Youtube: https://youtu.be/mV5iR1Ma19A

About the Screening:

“The maritime life and the complexity of matters, which include conflicts of interest, in one of the busiest waters in Asia, the Strait of Malacca, are accumulated through bodies. The other side of stories from archipelago was assembled and retold by Irwan and Tita after they conducted visits to several islands in Riau Archipelago, especially to Batam Island, a region that was once planned to be converted into an industrial area in 70s but now is facing the most serious challenges created by social problems.The region is tangling with interests and power centralized in Java Island which has created uncontrolled distortion. Observations were made by sea travel and some encounters with equator passers from Nusantara. The rise of issues in regard to geopolitical turmoil such as borders, colonial period, sultanate period and globalization, formed the initial idea of retelling these topics outside the mainstream narrative. Through artistic intervention, conversation, site-specific visits and an oath, this film essay presents the background of their artwork, entitled ‘Name Laundering’.”

This post-screening discussion is a part of Nusantara Archive’s “Project Portal” in 2021. The film has revealed the complex geo-political circumstance in Malay Archipelago, by screening it bridges the artists and the TKI fishing workers via online meeting, which in turn blurs the boundary of art practice. (This essay film is part of the final presentation of Nusantara in Future Tense workshop.)

About the artists:

Irwan Ahmett and Tita Salina are self-taught artist collective based in Jakarta. Their initial work is to place the imagination through performative intervention in the midst of chaotic public space of megapolitan Jakarta, which faces the dilemma of uncontrolled urbanization and pollution. The development of networks in art and activist circles has encouraged their artistic practice to progress toward the more profound and deeper circumstances. They are currently working on a long-term project related to geopolitical turmoil in the Ring of Fire – Pacific Rim, the most prone region to natural disasters as well as traumatic consequences which is caused by the persistent ideological violence. They see their high mobility as the main vehicle to participate in residency programs, research, field study and exhibitions especially in specific areas, which are paradoxical such as some heavenly yet deadly beautiful places on earth. Irwan and Tita wanted to find answers about planetary anxieties in regard to human existence by means of evolutionary perspective and to produce knowledge through arts related to injustice, humanity and ecology.

(This essay film and the artist talk is part of the final presentation of Nusantara in Future Tense workshop.)

[Stella Maris International Service Center is a Catholic Institution of the diocese of Kaohsiung managed by the Scalabrinian Missionaries. The center offers accommodation and shelter for both land and sea base migrants. The actual Stella Maris Center in the Diocese has been in existence since 1968 by the Jesuit Priest Fr. Joseph Donahue who wanted to provide a safe place for the American Vietnam soldiers who were taking their “Rest & Recreation” in Kaohsiung.  At the end of the Vietnam War, Fr. Donahue’s attention was devoted to the increasing number of commercial ships, mostly with American crew, importing all sorts of goods in Taiwan. In 1992, as the seafarers’ faces were becoming more Asians, the ministry was taken over by the PIME Fathers. In February 1996, Scalabrinian arrived in Kaohsiung and officially started the mission on July 1. The mandate given by the Bishop was clear and specific: assisting all migrant workers and coordinating the pastoral ministry for foreigners in the Diocese of Kaohsiung together with the responsibility of Apostleship of the Sea.

Sponsor: National Culture & Art Foundation
Organizer: Nusantara Archive (DAF), Stella Maris- AOS International Migrant Service Center (Kaohsiung)
Co-organizer: Open-Contemporary Art Center
Technical Support: Et@t
Co-ordinator: Wu Ting-kuan, Rikey Tenn
Photographer/ Observation team: Lo Shih-tung + Posak Jodian
Special thanks to Irwan & Tita, Achmad Mudzakir (FOSPI), Jonathan S. Parhusip, Shih Min-jay