Dias Prabu writes about his Yogyakarta art collective that seeks to reconnect with the disappearing cultures of Indonesia.

Kultura Collectiva is an art collective based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia since 2020 and co-founded by Dias Prabu, who is a visual artist, muralist, and drawing batik artist, and photographer and writer Dewie Bukit. Previously, Kultura Collectiva was a personal art project worked on by Dias Prabu called Kultura Project in 2017. This art project prioritizes painting and mural art programs based on stories or culture from islands in Indonesia that have a long history of spice traditions such as the Natuna islands, Selayar Islands, Aceh and Kalimantan. Then, he decided to expand the Kultura Project network through an art collaboration program with various art disciplines in  2020 called Kultura Collectiva.

Kultura Collectiva combines traditional, cultural and socio-historical contexts based on Nusantara/Indonesia with contemporary art. The essential part of this collective is to push the boundaries by creating immersive/site-specific works through collaborations, especially with other art disciplines such as photography, film-making, performance art, murals, ethnic music instruments and fashion projects. Moreover, Kultura Collectiva is also working with local artists, researchers, institutions, students and communities overseas through collaborations, workshops and sharing knowledge to make an artwork/site-specific works/art project locally and globally such as in Warren Pennsylvania, New York, USA and Australia like in Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Perth from 2020-2024.

The statement

Kultura Collectiva recognizes that traditions and narratives are at risk of being forgotten as the world is changing fast in every aspect every day. Then we have to keep it and stay in the line and lift it up to another level of work for today and the future.

We are activists for history, storytelling and the preservation of art and culture. We have lived through  the slow forgetting of unique and profound cultural practices in Indonesia. We have seen the indifference of younger generations ensure that our stories and the stories of our ancestors are swept aside. History is our story. We believe that our unique perspective on the vitality of historical narratives gives us the  necessary insight to approach other histories. We see our role as storytellers to immerse ourselves in the  stories of other places and to celebrate, interrogate, and contemplate their inherent values.

Working process

There are three stages in the working process in the way Kultura Collectiva make their works.

Stage One

Conduct research on local history. Locate and identify historical photographs. Read through historical accounts and materials such as literature, books, websites and journals. Create a timeline of significant events. Speak with local historians and with local youth to gain different perspectives on local histories. Collate stories and images that can be interpreted through hand-drawn batik works, music collaborations, performance arts, murals, film, fine art and documentary photography.

Stage Two

A collaborative project from different art disciplines such as batik works with performance art,  mural works with video art, photography with documentary film and ethnic music compositions with EDM music or even contemporary batik with fashion projects. The aim of this collaboration is to find a different perspective on how to make a variation, possibility, experimentations, re-imagination and re-interpretation.

Stage Three 

Create the artworks then exhibit them in an art exhibition, art show, art workshops, art teaching, site-specific works and collaboration, etc.

Kultura Collectiva always improves every project to get maximum results that can connect the synergy of the three stages. As a collective art team that has been running for the past four years, Kultura Collectiva wants to continue providing art experiences to the community, students and the younger generation. The culture and traditions of the past that have been taught by our ancestors through our teachers in terms of art have also become a valuable lesson to remain in harmony with today’s pop culture and for the future. Therefore, the historical foundations of past cultures from all over the world for us are like a land that should be preserved (through art). In the end, the continuity of life will always be balanced with art that still cares about culture, local wisdom and togetherness that can be enjoyed by all groups inclusively for the generations in the future.

Below are examples of some of the works produced by Kultura Collectiva over the past four years. The works are produced in the form of solo exhibitions, collaborative art, educational art projects in the form of workshops and short classes.

On-site research

Re-imagining stories of the spice trades from Nusantara to Australia through mural works from  Selayar Islands in South Sulawesi to Sydney NSW, Australia. This work was created from 2020-present, with the main focus on the historical objects from the story of the spice trade as part of the solo exhibition by Dias Prabu through hand-drawn batik works at Broken Hill City Art Gallery,  Broken Hill NSW, Australia in 2022.

