Threshold is the name of a new project initiated by the Goethe-Institut Bandung in collaboration with musician, artist, and producer Rama Saputra. This project invites Bandung-based creative practitioners with diverse backgrounds in electronic craft, sound and/or music, to explore and trace the dynamics of migration as the catalyst for the creation of artworks.
At the end of the project, the selected participants will give an insight into their work – in the form of a performance or an active presentation. The key phenomena of ‘music and migration’ will be explored simultaneously and in an interdisciplinary way to offer a useful lens on the central question of how migration flows influence the process of artistic production. A particular focus is placed on: experimentation and hybridity, questions of identity and origin, historical and cultural representation, on ecosystems and commercialisation, as well as on ‘diasporisation’.
Threshold begins with discussions and site visits, followed by a ‘music clinic’ in which techniques and performance practices are discussed, and culminates in a live music performance. At the same time, all processes will be documented to become an integral part of the production of knowledge about integration across borders. In this way, migration becomes an means to enhance economic and professional standing, as well as a tool with which to explore an individual’s identity. The first process after migration is to familiarise oneself with the ‘new’ place and circumstances and to integrate.
Threshold aims to facilitate the integration process regardless of geographical boundaries, nationality and background, by encouraging dialogue through musical performance. Through a variety of experiences, manifestations of migration, perspectives in embracing the sound arts landscape and musical experimentation, facilitators and participants will exchange ideas and develop compositional methods. In this way, Threshold can create a model for how forms of sound understanding and musical exploration can transcend borders and nationality.
Lukman Hakim
Coordinator Culture Program
lukman.hakim@goethe.de