From January to March 2025, Riza Pradito Yuwono, a Master’s student in the Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies Program at UGM, had the opportunity to participate in an artist residency program organized by Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, Institut Français Indonésie, and Cemeti Institute for Art and Society. Here, he shares his story:
“I arrived in Paris on the 2nd day of 2025, realizing I was still in transitional mode, a combination of year-end shift, hectic packing mode, and the remaining of last year’s jet lag. I was part of an artist in residence program which co-organize by Cité Internationale des Arts, Institut Françe Indonesia, and Cemeti Institute for Art and Society.
During three months of the program, I participated in several program, from artist studio visit, institutional visits, guided tour, among others. One of the tour that quite rare, and impressed me is walking tour of the Black culture history in Paris. The route that we took followed the wind flows and/or the gentrification route towards the northeast of Paris. Through the walk led by Olivier Marboeuf, all of us were experiencing the invisible monuments of the remnants or evidence of the Black culture, which used to hold many performing activities that are now barely visible as the landscape changed and overlapped with the contemporary vision of the city.
While the city impressed me with its constant change from one arrondissement to another, being part of the Cité Internationale des Arts stimulates me with its activeness and the experimentation of the spaces. Every Wednesday, the institution organizes an open studio with 5 to 10 artists each time. On top of that, the institution also has other openings or public talks in its other five spaces. During my residency in Paris, I open my studio by having several dinners or just afternoon snacks with some friends instead of one time on Wednesday. Aside from giving more time to show to different people or audiences, it also allows me to show works in various ways within the limitation of studio space.
Meanwhile, I had the opportunity to experiment with Atelier 8003 and my studio. With Suhaib Gasmelbari, Giorgia Piffaretti, and El Sadig Kamal, we have organized Cité Cine Club to screen different types of films and videos, which we thought was a more proper situation to show moving image works. At the same time, I have the privilege of participating in an exhibition in their main gallery titled, “D’ici 60 ans: Relayer” (60 Years From Now: Relaying) curated by Ana Janevski and Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez. This exhibition open from April 2 to July 12, 2025. So if you are around Paris, please come to the exhibition.”
The PSPSR UGM Study Program strongly supports this initiative, which is also aligned with SDG No. 4 (Quality Education), No. 10 (Reduced Inequalities), No. 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and No. 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). (RPY-AU)
