Over the month of August, esea contemporary is pleased to present the post-artist residency exhibition ‘Clayground’ of Elgea Balzarie who lives and works together with Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF).
‘We here at Jatiwangi are a people who strive for collective happiness.
That is what makes us extraordinary.’ — JaF
Established in 2005, Jatiwangi art Factory is a community that embraces contemporary art and cultural practices in local rural life and discourse. Located in West Java, Indonesia, Jatiwangi is one of the biggest producers of clay roof tiles in Southeast Asia. Using the same clay, JaF has cultivated communal creativity and collective imaginings towards increasing the wellbeing of Jatiwangi’s community and ecosystem. This exhibition brings together objects crafted during the ‘Clayground: Hear, Touch, Taste’ workshop series led by Balzarie here in Manchester, alongside collaborative works celebrating JaF’s distinctive model of art practice embedded in rural life.
‘Clayground’ features two film-portraits of Jatiwangi art Factory. ‘Masyarakat Tanah Berbunyi’ by Almanoka A. & Kiki Permana from JaF follows their journey to a triennial festival centred around the ritual of ringing roof tile instruments together as a collective statement and agreement. ‘Jatiwangi/The Scent of Jati Trees’ by George Clark offers an unadorned document not only of the transformations and rebuilding of the art factory but also the practice of ‘kajian kehidupan lokal’ or ‘the discourses of local rural life.’
We invite you to hear, touch, and taste the clay objects in this exhibition as metaphor and symbol of Jatiwangi, their experiments in sharing culture, and their commitment to recontextualising community and the soils.
The project 'Clayground' is a collaboration between esea contemporary and Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF), with kind support from the British Council Connections Through Culture Grant.
Jatiwangi art Factory (established in 2005) is a community that embraces contemporary arts and cultural practices as part of the local discourse in a rural area. Their diverse activities, always involving the local public, include a video festival, a music festival, a residency programme, a discussion series, the development of a Collective Forest called ‘Perhutana’, and a TV and radio station. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the clay industry in Jatiwangi made it the biggest roof-tile producing region in Southeast Asia. A hundred years later, in 2005, using the same clay, JaF encouraged the people of Jatiwangi to create collective awareness and identity for their region through arts and cultural activities. In doing so, JaF aims to cultivate clay with more dignity and to enhance the collective happiness of the community. Currently, Jatiwangi is striving for its regional identity to become ‘Kota Terakota’ and has been approved by the Head of the Regency Government to be included in the City Detailed Spatial Planning Plan.
Since 2005, Jatiwangi art Factory has organised numerous public programmes and festivals involving various citizen groups and artists. Together with musicians, they formed a band consisting of police, soldiers, and the sub-district head as a vocalist. Collaborating with local and central governments, Indonesian and international artists and collectives, environmental organisations, and non-governmental organisations.
In 2022, Jatiwangi art Factory was one of the collectives invited by Documenta Fifteen in Kassel. In practice, Jatiwangi art Factory works together by involving various organisations and the local community of Kassel. Until now, they still maintain continuous connectivity to develop various collaboration possibilities in multiple disciplines.
Elgea Balzarie (b. 1997) explores positive psychology through various artistic approaches. Her focus is grounded in psychological development, exploring this through the medium of clay. Balzarie’s practice experiments with the materiality of this medium in order to connect with daily cultural needs, such as clay soap, masks, and skincare. In navigating human-environmental relations, her work revolves around activation through public programmes, gameboard psychology, community development art, social and mental health, and education.
Balzarie works with Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF), a contemporary art collective that celebrates local lands and their amalgamation with art and multidisciplinary collaborations, with their discourse centred on local life in the area of Jatiwangi, West Java, which is the largest tile-making centre in Southeast Asia. Jatiwangi art Factory examines the ways in which contemporary art and cultural practices can be contextualised with the everyday in rural areas, both in form and ideas.
Currently, Balzarie is the Director of Department Lovegood Production, the founder and a teacher of Bitebeat Learning Club, as well as part of the management team of Perhutana. Her recent experience includes being the Director of Jatiwangi art Factory in 2020.
George Clark is an artist, curator, and writer.
Bridging curatorial and artistic practice, George Clark’s work explores the history of images and their governance by culture, technology, and socio-political conditions. His work has been exhibited at festivals and museums internationally. His multi-part project Double Ghosts premiered at Chin Pao San Cemetery in Taiwan as part of his project for the 2018 Taiwan Biennial. His feature film A Distant Echo premiered in the official selection at the 20th Jihlava IDFF as part of the Opus Bonum competition. Shot on 35mm film in various Californian deserts, the film explores themes of identity, culture, and the construction of history in collaboration with musician Tom Challenger.
Over the past decade, he has developed transnational projects exploring new modes of exchange, collaboration, and dialogue. In 2018, he co-founded the West Java West Yorkshire Cooperative Movement with Ismal Muntaha, Bunga Saigian, and Will Rose. This collaborative project, involving the Jatiwangi Art Factory in Indonesia and Pavilion in the UK, has supported new initiatives with over 20 artists and numerous communities across both regions. The collaboration builds on his exhibition Living Archive (Jatiwangi Art Factory, 2017; Yunseul Museum, 2018), created with over 30 community curators, and the collaborative film Jatiwangi (2018).
