Map of Pacific Migrations | Source: https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/3614/pacific-migrations under CC BY-NC 4.0
PRAKSIS Development Forum (PDF) is a monthly peer-discussion group for creative people. It offers a friendly, informal hub for practitioners to meet, share and discuss works in progress. There is space for up to three people to sign up to gain feedback on their current work.
Participation in PDF is free. The event will be conducted in English.
PDF #59 welcomes Kurniawan Adi Saputro, Danny Butt, and Helly Minarti from the Asia Pacific Artistic Research Network (APARN) to open the session. Together, they will reflect on the role of regional perspectives in their practices. In postcolonial and settler-colonial contexts, cultural affiliations and genealogies often extend beyond continental, national, or regional boundaries as defined by European geographic frameworks.
Thinking with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s evocation of “other Asias,” — which reminds us that there is no single or simple version of Asia — the three invite discussion around forms of non-alignment with nation-based affiliations and shared practices. They also wish to explore how “Asia” might be experienced not only as a land-based entity but through Oceanic thinking, foregrounding interconnectedness and fluidity.
This event will be especially relevant to artists, researchers, and organisers interested in geographies, decolonial methodologies, and practices of solidarity.
Book Your Place
Applications are warmly invited both from those who’d like to present and discuss works in progress, and from those who’d simply like to contribute to the discussion and learn about the PDF format. Booking is essential. To reserve a place please email pdf@praksisoslo.org
PDF Structure
Each presenting participant has about 30 minutes to share and discuss their work in progress. PDF’s focus is on development rather than reviewing outcomes, so please do not bring finished works or projects to the table. To help us stick to our schedule, please select a single work or self-contained project for presentation.
Practicalities
Works in progress can be shared by bringing in physical works as well as presenting a slideshow, reading or performance, or adopting any other suitable communication strategy. A projector and laptop will be made available. PDF encourages variety and experimentation, so please get in touch if you have questions about the format or special requirements.
More About Danny, Kurniawan, Helly and APARN
The Asia Pacific Artistic Research Network aims to map artistic research initiatives and activities in the Asia Pacific region, to provide a regional framework for practical collaboration between individuals and institutions, and to develop an understanding of the local cultural dynamics that influence artistic research activities in the Asia Pacific region. APARN was initiated by the Centre of Visual Art, University of Melbourne and the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta. It is a Special Interest Group of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR).
Kurniawan Adi Saputro, a lecturer at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta, specialises in arts research methods, visual media, and cultural activism. Since his study on mediated responses to natural disasters in 2014, he has been focusing on climate change education through photos, texts, and festivals, with publications on climate education for teens, socio-economic impacts of festivals, and climate justice for women and disabled individuals.
Danny Butt is Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Practice and Coordinator of Research in Design and Production at Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. He is the author of Artistic Research in the Future Academy, and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal for Artistic Research. He works with the Auckland-based art collective Local Time, and is Chair of the board of experimental sound arts organisation Liquid Architecture.
Helly Minarti is based in Yogyakarta where she works as independent curator/dramaturg, aligning her practices to rethink radical strategies that connect practice and theory within the realm of contemporary performance. Her primary interest is on historiographies of choreography as discursive practice: exploring the eclectic knowledge that permeates the complex interrelationship of human body, consciousness and nature. She has curated work at various platforms, most recently realising the performance The Sea Within for the 2023 Taipei Arts Festival.
More About PDF
PDF’s monthly events offer a constructive space for artists, curators and writers to share and discuss their current practice. Its goal is to enable cultural practitioners to learn what other creatives are up to, speak about their own work and share their perspectives. It is open to individuals at all career stages and every participant’s contribution to the group is valued.
Support PDF
PDF is only partly funded by the Norwegian Arts Council. As with all of PRAKSIS’s activity, we intend to keep it free and open to all. If you’ve enjoyed taking part in PDF or have benefitted from some other feature of PRAKSIS’s programmes, please consider supporting us via www.patreon.com/praksisoslo. Every small contribution - for instance, the cost of a cup of coffee a month - helps us keep our programmes going.
About PRAKSIS
PRAKSIS is a non-profit arts catalyst that fosters creative practice and knowledge production through collective activity and the exchange of ideas, skills and information. PRAKSIS seeks to establish dialogue between artists, thinkers and organisations locally and internationally, at all career stages, and across diverse cultures and disciplines.
