Yellow Memories (2012) by Daisuke Takeya, on Talise Beach, Palu Bay, Central Sulawesi. (Photo: Linda Mayasari).
Tentang Program Rimpang Nusantara
About the Rhizomatic Archipelago Program
Rimpang Nusantara (Rhizomatic Archipelago) is an ongoing program initiated by Cemeti – Institute for Arts and Society since December 2018, as a platform to develop an art and cultural work model that is managed together egalitarian and transparently by each participant in it, by emphasizing the importance of decentralization, as well as maximizing the distribution mechanism of knowledge and experience equally.
The program focuses on the search for and mapping of various forms of contextual art practices and knowledge production supported by the principle of mutual cooperation, community-based approaches, uncoordinated working patterns, the power of critical literacy, and respect for diversity. The program is also actively building an inclusive arts network and opening up possibilities for experimentation and collaboration across disciplines, locations, collectives, or institutions.
The program also aims to explore the association of art and society, elaborate ideas on living together in the context of cultural citizenship, and become part of a deep and participatory democracy both in the local and broader contexts. This network is a collective process in which we broaden the horizon of literacy with our own linguistic treasures, through contact and exchange with various socio-cultural contexts.
Latar Belakang
Rhizomatic Archipelago Background
Along with the process of restructuring and transfer of generations, the Cemeti worker team intends to establish relationships with art practices carried out by post-1998 generations from several regions in Indonesia.
We realize, within a specific Indonesian context, we have a long history of Java and Non-Java narration related to center-periphery ideas. What comes from the center is often blamed as an effort to “Javanization” so that it always holds an arena for debate about the identity and politics of problematic representation. Considering we have historical experience as a postcolonial region, the narration has a shading with constructions of others in “colonialist” discourse.
Such a central-periphery idea precisely we could formed it over and over through various kinds of relationships between cultural contexts to the present. So is there a possibility to hack and form the new types of relationships that are equitable, mutualistic, and transformative?
Regarding the center-periphery that is becoming increasingly complex as the development of transportation, information and communication technologies. The connection experience is no longer only obtained through physical links, but also virtual. That is why we chose to carry out the practice of Rhizomatic Archipelago in the “in-between areas”, by occasionally tracing the marked territory or marking itself as the center or the periphery, while examining the colonial discourse and naration offered at each layer that was traversed. Rhizomatic Archipelago’s work mode is not intended to encourage narrations from the in-between area and or the periphery to the center, but rather to build awareness that the narrations are part of our identity without having to reduce them to others.
Aktivitas Rimpang Nusantara
Rhizomatic Archipelago Activity
The Inaugural Meeting of Rhizomatic Artists x Kelana
On April 22-26, 2019, Cemeti – the Institute for Arts and Society in collaboration with the Biennale Jogja Equator 5 held a meeting and discussion to increase the wealth of perspectives in translating the 2019 Biennale Jogja theme.
Conversation about Periphery Narration
In the process of preparing Biennale Equator #5, 2019 and Rimpang Nusantara / Rhizomatic Archipelago 2019 – 2021, the latest program of Cemeti- the Institut for Arts and Society, we met at one point of ideas to talk about “periphery” narration. We agreed to design a series of joint projects that contained a series of…
Rhizomatic Archipelago x Kelana Residency
Program Rimpang Nusantara dan Residensi Kelana menjadi titik temu dari gagasan dua lembaga Cemeti – Institut untuk Seni dan Masyarakat, dan Yayasan Biennale Yogyakarta untuk melihat Indonesia tidak dalam kerangka kota-Kota pusat seni, melainkan bergerak dan menyingkap narasi-narasi di titik-titik lain, terutama yang terhubung dengan khatulistiwa.
Partisipan Rimpang
Rhizomatic Archipelago Participants
Arif Setiawan (Pontianak) 
Cut Putri Ayasofia ( Banda Aceh) 
Engel Seran (Atambua) 
Ester Elisabeth Umbu Tara (Kupang) 
Ferial Afiff (Yogyakarta) 
Ipeh Nur (Yogyakarta) 
Rahmadiyah Tria Gayathri (Palu) 
Riky Fernando (Tanjungpinang) 
Remzky F. Nikijuluw (Ambon) 
Robby Octavian (Samarinda) 
Suvi Wahyudianto (Madura/Yogyakarta) 
Syamsul Arifin (Madura) 
Tajriani Thalib (Mandar, Sulawesi Barat) 
CEMETI 