People from all over the world are invited to contribute and participate in the development of the collective forest called Perhutana, a pioneering project that disrupts traditional property acquisition methods by selling land for the specific purpose of creating a collective forest. Therefore, the project challenges the prevailing capitalist economic system. This initiative intervenes before multinational corporations can acquire land for large factories in Jatiwangi by purchasing it from local residents and reselling it as 4x4 square meter plots, ultimately transforming it into customary forests. A limited amount of Perhutana plots will be available for purchase at the event.
This presentation takes place at Werkwarenhuis from 14:00 until 15:30 hrs. Joining the workshop is 5,00 euro.
Perhutana is an initiative aimed at creating a collective forest using property acquisition methods commonly employed by real estate companies. The key distinction lies in the purpose: while property companies typically sell land to individuals for housing developments, apartments, and similar purposes, Perhutana sells land to individuals with the intention of establishing a forest. Perhutana is a project designed to challenge the capitalist economic system and address social-community issues. Before multinational corporations acquire land for constructing large factories in Jatiwangi, Perhutana intervenes by purchasing the land from the local people. It is then resold in the form of 4x4 square meter plots, which are subsequently transformed into customary forests.
The Bersama Collective is a group consisting of artists, musicians, and filmmakers from Indonesian descent living in the Netherlands and Sweden. They recently started collaborating with Jatiwangi Art Factory, the Indonesian art collective based in West-Java, to conduct research on the possibility of creating a collective forest, using an artistic and cultural approach to develop ideas and movements. In this collaboration, they started to connect friends and artists, shaping a project based on sharing and exchanging creative strategies for their shared goal: finding ways to protect the forest.
During this event, artists and researchers from both Jatiwangi Art factory and the Bersama Collective will share their initial research at Perhutana through short videos, performances, and presentations. They will also extend an invitation to interested parties to contribute, participate, and collaborate in the development of the collective forest. Additionally, limited quantities of 4x4 square meter Perhutana plots will be available for sale during the event.
Together, we find a way to Liberate the Forest!
More information: https://perhutana.id
Arie Syarifuddin (1985, Indonesia) is also known as Alghorie. Affiliated as an artist, curator, cultural producer, designer, and director of artist in residency department to the artist initiative; Jatiwangi Art Factory in the village of Jatiwangi in West Java, which is Indonesia’s biggest roof-tile manufacturing center. Established in 2005, Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF) is a community that embraces contemporary arts and cultural practices as parts of the local life discourse in a rural area. Redesigning; hacking; giving values and dignity to the ordinary things; negotiation between fiction, dreams, reality, everyday life; and the intersection of historical reading is the most inclination of Arie’s works.
Bersama Collective is a new, Dutch foundation that seeks to create connections between artists from Indonesia and Europe. By engaging in interdisciplinary, artistic exchanges, stories connected to the history between Indonesia and The Netherlands and similar stories from other countries are highlighted. In many places in the world, colonialism is something still ongoing with people fighting to protect their land areas, for equality and independence. Through art, Bersama Collective aims to amplify these stories from the past and present and work towards a shared future together.
Joardi Meyer is a Dutch filmmaker of Indonesian descent. After finishing his study in Industrial Product Design, he started to make different types of video productions. With the majority being event videos and documentaries. He is also part of the "Edwin Meyer Foundation," which is dedicated to research in the fight against cancer.
With Indonesian and Dutch roots, Francesca has since 2017, been researching and comparing various heritages from Sweden, The Netherlands and Indonesia through storytelling and music. Focusing on "how colonial history in these countries has affected people's identity, artistic expression and sense of belonging." She holds a Bachelor's degree in Music and has extensive experience in artistic exchanges. She has been living and working in The Hague since 2020. She writes her lyrics in Swedish and her music is a mixture of pop and Swedish folk music, with influences from electronic music and Indonesian Gamelan music.
Sacha Celine Verheij (she/her), born in 1996, is a Dutch lesbian photographer, writer, spoken word artist and designer with Surinamese-Moluccan roots. With a BA in Humanistic Studies and a MA in Gender & Diversity, she specializes in subjects like mental health, grief, cultural identity, sexuality, diversity and inclusion. Currently she is building a non-profit foundation called Bersama Collective, she is working on a spoken word album with Full Circle and she is part of DPG Media Traineeship Journalistic Talent 2023. She is also the editor-in-chief of Skin Mutts Magazine, has a podcast on belonging called Wilde Warboel (IG: @wildewarboel) and is a photographer for the Dutch Diversity Charter. When not working, you can find her surfing in the sea, listening to her parents’ old vinyl records, sipping oat milk cappuccinos and wandering through bookstores.