A second Forum Rabu Wagen session was held on August 20, 2025. The session began with a welcoming speech from Dr. Budi Irawanto to the participants, especially the new students attending the Rabu Wagen Forum session for the first time, which was organised by the Doctoral Program in Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies (PSPSR) at UGM. Twenty-two postgraduate students attended the second event of the year. Two speakers who are also doctoral students of PSPSR, namely Terra Bajraghosa and Agustinus Paulus Umbu Tali, were selected to present their research progress. Terra Bajraghosa initiated the knowledge-sharing session, titled “Exploring the Identity of Independent Comics.” The research scheme shared was comprehensive and inspiring. read more

On Thursday, July 24, 2025, doctoral students of the PSPSR UGM initiated a sharing session forum. The session was led by Dr. Trisna Pradita, S.Sos., M.M., an alumnus of the PSPSR doctoral program who had just officially graduated at the commencement ceremony held the day before.

The main topic of this session was an introduction to NVivo. NVivo is a qualitative data analysis software that helps researchers organize, analyze, and gain insights from unstructured data, such as interviews, open-ended survey responses, field notes, academic articles, and social media content. It can be used to code data, identify themes and patterns, and visualize findings. read more

On July 16, 2025, Forum Rabu Wagen: A Sharing Knowledge Session was held at the Collaborative Space, Graduate School, Universitas Gadjah Mada. This session was initiated by Dr Budi Irawanto, the head of the doctoral program in Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies (PSPSR). It was named Rabu Wagen to mark the 35-day cycles of days in the Javanese calendar. It is a monthly gathering for PhD candidates from PSPSR to come together and discuss their most recent progress. Dr Budi himself chaired this session, emphasising the solitary nature of the PhD journey. Overcoming such barriers could be achieved by holding a forum like this as a platform for togetherness, allowing for direct discussions. In this forum session, three shared knowledge topics were presented, starting with Mendeley Cite, presented by Mr. Hendra. Then, a sharing session by Mr Ando related to Mendeley Desktop, and finally, a sharing session on research topics by Mr Stario, titled “Proses Kreasi dan Representasi Budaya dalam Karya-karya Bio-Art Kelompok House of Natural Fibre (HoNF) dan Syaiful Aulia Garibaldi.” Eighteen S3 PSPSR UGM students attended this two-hour session. Feedback from the students who attended today was very constructive, and they seemed more enthusiastic to share their experiences and knowledge. The next Rabu Wagen Forum is scheduled to take place on August 20, 2025, featuring two speakers from S3 PSPSR UGM. read more

Yogyakarta, June 16, 2025 – The Graduate Program in Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies (PSPSR) at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) hosted a sharing session with visual artist Natasha Tontey. This event comprised a segment of the Visual Arts, Design, and Media Arts Studies course, which Dr. Rr. Paramitha Dyah Fitriasari S., Ant., M.Hum., teaches. The activity took place on Monday, June 16, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM WIB, in Room 407 of the UGM Graduate Building.

Under the theme “World-Building through Peculiar Pleasures: Kitsch, Autophagia, and Ancestral Ghost,” Natasha Tontey invited participants to delve into her artistic practice. This practice roots itself in the imagination of alternative worlds, collective trauma, and marginalized cultural experiences. She explained that the concept of world-building in her work does not merely involve creating narrative worlds, but rather a complex symbolic and spiritual world with a system of meaning derived from local roots. read more

The Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies study program held a Sharing Session with Dr. Camilo Solinti Soler Caicedo from King’s College University UK, Thursday (21/9) in room 407 of the UGM Postgraduate School. This activity was attended by participants from various backgrounds.

The theme discussion is about Camilo’s dissertation research, especially about salsa dance and the things surrounding it. Salsa dance is full of diversity and cultural processes of creolization. It is not surprising that salsa dance which grows in an egalitarian culture can create works of various forms, even though it is still called salsa. This dance is full of symbols of people’s resistance to an ongoing system. read more