Aliansyah Caniago

Through site-specific interventions, installations and durational performances, Aliansyah Caniago (b. 1987, Indonesia) integrates his work with society, creatively addressing conflicts to reclaim damaged environments. He observes how industrialisation raises issues of urbanisation and gentrification and how they affect a particular community: land use conflicts, waste, resources and contested spaces.

His current research is on Barus, a village in North Sumatra named after an extinct camphor tree, a project that explores Indonesia’s modernity and its colonial legacy. The Barus camphor tree prompts an exploration of indigenous knowledge lost to colonial practices. In 2023, he created an installation In Search of Nan Tar Tar Nan Tor Tor, a spirit living in the camphor tree, based on a scene in the film of L.P. de Bussy, a Dutch plantation biologist stationed in North Sumatra in the early 1900s. He used industrial materials to create this installation such as celluloid and processed wood to create a funeral house.

Alongside his practice, he is also one of the founders of an artist collective in Bandung, Ruang Gerilya, which provides a platform for experimental works with a focus on artist’s process and research.