A conversational seminar where three artists with three projects share their work with us on unravelling knowledge beyond text through visual, sonic, and sensorial experiences.  

Between Stars and Earthquakes (Giuditta Vendrame) is an artistic research project developed during my residency at Cemeti Institute for Art and Society in Yogyakarta, exploring the deep movements of the Earth through seismic and volcanic connections between Mount Merapi and the Southern Sea. The research engaged both the immaterial culture and the material landscape of the region. Witnessing the gunungan ceremony at the Kraton and collaborating with composer Gatot Danar Sylistiyanto and the Gejog Lesung Maju Lancar community, I recorded the rhythms of gejog lesung, a traditional percussive practice using wooden rice mortars. These sounds form the acoustic foundation of the installation, grounding the work in resonances that evoke the Earth’s core. Sculptural forms made of Merapi lava stone: moons, pyramids, steps, and spheres—create a dreamlike landscape inspired by the visions of dukun, who interpret natural signs through dreams. The project reflects on the interconnectedness between the Earth’s depths and the cosmos above, where myth, ritual, and everyday gestures, like the sweeping rhythms of Sapu Jagad, become bridges between ground and sky.

Sigisora-Listening Initiative (Dyah Nindyasari) is a listening initiative based in Jakarta that is situated at the intersection of activism, community-based engagement and artistic practices. Drawing from  fieldwork in Jakarta as part of the research project ‘Futures of Listening: Water Knowledge from Two Cities’ (2024-2026) funded by the British Academy, and in Lombok for an artist residency ‘Bangsal Menggawe’ (2024) facilitated by Komunitas Pasirputih, we will share how we explore listening as a core methodology, through presence and field sound recording, in engaging the local community.  Working in environments where the social, cultural and sensory conditions are layered and often ambiguous, we are confronted with questions on how “knowledge” can be encountered through sound and how they can be engaged with ethically. We will share how recordings gathered through fieldwork are reactivated and negotiated within collaborative and communal settings, treating them as a porous and evolving material.

Ambience for ODGJ (Orang Dengan Gaji Jogja 🙏) - 1st draft version (Ali Azca)
"Ambience for ODGJ (Orang Dengan Gaji Jogja 🙏)" is a sonification of statistical data of the provincial minimum wage in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. The results of this sonification data, I design like Brian Eno's ambient music with the additive synthesis method and combined with sound material that was generated from a data-bending Excel file from these statistical data to describe the spirit of "nerimo ing punk-dum" which is a lot of trash talk but confused about what to do. The data used in this album spans 2016 to 2023 and represents my presence in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. The work was first presented at the October Meeting of Contemporary Music and musicians 2023 "Spatial" in spatial audio format. This work is rendered in ambisonics binaural format, use your favourite headphones or headset for a better listening experience.

Presenters

Giuditta Vendrame is an artist based in Rotterdam. In her work, she inhabits different media to explore interconnected themes of space, mobility and personhood. Through a research-based, multidisciplinary and collaborative practice, she questions social–political structures that are often left unchallenged. She addressed both physical and non-physical systems that govern shared spaces and movement across different spatial scales. Her work concerns these structures through natural elements and forces, which she sees as connectors.  For years, she has been studying interconnected bodies of water to challenge modern notions of nationhood, territory and borderlands. In contrast to the solidity of these constructs, she juxtaposes elements and expanses of a more unstable character, such as water (oceans, seas, lakes, rivers), the sky, outer space and geological forces, such as earthquakes and volcanoes, which are uncertain and continuously changing.

Dyah Nindyasari is a writer and researcher. Since 2024, she has been involved in producing artworks, writing, and research as part of the listening initiative Sigisora and Milisifilem Collective. For Sigisora, Dyah presented at Syntopia: International Symposium on Media Arts and Design (2025), programmed the Listening Biennial (2025) in Jakarta and is a part of the research project “Futures of Listening: Water Knowledge from Two Cities | The British Academy. Currently, she is a student at Leiden University focusing on South and Southeast Asia, with an interest in alternative ways of looking at infrastructure.

Ali Azca, also known as Azca, is an electronic musician, film sound designer, and multidisciplinary artist who primarily explores noise, ambience, creative coding, live coding, and internet memes to promote freedom of expression. Ali Azca is a 2025 Prince Claus Fund “Seed Award” Awardee with several projects being presented at MTN Lab at Earhouse, October Meeting of Contemporary Music and Musicians 2023 “Spatial”, and Asana Bina Seni of the Yogyakarta Biennale Foundation. He is also a member of Taman Kata Kata and a co-initiator of Paguyuban Algorave Indonesia. For years, he has collaborated with various artists, filmmakers, and collectives to create a diverse range of artworks, including films, music, audio dramas, and theatre, with the aim of developing an experimental music and sound art project under the moniker “Bahtera”.

Open the conversation

Marieke Bloembergen (KITLV) is a cultural historian and senior researcher at KITLV, and professor in Heritage and Postcolonial Studies in Indonesian History at Leiden University’s Institute for History. Her research interests concern the political dynamics of cultural knowledge and art/heritage practices across the nature/culture divide, and the role of violence therein, in colonial and post-colonial Indonesia, and in local, inter-Asian and global dimensions. 

Moderator

Wigke Sukmana Putri is a PhD researcher at CADS Leiden University and KITLV. Her research focuses on more-than-human futures and conservation, utilising multimodal and multisensorial methodologies.

Format, date, time & venue

This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in the conference room of KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30, Witte Singel 27 A, Leiden and online via Zoom, on Thursday 26 March from 15.30 – 17.00 PM (CET).

UUKS

The seminar series Unravelling Unconventional Knowledge Systems examines how diverse, often overlooked forms of knowledge can inform responses to contemporary ecological and climatic crises. Rather than privileging institutional science, the series emphasises the cultivation of knowledge through everyday practices, spiritual engagements, ecological relationships, and grassroots adaptations across generations.

The series demonstrates that material, symbolic, affective, and cosmological factors influence interactions among humans, nonhumans, and the environment. Examples such as agricultural calendars, water management systems, forest stewardship, and seafaring routes illustrate how communities have historically adapted to environmental and social change. These knowledge systems, embedded in landscapes and cultural traditions, remain vital resources with ongoing relevance for addressing global challenges.

By examining adaptation strategies across historical and contemporary contexts, the seminar series highlights the importance of recognising unconventional knowledge as central to addressing current challenges. Participants are encouraged to engage critically with pluralistic perspectives that integrate cultural, ecological, and spiritual domains, thereby providing insights into more equitable and sustainable futures informed by longstanding traditions of adaptation.

Image

Colored pencil drawings, courtesy of the artist. Credit: Giuditta Vendrame.
Sigisora-Listening Initiative. Credit: Sigisora.
ODGJ. Credit: Ali Azca.

Flyer

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