The banner has been raised: The fabric of Taring Padi’s art as political tools, University of Cambridge, UK
2025
| Recognition Type | Invited Speaker |
|---|---|
| Description | This lecture will examine how the material characteristics of fabric influence Taring Padi’s artistic practice in utilizing art as a political tool. Founded in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 1998, the Taring Padi collective of art workers dedicates its efforts to resisting racism, fascism, militarism, environmental injustice, and the impacts of neoliberal economic policies on peasants, workers, Indigenous communities, and other marginalized and minority groups. With reference to the collective’s participation in Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany, during the summer of 2022 and the following controversy, I will explore Taring Padi’s use of fabric in the form of large-scale banners. While their paper-based works facilitate mass production for propaganda purposes, I will argue the fabric-based works achieve their propaganda purposes though physical size. I will highlight the necessity of large-scale works within the historical specificity of their creation, alongside the collective’s direct political actions. At the same time, the size of the fabric pieces allows members to work collaboratively over long and intensive periods, setting aside individual artistic preferences to develop a distinctive shared pictorial language, iconography, and compositional approach. |
| Research Areas | Art and design |
| Research Themes | Culture and Communities |
| Research Centres/Groups | Centre for Arts, Media and Culture |
| Org Units | School of Arts and Creative Industries |
| URL | https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/45555/ |