梁 棨 筑 SHARO LIANG

Duration | Mar. - Apr. 2022

Location | Jatiwangi Art Factory, Majalengka, West Java, Indonesia

Collaborate with all members of Jatiwangi Art Factory

This project is inspired and dedicated to the organic working method and the relation between each member of the art organization — Jatiwangi Art Factory (JaF) in rural Indonesia. Not like other companies, JaF started from family business as a terracotta factory from the Arief and Ginggi’s (JaF’s current directors) father. While during the economic crash in Indonesia, it brought seriously impacted the villages’ traditional terracotta industry, thus Arief and Ginggi decided to change the factory into an art factory that combined contemporary art and local tradition to support the community to continue sustain their culture and resisting the expansion of gentrification and industrialization from global factories.

Nurturing a big family

Coming from a different culture background, my stay in JaF have immerse me in the way they work as a collective and the relation they build upon their working environment and method. During my research period, I took 2 weeks to learn the relationship between each member, as this organization constitute blood-related family members and also non-blood related “families”. When the core team member working closely on projects and events they live, eat, and rest together in JaF, create close relation with each other. JaF not only consist exhibition venue, working office, but also factory for terracotta making, living space for family members, guests, and collaborators. They utilized space flexibly to create a home for colleagues and artists, which expending the family bigger and allowed more potential to build a close relation with the members. Another factor that increase the distance between people in JaF, is that there are very limited privacy in the house. Beside dividing rooms by gender, people usually share space and everything on daily bases. JaF is an open space, the design of the space itself blurred the boundaries between private and public. For example there are new faces coming going everyday, this includes artists, photographer, journalist, friends, neighbors, catering staff…etc. this makes JaF always a busy place for local community and creatives.

Project Concept & Development

I started this project from learning people’s faces and name as a personal note, as I realize in this residency it’s not possible to make project the way artist pictured or planned, to work things out, the best way is to understand the nature of JaF — sitting on the bench catching up with people passing by, this simple act can be very inspiring and the best way to learn more about the local area and culture. Knowing the importance of building relations, I realize a visualized family tree would be very helpful for visitors (especially foreigners like me) to understand the value and working system of the JaF. After discussing with the member, considering the limited scale and genealogical representation of “family tree”, they like to call it “forest” as it prioritize individuality (each trees) that connected with others through sharing the same ecology and landscape. This banner is hanged in the office, which will celebrate and dedicate to all and growing JaF’s family members.