion, resource, capital and the expectation, of course, what is the goal behind the concept? But honestly speaking, I dunt know, because it’s not about the ideas of a person, few people, or collectives, it’s about the certain social movement right in Majalengka, West Java.
With limited time before documenta, Taiwanese artist researcher Sharo Chi-Chu Liang spent 2.5 months from March to middle May living with Jatiwangi art Factory, to understand the way of they gestured from local villagers and JaF members from. Afterwards Taiwanese artist Chih-Hua Huang head for Kassel in the middle May to reconnect the implementation with JaF members for the entire summer times. Celyn Bricker, Yipei Lee, Kay Hung, Orbit Lin, Hsin-Chieh Hung, and How Ho joined the preparation, opening, encountered the COVID outbreak. At the same time, Taiwanese artist Wei-Chien Huang flew to Jatiwangi art Factory for the Artist in Residency project in August. That sort of getting to know Village Kaputren. Our researcher Yu-Chi Lai, and two interns Ying-Zhi Chang, Yi-Shan Yang joined the final part of exhibition and dismantle till the end.
What remains during documenta 15 and afterwards?
There are several villages and places have been visited together with people from locals, Jatiwangi art Factory, and international communities since March, August, September, November, January 2023 and until today.
If we are able to witness the future life, how to make construction or architecture into flexible demonstration of sustainable living. Could Wagiwagi become the next possibility to greet the nature? Could people from the local motivate themselves into the liberalization of social intervention?
If the so-called sustainability exists between cross-border communities, will it be equally interpreted on both territories?
We prepare two kind of water from different countries and regions. Cooking same tea, but came out very different taste.
Left: River Beishi (Pinglin, New Taipei City, Taiwan)
Right: River Cimanuk (Kaputren, Majalengka, West Java, Indonesia)
🍃 Fragments on land (workshop series)
14 January, 2023
10-11:30am (Water filter design)
16-18pm (Water fermentation – Kombucha)
This episode which titled “ Fragments on land” demonstrates the current processing of Wagiwagi project that implemented in Majalengka together with international cultural practitioners and local community villagers. Each context reflects the certain questioning status towards our environment and living resilience which is not only limited in Indonesia, but also in our original hometown.
Through “Water Filter Creation” and “Kombucha Fermentation” workshops: creating water filtration devices to provide clean water; making kombucha drinks to provide probiotics; and collecting plants and spices for secondary fermentation to design local flavors, Keting Chen tried to reconnect the inside and outside of the body by using WATER, which is the element most needed by living creatures.
In the afternoon, we continue the workshop by making local Kombucha which is defined by using the water from River Cimanuk.
Villagers are writing down their wishes to Kombucha and naming their first DRINK fermentation.
Episode 1 : Fragments on land, Winter, 2022
Date : 17-31 Jan, 2023
Opening : 16pm, 17 Jan
Venue : Bale Budaya, Kaputren
This episode which titled “ Fragments on land” demonstrates the current processing of Wagiwagi project that implemented in Majalengka together with international cultural practitioners and local community villagers.
There are several topics that arose during residency programs, field researches, samplings, interviews, and so on, such as Water, Soil & Forest, Agriculture & Food, People and Industrialization. Each context reflects the certain questioning status towards our environment and living resilience which is not only limited in Indonesia, but also in our original hometown.
Water, Soil & Forest: Ke-Ting Chen, Wei-Chien Huang, Lauro Nächt, Li-Chun Chang, Illa Syukurilah Syarief
Agriculture & Food: Pei-Ying Lin, Dark Matter Labs, Johannes Wiener
People and Industrialization : Anchi Lin [Ciwas Tahos], Kay Hung & Orbit Lin, Sharo Chi-Chu Liang
Meanwhile, we also co-worked with local people to contribute their real thoughts on different phases, particularly drawing a series of imagination of forest with disabled children conducted by Lauro Nächt, and sharing the family stories and local folks by old photo collection conducted by Yipei LEE.
With limited common languages to communicate, we try to unfold the invisible descriptions between our life patterns. Portraits, gestures, clothes, actions and objects are the coexisting evidence of characters. (Social) spaces are imagined as society in human context, however the spatial spheres between human and nonhuman are involved more appropriate places to social relations.
Afterwards, we cordially invite you to rethink a few questions; when was your last time stepping into nature? What’s your connection with the environment? What’s your manifesto to greet nature? What is future? What’s ecosystem integrity?
Village Kaputren is facing the transformation from agricultural society into urbanization, which includes the infrastructure development, factory expansion, capital rearrangement, educational system etc.
Some people are curious about the construction, which designed and contributed from SUAVEART members. To implement the construction on the foreign territories, we have tried hardly to communicate the suitable process, policy, regulation, and resources. Due to one of the JaF member divorced and lost the land and context of construction meaning. It is forced to shift into Village Kaputren, where is facing the different social context with the previous original.
The land authority is belong to private and government, Jatiwangi art Factory acts as the third party to connect entity abroad and local people. Again, the gap of communication came out not only for Taiwan, but also on Switzerland side. How to synchronize the information and compromise the wishing list from local communities?
It’s a very brave experimental socio project, and still taking time like fermentation, as the process of city development.
If you are interested in what’s happening now, there are several platforms have deeply engaged either with JaF or Village Kaputren to follow up.
Wagiwagi Album (→)
Wagiwagi IG (→)
Village Kaputren IG (→)
Jatiwangi art Factory IG (→)
Publication
Written in April, 2023
Stay tune..
細着藝術 SUAVEART 