Gudskul co-curates Ring Project “Metaphors about Islands” with Sandy Lo

Collective art studio Gudskul in collaboration with Taiwanese artist Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo co-curates an interlocal collaborative art project Ring Project #1: “Metaphors about Islands”. 41 artists and art collectives from various cities, such as Bangkok, Bangladesh, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai and Phnom Penh, took part in the project.

Indonesia is represented by 22 art collectives who participated in the third batch of Gudskul Collective and Contemporary Art Ecosystem Studies class of 2020/2021. The Ring Project #1: “Metaphors about Islands” are exhibited at Jakarta Biennale 2021: ESOK which is held at the National Museum, Jakarta. 

The collaborative project seeks to outline the mapping of alternative inner Asian and world relationships through collaboration among artists and collectives from Asian countries.  “Metaphors about Islands” does not only emphasise individual differences, but also serves as a new community imagination based on politics, ethics and aesthetics.

The project began in March 2021 and for ten months, the artists discussed, redefined, speculated and examined the meaning of closeness, residence, survival, togetherness, diversity, presence, connectedness and equality within their respective “island” and time zone. This explains the meaning behind the project’s title which represents various perspectives, seeing “island” as a metaphor of the unifying idea of the artists and collectives involved in the project.
Conveying its five values, namely “Omnipresent and Infinite”, “Friendship and Connection”, “Arena and Sanctuary”, “Recycling and Regeneration” and “Emptiness/Openness and Sacredness/Secularity”, the project tries to symbolise the adaptation, healing and solidarity within the art realm, as the global pandemic prompted people to seek a new cycle for interlocal works. 

“This batch brings together and realises the possibility of expanded collaboration and networking to islands that were barely reachable beforehand due to cost problems and nescience. Instead of feeling confined and alone, each collective member participating in Ring Project weaves sustainability patterns to share and heal each other, as well as putting forward passion and respective environment […] this unbroken path can be imagined as rings,” Sandy stated.