How does it affect Indonesians to live in one of the largest and most disaster-prone archipelagos in the world? How are they dealing with the social, political and cultural challenges of the Anthropocene? And how do these challenges influence their idea of the archipelagic nation-state? This presentation seeks to address these questions by analysing the ideas, practices and impact of environmentally engaged Indonesian contemporary artists. The artists represent a specific type of agency and resilience in the age of the Anthropocene, by not merely reacting to environmental disaster, but by addressing the socio-political factors that put people in a position of vulnerability in the first place.

Apart from mapping the actors, communities and networks involved in art creation, distribution and reception, this presentation will analyse the modes and objects of presentation and representation of the creative work itself. Some of the work takes the inter-environmental complexity as a point of departure to explore scenarios and design practical devices for more sustainable relations between humans and nature. By emphasising the role of creativity and examining the relevant socio-political and cultural phenomena underlying environmental disaster, this presentation approaches the Indonesian archipelago as a postnatural phenomenon rather than a naturally given or fixed geopolitical entity.

About the Speaker

Edwin Jurriëns is Lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the Asia Institute, the University of Melbourne, and a Visiting Fellow with the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia. He is also the author of Visual Media in Indonesia: Video Vanguard (Routledge, 2017).