Decaramelism: On Sugar and Community

As part of Ode aan de Gemeenschap, a year-long programme at De Poorthuisjes bringing
professional artists and local residents together, Indonesian artist Arie Syarifuddin, a
member of Jatiwangi Art Factory (JAF), joins Lara Khaldi (De Appel), Marieke van Rooy (Ode
aan de Gemeenschap) and Simon Kentgens (Clublokaal) for a conversation at Framer
Framed.

Based in Jatiwangi, West Java, JAF is an art collective working at the intersection of art and
everyday life. For more than two decades, the collective has developed projects in
collaboration with local communities, responding to the social, cultural and economic
context of the area. The conversation explores JAF’s approach to community-based artistic
practice, drawing on Syarifuddin’s six-week residency at De Poorthuisjes and his
presentation IN DE KOST, part of Ode aan de Gemeenschap/Klazien-o-theek, alongside the
practices of Club Lokaal in Breda and De Appel in Amsterdam.

The second part of the conversation focuses on Syarifuddin’s long-term research into sugar
production in Jatiwangi. Sugar has played a central role in the history of the region and
connects questions of colonialism, land and labour with the lives of local communities.
Syarifuddin’s research examines these histories and the ways in which people in Jatiwangi
continue to relate to and reclaim the land shaped by the sugar industry.