The future of collective creative has been signaling a regenerative future in Indonesia, this is evident in the Jatiwangi Art Factory of JAF in Majalengka, West Java. JAF is an Indonesian art collective that leverages community engagement and playful artistic interventions to highlights socio-economic challenges in Majalengka.
George Clark was the expert I was interviewed with regarding JAF. He is an artist and lecturer from University of Westminster who were collaborating with JAF during his residency program with British Council and JAF itself. He highlights JAF as the collective has unique approach to identify the problem, which prioritizes local needs and grassroots initiatives. JAF empowers villagers to become “curators” of their own living archive, fostering pride and ownership within the community. This method provides a powerful alternative to traditional heritage preservation and offers a model for resilience and self-determination in the face of rapid urbanization and industrial impact.
In relation to that, I manage to travel to University of Westminster to sit down and have a face-to-face discussion with Clark himself.
I did not took a lot of documentation during the interview (a classic forgetful Sasha) but I managed to visit the exhibition in the University, while waiting for Clark to finish his class. I found a lot of interesting exhibition in here, especially how it is portraying curated heritage and art from different narrative around the globe.
After strolling around the gallery, Clark finally came out and inviting me to his office to discuss his favorite project, Jatiwangi Art Factory.
In this article, I will transcribe and point out some of our discussion on 30 July 2025 in University of Westminster.
Q: May I know do you start your career?
A: I was always interested in film, but always saw it in within an arts context, yeah, and for me, like to be involved in it. What was interesting was like, it’s not just about it’s not enough to just make films, because also, I wanted to be able to talk about them with other people. And also to watch things. So very early I started like trying to curate things, to organize screenings and writing about films. And there were always to stay close to things I was interested in, yes, so that, like, took me into curating and into writing.
Q: That’s really interesting, but what drives you to explore rural villages and finally encountered JAF?
A: I used to lived in small villages, that’s related right. My background made me curious about exploring opportunities and trying things that aren’t typically available in the village. This approach led me to seek out unique film experiences, particularly in artist film communities that were different from traditional cinema. It is also made me appreciate alternative ways of creating and experiencing art, which inspired him to explore experimental film scenes, especially in Southeast Asia, and understand how art can connect with local communities and social issues in the rural areas.
Q: What are the communities that impact your early career?
A: I was getting involved with many film organizations like Lux (London Filmmakers Co-op). From there, I started connecting with film communities and attending international film festivals like Rotterdam and Oberhausen. These experiences allowed me to meet filmmakers, understand different film practices, and build networks. That’s why I met many independent filmmakers from Southeast Asia, particularly those working outside established canons. I became interested in grassroots film practices and how communities collaborate.
Q: How these connection affect the your path in going to Southeast Asia as your creative interest?
A: I met young people from these festivals, who were mostly filled with older filmmakers. I was able to finally connected with young individuals like Alexis the Second from the Philippines, May Adadol (a Thai film scholar), Hafiz from Malaysia, and Nia Trinhti from Vietnam, and I was able to exchanged each other film recommendations, sharing DVDs, and discussing our interests. My approach was actually very organic and driven by curiosity about the emerging independent film scene in Southeast Asia, which I realized it is really highly active and collaborative.
Q: How did you get funded to collaborated with JAF?
A: The British Council supported, and it was really interesting model, because they they first organizations in Indonesia would apply as a host, and then you’d apply to those hosts, so they’d get support. So rather than having a residency program already, they’d get support in order to host someone.
Q: I was actually had little to no connection with JAF in Indonesia, I guess they were busy. Could you tell me a little bit the history behind JAF based on what you know?
Jatiwangi Art Factory (JAF) was founded by two brothers, Arif and Gingi, from Jatiwangi. Arif had studied art in Bandung and was doing performance art, but felt disconnected from its impact. They observed that local factories were closing and workers were losing their jobs. The brothers decided to create something meaningful in their community with no initial resources. Their strategy was to “pretend” they were something, hoping that by acting as if they were an organization, people would believe in them. They started by offering food and creating spaces for community gathering in an old factory building. Their approach was to use art as a tool for community cohesion, redistribution of resources, and creating new opportunities for local workers. Their founding philosophy was simple: leverage art to address local social issues, provide work for unemployed workers, and build community confidence. They transformed an old industrial space into a cultural platform that could bring people together and create new economic opportunities through artistic practices.
Q: Wonderful Story! How did the factory becomes the space for JAF to do collective art?
