October 12, 2016
Another “(re)union” with an RFAOH ex-resident this year!!

Since the beginning, one of RFAOH’s goals have been to invite our residents to join our presentations so that they can talk about their experience and thoughts in person.  This year has been amazing for that, with multiple opportunities. In June, we met Milena Kosec in Slovenia.  And this month, one of us were invited as a “guest lecturer” for the Indonesian collective ruangrupa‘s radical “school” Institut ruru, which is their current project for Aichi Triennale, in Nagoya, Japan. What was truly special was that it was also a chance to meet our inaugural resident Farid Rakun, a prominent member of  ruangrupa (Remember he ended his term earlier to participate in Sao Paulo biennale with them?) and to discuss RFAOH and related topics in this “class” together — a mutual opportunity!  ruangrupa will archive the recording on their site — we’ll add the link when it’s up (and not even in English (;) 

Institut ruru is runagrupa’s “…version of an ideal school: unaccredited, non-degree-granting educational wing with no fixed curriculum,” and that “(their) ever-changing educational model is a nod towards the constant incongruities of everyday life.” Farid, as part of ruangrupa, and the collective’s multifaceted collaborative operation seem to explore boundaries and frameworks of “creative activities” as a “…tool and method for knowledge production,” while they investigate in how to exist as an artist (collective, in this case), both independently and meaningfully.  When we learned about ruangrupa (after the fact), it made complete sense that Farid had applied to participate in RFAOH.

As with Karen Zalamea who joined our Vancouver talk and Milena, the best part was to meet, chat, ask difficult questions (; and hang out with Farid in person, making our “virtual” residency somewhat “real”.  We look forward to having as many of these opportunities as possible happen. Thank you Farid and ruangrupa for the occasion! 

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