hcmf// (UK) and Perempuan Komponis: Forum & Lab (ID) provided four women artists (two based in the UK, and two based in Indonesia) with the opportunity for international interdisciplinary musical collaboration.
Today, the issues of womanhood, climate crisis and local knowledge are increasingly urgent and even intertwined. Recognising that these issues can be voiced through art and cross-border collaboration, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) and Perempuan Komponis: Forum & Lab (Perempuan Komponis) have teamed up to organise the Networking Archive.
The programme brought together four women artists (two UK-based, and two Indonesian-based) to participate and collaborate in an international interdisciplinary music exhibition and performance.
The four artists are Debbie Armour and Maria Sappho from the UK, and Arum Dayu and Nadya Hatta from Indonesia. During June–September 2024, the artists undertook regular online residencies to study and work with archives and local knowledge on environmental sustainability and climate crisis in both countries.
Platform for Innovation and Collaboration
In the Networking Archive, hcmf// and Perempuan Komponis served as a platform that encouraged innovation and collaboration. hcmf// is the UK’s largest international new and experimental music festival that takes place over 10 days each November. The festival presents a range of events including performances, exhibitions, discussions and workshops.
As well as being a festival, hcmf// aims to provide a unique artistic experience; become an international platform for new and contemporary music in the UK; and focus on reducing environmental impact and working towards sustainability. Whereas Perempuan Komponis is a collective formed on the basis of solidarity between Indonesian women and non-binary composers and musicians. As a music laboratory, Perempuan Komponis also encourages inclusive and plural musical exploration in a safe space, and seeks to trace the musical knowledge of Indonesian women composers and artists from the past to the present.
Examining Archives and Local Knowledge
Utilising archive as a source of knowledge and creation, the four artists blended their personal practices with archives found at The Sound Archive at The School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University, the book Indonesian Ornamental Design (A Pepin Press Design Book, 1998); and the idea of ‘AnArchive’ from media theorist Siegfried Zielinski that appears in his publication, AnArchive(s) - A Minimal Encyclopedia on Archaeology of the Arts and Media.
After regularly undergoing online residencies by digging through, the four artists produced Marlaut, a collective installation project presented at Pekan Komponis Indonesia, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, September 2024.
A Collective Work on the Sea
The title Marlaut is an acronym of three languages that all refer to the “sea”, which are “mara” (Scottish Gaelic), “mar” (Spanish) and “laut” (Indonesian). Marlaut combines site-specific sound, textiles, film and musical instruments to explore traditional stories, songs and design patterns from Indonesia, Puerto Rico and the UK.
The collective project utilised discarded or often overlooked objects to reflect on waste-generating lifestyles, and also discussed care and nurturing, domestic life, and the state of the ocean and its relationship with humans.
Collaboration Among Women Artists
Each artist contributed their personal work to the collective installation. Arum Dayu, artist, musician and collective organiser, composed Nyanyian Belanja Online, which addresses the increase in household waste as a result of online shopping habits. This work utilised recorded sounds of the package delivery process, such as the courier’s greeting and delivery notifications with different intonations and vocal features, as well as sounds related to the process of opening the package, such as the tearing of duct tape or plastic bubbles, and the sound of the courier’s motorbike as a commonly used vehicle.
While Debbie Armour, a traditional singer and artist who works with sound, produced The Loom, an interactive three-dimensional work as well as a musical composition with looms, textiles, household objects, found songs and other sounds. The two pieces of traditional Gaelic song included in this work are Òran an Roin, a lament of a seal woman, and Seal Woman’s Sea-Joy, a song celebrating the return of a seal woman to her sea home.
Maria Sappho, a Newyorican artist and composer working in the UK who focuses on human-machine-organic “multi-species” collaborations, presented Zemi, a carpet of patterns and symbols including Taino (Puerto Rican), Indonesian and Celtic. Zemi is interactive where audiences can trace each pattern to explore songs, videos and field recordings that Sappho has collected. Audience members can also contribute their voices by speaking and singing into the microphone to be recorded and archived. Sappho also presented Sapphnetics, a glove-shaped instrument that operates with an electromagnetic field of iron-containing objects that can produce large feedback sounds with small movements.
Completing Marlaut to a full installation, Nadya Hatta, a Yogyakarta-based pianist and composer, brought Senandung Laut, a composition working with the idea of the “mother of the sea,” and Arsip Pola, an audio-visual work for MIDI instruments using traditional patterns from batik and other sources.
Marlaut is a work in progress. After its presentation in September 2024, hcmf// will bring Debbie Armour, Maria Sappho, Arum Dayu and Nadya Hatta to Huddersfield to present Marlaut as part of the festival’s 2025 edition.
Seeking Future Opportunities Together
Graham McKenzie, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of hcmf//, remarked that “The Networking Archive highlights the strong bonds and lasting friendships, spanning continents, that can be created by bringing together artists and cultural organisations from different parts of the world to create new and innovative work based on shared interests and concerns.”
Similarly, Halida Bunga Fisandra, Chair of the Perempuan Komponis Committee, reflected that “This collaboration not only aims to expand the diversity of contemporary music globally, but also seeks to highlight the thoughts, ideas and knowledge of women and non-binary composers and musical artists from both countries.”
The collaboration between hcmf// and Perempuan Komponis has given birth to a project rich in evaluation, potential and mutual cooperation. As a young collective, Perempuan Komponis has learnt how to give artists freedom while still providing full support. Whereas hcmf/// found that Networking Archive learnt how to bring together artists on an international scale to produce innovative works based on similar ideas.
Going forward, hcmf// and Perempuan Komponis will continue their collaborative initiatives, expand their networks in their respective countries, and seek new opportunities together.
