arka kinari performance
ABOUT
The maritime network was the original internet, mixing peoples, languages, and ideas. Arka Kinari revives disappearing trade-routes with culture as the cargo to bring people back to their waterfronts.
Subversive, immersive and partially submerged, Arka Kinari enlivens the waterfront with a visually stunning and thought-provoking performance to bring people together in a world that is falling apart.
A strange ship has appeared on the waterfront, painted in evocative patterns, streaked with rust, and battered by storms. It came from a distant island somewhere in the Indo-Pacific, a place where rising seas have already made life on land impossible.
As the sun dips below the horizon a lone figure sings out to gather a crew and begin a voyage. A voyage through a world of distress and possibility, expressed through otherworldly live electronic music and cinematic visual projections, staged across the ship and the surrounding waters.
Peaceful while urgent, meditative while menacing, Arka Kinari is warning of the coming storm and an invitation to sail into an alternative future.
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By day the 70-tonne sailing ship Arka Kinari hosts workshops on environmental sustainability and conversations with local communities. By night the vessel transforms into a stage for a free, exhilarating performance by Grey Filastine (Spain) and Nova Ruth (Indonesia), a multimedia duo who use their extraordinary music and cinematic visuals to help us imagine life after the carbon economy, promote resilience and re-engagement with the sea. In collisions of psychedelic beats, Javanese post-folk and analogue synths with video, design and dance, they express a radically different vision of the possible.
The ship comes with a fitting name, too. Arka, Latin for vessel, from the verb arcere, meaning “to hold off or defend”. And Kinari, from Sanskrit – a half-human, half-bird musician, guardian of the tree of life.
Launched in 2019 with a voyage across the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific, Arka Kinari uses humanity’s first global network – the sea – to revive ancient maritime trade-routes. Reversing the colonial spice routes of the past, this ship comes from the east and bears culture and hope as its cargo. See it before it sets sail again.
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A Creation Of: Grey Filastine & Nova Ruth Setyaningtyas
Directed by: Ricard Soler Mallol
Lead Performers: Nova Ruth Setyaningtyas, Grey Filastine
Supporting Performers (2023-2024): Syauqi Fais, Claire Fauset, Bochay Drum, Yann Wiillard, Arkindo Laparisi, Sarah Payne, Dmitri Markovitch, Abizar, Afif, Kai Markham, Ben Blankenship, Bintang Manira
Technical Directors: Adria Pinar, Victor Peralta
Lighting Design: Adria Pinar, Victor Peralta, Ricard Soler Mallol, Sarah Payne
Wardrobe Design: Ican Harem, Manda Selena, Victor Peralta, Mat Jacob
Original Producers: Post-World Industries, Lintas Batas
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Simfoni di Pesisir, Semarang, Indonesia, September 2024
IKLIM Bali, Serangan, Indonesia, August 2024
Le Bajo, Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, July 2024
OHM Festival, Brisbane, Australia, March 2024
Mona Foma, Hobart, Australia, February 2024
Sydney Festival, Sydney, Australia, January 2024
Dufa-Dufa, Ternate, Indonesia, September 2023
Kadayawan Festival, Davao, Philippines, August 2023
Puan Laut, Makassar, Indonesia, June 2023
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60 minutes performance
Vessel itself is a well considered artwork by Nova Ruth and Grey Filastine that can be experienced via ship tours for audiences.
The tours can be guided and include workshops from our Laboratory of Sustainability or stand alone tours without facilitation.
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MONA
BRISBANE POWERHOUSE
SYDNEY FESTIVAL
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[Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, 2024] Forget private jets, meet the performers who sail to their gigs
[Vice, Indonesia, 2021] Lewat Kapal Keliling Dunia, Musisi Nova Ruth Mengajak Kita kembali Menoleh ke Samudra,
[BBC, United Kingdom, 2020] In mid-pacific with nowhere to land.
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We will request that the following recommendations are made to audiences attending our shows:
travel by public transport to the performance
do not bring single use plastics
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2019-2020 SHIP DELIVERY & BETA TESTING
Ten test performances, in twenty nations and thirty thousand nautical miles with nearly zero emissions.
2022-2023 SLOW TOURING INDONESIA
Making gigs in unlikely places from mega-cities to stilt villages. Making waves with workshops on renewable energies and sailing skills. Making an example of life beyond fossil fuels.
2024 OCEANIA
Australia from the tropics to Tasmania, followed by Timor Leste
2025 NUSANTARA, FROM EAST TO WEST
A last pass through Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
2026 INDIAN OCEAN & THE MEDITERRANEAN
Riding the tradewinds to India, the Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean. Reversing colonialism, this ship comes from the east and comes to share.
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