Yogyakarta, 2026 — Febri Anugerah, a Master’s student from the Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies Program (PSPSR), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), participated as an artist in Artjog 2026: Ars Longa Generatio, an art event held at Jogja National Museum.
In this program, Febri collaborated with artist Eko Nugroho through the collaborative platform Eko Nugroho x Versus Project. Versus Project is a collective consisting of young artists, including Febri Anugerah, Dyah Retno, Aphrodita Wibowo, and Gindring Wasted. For Artjog 2026, the collective presented a work titled “Sirkus Janji” (Circus of Promises), exploring the idea of “promise” as a space for reflecting on rhetoric, broken commitments, and their social impacts in everyday life.
In this context, a promise can represent hope, commitment, and social relationships, but it can also transform into an instrument of power when it remains unrealised. Through the work “Commemoration of the Unkept,” Febri responds to how commemorative practices are often used to construct particular narratives and shape collective memory. The work invites audiences to reconsider the relationship between promises, power, and people’s experiences of promises that remain unfulfilled.
In the artwork, jasmine flowers are used as a symbol of promises, while iron materials represent the construction of promises that carry ambiguous meanings and can continuously shift in interpretation. The work becomes a critical reflection on how promises may create hope, while also leaving behind memories of something that has never been realised. Through this participation, Febri presents an artistic practice that goes beyond aesthetic exploration and opens a space for dialogue about social experiences, memory, and collective aspirations for the future.
Febri’s involvement in Artjog 2026 highlights the role of art as a medium for social dialogue and knowledge production align with global commitments toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
- SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) by encouraging public awareness, critical reflection, and community participation in understanding social and political relationships.
- SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by positioning cultural spaces and artistic practices as important elements in shaping collective memory and sustaining community identities. (IP)
