As a closing event for the special exhibition ‘Tintin Wulia: Things-in-Common’, representatives of Dialita Choir will be invited to Hiroshima to hold a workshop and participatory performance facilitated by Tintin Wulia.
Dialita is a women choir that sings songs from the time of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66 and its aftermath. They collect and write down songs that some of the survivor-members brought back from prisons, as well as from an era with high hopes for a decolonised and more just world. Dialita collaborates with others to pass these songs and stories on to the next generation. Through this participatory performance and workshop, Ingatkah Saat Itu (Remember When), conceived and initially performed in collaboration with 1965 Setiap Hari during the heights of the pandemic, the audience will get to know the choir through their participation. All participants will also interweave their own stories—connecting with each other through their own imagination and emotions—into a collective story that is developed together, on the spot.
Presented in collaboration with 1965 Setiap Hari and In-Docs
Aesthetics, Memory and the Future of 1965 Indonesia
Dialita Choir
Dialita (abbreviation of “di atas limapuluh tahun”, meaning “over 50 years”) is an Indonesian women's choir formed in 2011. Some of its members are women who were extrajudicially imprisoned during the communist and leftist purges that began in 1965. Dialita released their first album Dunia Milik Kita (This World of Ours) in 2016 and Salam Harapan (Greetings of Hope) in 2019. Many of the songs were composed during the extrajudicial imprisonments and express the political prisoners’ emotions, despair, and hope. At the time, for these women, the act of composing songs was a form on non-violent resistance in a prison with many restrictions, and it helped them to fight against apathy that had set in and to maintain their spirits in order to survive. Now, for the members of Dialita, singing has become a form of self-therapy that helps them to heal from trauma. In addition, the income they receive from singing (performing( is used to support other survivors of the 1965-66 mass killings. The Dialita Choir has been honoured in the 2019 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights for "showing the path to reconciliation and healing through music". The prize was awarded by the May 18 Memorial Foundation in Gwangju, South Korea.
Instructor
Ingrid Ira Atmosukarto (Dialita Choir)
Tintin Wulia (Artist of this exhibition)
Venue
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Entrance Hall
Capacity
Approx. 15 people (first come first served)
*The workshop will be conducted in Indonesian. Japanese consecutive interpretation available.
*Anyone can watch the workshop.