Visiting sites of traditional boats from Selayar Islands, South Sulawesi (2020-2021) to know how they created their historical boats from 16 centuries ago. One of the traditional houses in Selayar Islands was built 150 years ago by using “jati merah” or red teak wood.

FLOWING LIFELINES, a solo exhibition by Dias Prabu

Reconnecting the memories from the spice trades based on the historical sites between Indonesia  (Bugis-Makassan tribes) and Australia (Yolngu Aboriginal, Northern Territory). Venue: Broken Hill City Art Gallery, NSW, Australia. Year: 2022 (link)

Re-imagining memories of past encounters

Dias Prabu ✿ Re-imagining memories of past encounters

The Art Collaboration

A collaborative work from Kultura Collectiva by Dias Prabu (drawing batik artist), Jaeko Siena  (ethnic musician & composer), Andika Ananda (performance artist) and Dewie Bukit (photographer & filmmaker). The artwork combination with those four elements became a video art.

The Fashion Project

This program is a collaborative process between batik drawing from Dias Prabu and designers who care about the nation’s history. There have been two fashion shows: 2019  (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) and 2024 (Sydney, Australia). The program could provide an open collaboration space for every audience to learn from each other about what happened in the past and then create it in the contemporary era.

1. VERANO by Inez X Kultura by Dias Prabu; Jogja Fashion Festival, Ambarrukmo Plaza, 2019

1. Kultura by Dias Prabu X Setepak by Leonaz Panjaitan; CIVIC Centre, Ashfield, Sydney NSW, Australia, 2024

The mural works

A compilation of mural works by Dias Prabu and worked with students from several places from Natuna Islands, Kepri to Bega Valley NSW and Newtown, Sydney NSW, Australia (2017-2024). The mural works have been finished as a continuation of the spice trades research from the connection between the Bugis-Makassan sailors with the Aboriginal Yolngu from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory back in the sixteenth century.

2017. Natuna Islands, Kepri, Indonesia, 2017.

Mural on a traditional boat from Natuna Islands called “Jungkong”, one of the traditional fishing boats from the locals around Natuna since many years ago.

2022. Mural Project, From Jogja to Bega: the trade relationship between Indonesia and Australia through spice trade stories, 20 meters x 2,5 meters, SECCA Bega, Bega Valley, NSW, Australia in 2022.
2023. Jiwa Nusantara-raga Berdiaspora, 16m x 4m, acrylic and ink on wall, Newtown NSW,  Australia, 2022-2024. In collaboration with Dias Prabu and Hendra Priyadhani who is a visual artist from Indonesia as well.

Between Traditions: In the circle of life and death

A journey of life-cycle as a creature connected to the Javanese ancestral paths through re-imagination and re-creation into the theatrical memories from the past as a lesson of our lives today and the future. Indian Ocean Craft Triennial 2024, IOTA24, Holmes á Court Gallery, Perth WA, Australia

Invisible Maestro

The site-specific research and artwork by Dewie Bukit are about the story of the woman ulos weavers from Toba, North Sumatra who have the dedication to preserving and protecting the cultural inheritance from Toba Lake, Indonesia. The research received much attention not just from Indonesia but also Australia. Dewie and her team just recently got special recognition through an art exhibition and workshop at The Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW) in South Melbourne, Australia this  August 2024. She worked with three ulos weavers and one particular woven artist from Yogyakarta. For almost eight years, Dewie focused on her research about the continuation of traditional ulos from Batak through anthropological photography works. We can see her works in her previous solo show at Salihara Gallery Jakarta in 2022 as well.

Ulos through the viewfinder

About Kultura Collectiva

Kultura Collective is principally Dias Prabu and Dewi Buki. Others include Jaeko Siena as ethnic musician, composer and music editor; Kristian Sihite as Batak hasapi string musician and videomaker; Riki Maulana as fine art photographer and professional assistant; Andika Ananda, a performance artist; Leonaz Panjaitan, fashion designer; Hendra Priyadhani, visual artist with specifications on installation, recycle material and printmaker; Dian Aprilianti, stitching and tapestry artist. Follow @kultura_collectiva

Tags

batik | Dias Prabu | G36 | Indonesia