SILATHURAMI is an ongoing exchange program between the artistic communities of Bandung and
Pforzheim, co-initiated by 4E and the institutions EMMA and Rakarsa. The name is based on a
Sundanese term that describes the cultivation of networks as an act of conviviality. Since 2021, the
project has been furthering cooperation that brings together artistic and design positions against
the backdrop of the contemporary socio-ecological tensions. The collaboration is also a proposal for a
trans-local exchange beyond the big metropolises, such as Berlin or Jakarta, and instead focuses on
the experimental regions of the northern Black Forest and the Sundanese city of Bandung.
Initiated by Vincent Rumahloine and Mang Dian in Bandung, Western Indonesia,
SEDEKAH BENIH is a platform for
knowledge exchange, focussing on bridging scientific and embodied community knowledge. Seeds as
vessels of ecological intelligence are brought to the central „Waisenhausplatz“ of Pforzheim.
Our collective 4E joins this human to human approach as the local part of the team. Alongside
members of the various communities, who come together on this site, we set up bamboo huts that
for the next two months become a meeting ground, where music for chilis connects nonhuman and
human participants. The process is accompnanied by big events like a culinary arts performance
with the Indonesian collective
soy division but its
real impact lies in its connection with the rhythms that melt together on this site, enriching
the exchange at the Pforzheimer Waisenhausplatz.
Part of a 4E residency in Bandung, hosted by Rakarsa.
The idea of the wagon was sparked by the practices of our friends from the Tjibogo community
of Bandung and moments of deep listening into the citapus river with a hydrophone.
We encountered the Sundanese notion of Waas (or Ngawawaas) when our collaborator Nanda used
the word to describe an arising sentiment while listening to the river
– an almost-memory or a pleasurable reminiscence that was not fully his own.
The wagon carried a microphone array with hydrophones and contact microphones aswell as a
speaker,
playing field recordings immediately back into the site enabling a way of sensing into the
aural environment collectively.
It initiated an aqueous exchange, as an interface between the community of Pulo Sari, the
rhythms of the Cikapundung river and us as visitors to the site.
A ‘Sabulang Bentor’ discussion brought together activists and stakeholders, working around
the river system.
We learned and discussed about the deep connection of the Sundanese people to the local
waters.
Simultaneously we encountered a wounded and polluted river system. Pollution that has to be
traced not as a separate event but as a form of slow violence,
that unfolds in continuance of an extractivist cosmology.
The Silturahmi exhibition in July 2024 at EMMA Pforzheim is a celebration of three years of Bandung - Pforzheim collabotaion. It assembles artistic works that emerged from the ongoing exchange, centering around the themes of conviviality, collectivity and rivers. The central artwork **Kelindan **is a collaboration with the weavers of the Komunitas Masagi, repurposing plastic waste (from the riversite) into handmade rugs.
The exhibition space and the central carpet are activated regularly through workshops and communal dinners, repurposing it as a space for everyday ecnounters and for reflecting on the future of the collaboration. Alongside the exhibition we initiated forest walks––collecting local herbs, exchanging about recipies and tuning to the local landscape. The herbs and recipies followed us into the ‘Tumpeng’ comunnal dinner celebrations, opening up a porosity between exhibition space, landscape and community.
The names of the weavers are:
Siti Oliah,
Yuni/Samina,
Siti Tokayah,
Ela Nurlela,
Iyang Kurnia,
Pak Oong,
Hermawati,
Siti Aisyah,
Anih,
Rianah,
Nurriani,
Mira Lestiana,
Neng Wartikah,
Rukmini,
Imas Saripah,
Lilis,
Nur Asiah/Jamil,
Neneng,
Mamah febi,
Siti Robiah
