For the next iteration, Biennale Jogja Foundation introduces Translocality and Transhistoricity as the working framework to develop various experiments in curatorial visions and practices. Employing these keywords, the Second Round of Biennale Jogja Equator attempts to continue pursuing the common goal of taking part in the rewriting of world art history and contributing to the projects that strive towards decolonisation within the contemporary, particularly those focusing on re-questioning the definition and framework of geopolitics.

The First Round of Biennale Jogja Equator formulated the idea of new geopolitics and internationalism by clearly referring to a physical region on the map (23° N to 23° S). The idea offers a criticism and a new interpretation of the art world map, successfully gaining attention of various parties. By collaborating with India, the Arab Region, Nigeria, Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, Biennale Jogja successfully gathered hidden historiographies and re-examined the network of Global South internationalism which was shaped by numerous similarities of landscape, climate, culture, spirituality, and the aftermath of colonialism.

Continuing the experience of investigating localities and embracing the discourse of decolonization that were strongly raised during the first round of equator projects, for this iteration Biennale Jogja will be more located in the village area in Yogyakarta, to create an encounter of contemporary art practices with local urban and rural communities, narrating the politic of locations from periphery. There is a rise of recontextualization of village as political identity and location that mainly follows the consequences of post-pandemic life, that includes a discourse of human resilience and new paradigm of ecological knowledge. Curators for this Seventeenth Edition of Biennale Jogja are Eka Putra Nggalu (Maumere/Indonesia), Adelina Luft (Romania) and Sheelasha Rajbhandhari and Hit Man Gurung (Nepal), with Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez as curatorial consultant.

Titen: Embodied Knowledge, Shifting Grounds is the title chosen to reflect diverse but shared movements around the Global South practices and the historical connection to South-to-South trajectories. Borrowed from Javanese language, where the villages reside, and to bring this event closer to the local community, Titen or Niteni in Javanese interpret as an ability or sensitivity to read signs from nature. Titen science is usually used to read natural phenomena before a disaster occurs, or to decide an action needed to respond the nature. Titen science is based on a pattern of repeated observations of nature, so that this pattern will later become a reference for interpreting natural phenomena and to establish a particular scientific narrative from the local belief. Choosing this word has been underlining the curatorial framework on decolonizing knowledge production that operates as a resistance to dominant western methodologies.

The Biennale will bring around 70 artists with various approaches and cultural backgrounds, with the emphasis on connection to local context and collaboration with communities. The artists, architects, researchers and cultural producers invited in this edition live and work across multiple places, from Romania to Turkey, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Slovakia, to Hungary and Ukraine, and Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka. Some of them will undergo residencies, others will represent important contributions in opening up a trans-local and trans-historical dialogue.

Timeline for Opening Week
Thursday, Oct 5th, 2023 : Gala Dinner for Media, VVIPs, and VIPs at The Ratan
Friday, Oct 6th, 2023 : Grand Opening at Kampoeng Mataraman
Saturday, Oct 7th, 2023 : Opening at Desa Bangunjiwo and Curatorial Talks
Sunday, Oct 8th, 2023 : Biennale Forum Day 1 (tbd)
Monday, Oct 9th, 2023 : Biennale Forum Day 2 (tbd)

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