Sustainable Village Project
The Sustainable Village Project is a collaboration between documenta fifteen and the Collaborative Research Centre 990: Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems in Sumatra, Indonesia (EFForTS) of the University of Göttingen, Germany. Together they initiated this research project to diversify palm oil monocultures with native tree species.
The project’s overall aim is to explore and implement more sustainable land use and value chain management in two villages in Jambi Province, Indonesia, starting in the village of Pematang Kabau. The results will be presented to the public at Forum Wissen in Göttingen in 2022, taking place at the same time as documenta fifteen.
Sustainable Village Project, Diversity in land use: betel nut palm grows here as a crop between the rubber trees in a rubber plantation in Jambi province, Indonesia, 2022, Photo: Immanuel Manurung
In March 2022, the first two workshops of this long-term sustainability project will occur during the Semah Bumi Festival in Pematang Kabau. Participants are invited to reflect on their hopes for Pematang Kabau and to try and develop a common vision for the future in answer to the question, “What should our village look like in twenty years?”
Semah Bumi Festival
The Semah Bumi Festival of Science, Nature, Society and the Arts takes place from March 12–13, 2022, in Pematang Kabau, Indonesia, and serves as a link between art, science, nature, and society.
Semah Bumi Festival of Science, Nature, Society and the Arts, Jambi, Indonesia, 2022
The Sustainable Village Project’s research experiences a stronger local anchor through its collaboration with the festival, hosted by the artist collective Rumah Budaya Sikukeluang from the province of Riau in Sumatra.
Various artists will undertake a residency in Pematang Kabau a month before the start of the festival. During this time, they will work collectively to observe, recognize, and experience the local environment and its community while having access to the research of the Sustainable Village Project. Later, the artists and collectives in residence will produce artworks based on their explorations and collaborate on one shared project, which will be led by the local participants and presented during the festival.
Documentation of these works and their development can be found on the Instagram accounts of @sikukeluang and @semahbumi.