A: I hadn’t done so many residencies before. But JAF was of interesting. I asked the how can I be helpful, how are we going to help you do your project. Because, they’re not even pitch your ideas or something. And they told me something peculiar, “Don’t not your idea, don’t worry, this is what we want you to help us, and that’s it.” And at that time, they have this the village video Festival, and they wanted to figure out an archive, how to archive a festival. So they said, “That’s the job for you. You can help us do this. So we have all these factories, but they all closed.” And I was, ah, sounds like my village. And that was really nice.
Q: So what were you doing there as an artist?
JAF has their own strategy, they feel like art needs to be involved with community and social issue. Therefore, the artists, are becoming the facilitator for the people in Jatiwangi who will curate the artefacts in their village, to share what aspects in the village that matters the most to them. This is how we collectively gathering problems.
Instead of inviting artists to merely showcase finished works, JAF invites filmmakers to “come and make works with them”, treating artists as “workers” similar to someone repairing plumbing. Artists are expected to contribute their skills to specific community needs, rather than the community being there to support the artist’s personal vision
A key goal is to build community confidence and a sense of ownership in their environment and future. This is particularly relevant when facing external pressures like highway construction splitting the village, which brings “aliens” and outsiders. By inviting “aliens” (outsiders like artists) into the community, JAF aims to help local people become confident enough to discuss what they want and who they are on their own terms. This helps to “future-proof” the community against changes they didn’t ask for.
Q: JAF has festival format that seemed very unusual than any other festival. Could you describe why they choose festival as the format?
JAF’s core is “medium is festival,” and their primary is “resource is people,” not external funding. These festivals are not just events; they are strategic tools that allow JAF to leverage “art” to redistribute resources, opening doors for funding and conversations. A significant aim is to build community confidence and a sense of ownership in our environment and our future.
Q: You said something about community or local confident, how do we actually pursue this possession and how it is important for the locals?
Local confidence, as demonstrated through the work of Jatiwangi Art Factory (JAF), is crucial for empowering communities to navigate and shape their own futures amidst complex challenges.
If people feel they have no ownership or that their presence is temporary, they are less likely to care for their environment. Confidence helps communities feel a “sense of ownership” over their environment and future, legitimizing their efforts to look after and build something in their space. Because if you have no sense of ownership, well, you could plant something there, but maybe you will never harvest.
Q: But how can we nurture heritage to the youth demographic who might less likely known or even have the sense of ownership of their culture?
Yeah, In England, the protection of culture often follows a “heritage route”, deeply intertwined with the “heritage industry”. This approach tends to focus on preserving monumental or elite examples of culture, such as national parks, castles, or iconic industrial structures. The goal is often to instill a sense of national pride, as seen in the idea of being “proud of the castle” or visiting Buckingham Palace to feel “Oh, I’m British”. However, this is critiqued as generating a “false pride” that often overlooks, such as the labor of those who built these structures, including child labor in factories, or the use of resources sourced through slavery.
This top-down, commercial, and often distant approach from grassroots realities can obscure the true origins and social costs of such heritage. Furthermore, environmental debates, like those around preserving “farmland” or opposing wind turbines, often prioritize a nostalgic or aesthetic view of the English landscape over ecological sustainability or practical needs like affordable housing. The underlying issue here is a potential “sense of dispossession” where people are less likely to care for an environment they are told is not truly theirs, or where their presence is temporary.
Conversely, in Jatiwangi, Indonesia, the approach to cultural protection, particularly through the Jatiwangi Art Factory (JAF), is fundamentally bottom-up and community-centric, focusing on empowering the local populace and fostering a deep “sense of ownership”. This might be a great start to massively build awareness of cultural perseverance.
Q: I am currently working on the linear project that talks about Urban Kampung in Cipadu, Tangerang, Indonesia. The problem that is happening within the area are mostly about waste management and flood. Because the area is actually resided side by side with fabric or textile industry.
A: Wow, it seems to be a “wrong type of circular economy” that can maximizes pollution. I think your intervention for Cipadu would likely be highly supportive and insightful, viewing it as a project with strong parallels with Jatiwangi Art Factory (JAF). Well, JAF’s approach is not meant to be copied exactly, but rather to serve as an inspiring model for implementation elsewhere. But using festival as a fast and effective way to build community level of awareness can be a good move.
From our discussion, JAF and George Clark has inspired me to do more in pursuing local confident in order to develop heritage perseverance from grassroot level. Adapting co-creation method with the stakeholder, by inviting artists and creatives to facilitate the people to curate their “living archives” at their neighborhood can be a good approach to diagnose and define the real problem before we decide to co-design with the local people.
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