Museums as we know them are places to keep history. Oftentimes, museums are considered old-fashioned and out of date. Bienalle Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021 Discussion Forum looks at the efforts of curators and young artists in refreshing the public’s perspective on museums. Namely creating new ties between the museum and its surrounding community.
From the resident’s museum to Re-Imagine Bikon Blewut, that’s the title given by Eka Putra Nnggalu, a representative of the KAHE Community, before starting his story about the artistic activities he is involved in with his friends.
In 2020-2021, the KAHE Community together with Teater Garasi held an art activity in Wuring Village, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. Wuring village, which has been established in the early 19th century, is a Bajo village, Bugis, which has many stories in every corner.
This project also aims to map the capitals, issues, potentials that exist in Wuring Village, and try to develop them through art. Furthermore, this project aims to provide a meeting room between two different cultural entities, namely Bajo and Maumere.
“When we did this project, we tried to build communication with our friends in Wuring Village. It’s kind of like opening a bridge between friends in Wuring Village and Maumere. We felt that Wuring Village is so strange and exotic. Even though it’s close by and is older than Maumere City,” explained Eka in the Public Discussion Forum #9 with the theme “Playing with the Museum” on Thursday (4/11).
In addition to the Wuring Village project, the KAHE Community also revived the Bikon Blewut Museum which had been in suspended animation. What the KAHE Community has done is dismantle the narrative, content, and context of the Bikon Blewut Museum. With a fresh approach, the Bikon Blewut Museum managed to attract many visitors in just a few days.
Yuki Hatori from Japan is also present as a curator. He recounted his experience of making out-of-the-ordinary programs owned by Kyushu Geibun-kan, the museum where he works.
According to Yuki, although there are many museums in Japan, they only think about the construction but not much about the vision for their management.
From 2018-2019, Yuki met people who used to do collective activities. He saw how the collective gathered and chatted, to come up with new ideas that could be realized together. With these different manners, he felt compelled to do so in Japan.
“The process is very casual. I have never experienced such a proceeding in Japan. I feel that what emerges from collective activities is not only conventional works of art, but also community solidarity and brotherhood,” said Yuki.
One interesting thing is how society turns modern, but never really leaves the past. Museums that store objects from the past can be contextualized with today.
