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Kolektif Hysteria takes Grand Prize at 2019 YouFab Global Creative Awards
Semarang-based artist collective Kolektif Hysteria presented its Penta KLabs project for the 2019 YouFab Global Creative Awards.
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Humam Zidni Ahmad of Kolektif Hysteria works on 'Penta Klabs Methods' as part of the 2019 YouFab Global Creative Awards on Feb. 27 at SHIBUYA QWS in Tokyo, Japan. (instagram.com/youfabcreative/File)
Inter-disciplinary artist collective Kolektif Hysteria has been named Grand Prize winner of the YouFab Global Creative Awards 2019.
Based in the Central Java city of Semarang, Kolektif Hysteria presented its Penta KLabs for the award. The theme for this year’s YouFab Global Creative Awards was Conviviality: Emerging from the space between the old and new OS.
Penta KLabs is the collective’s biannual site-specific art project, which highlights community development, youth culture, art, technology and urban issues. By presenting Penta KLabs, the collective wished to connect each individual, community, university, village and city in a shared project to respond to certain issues in a specific site.
Penta KLabs was conducted in 2016 and 2018 in the Semarang sub-districts of Kemijen and Nongkosawit, respectively. In Kemijen, the project invited people to join a shared activity with a focus on several issues, such as the impact of construction and climate change, artificial technologies and the residents’ rights over transparency in planning and empowerment.
The project was among the 20 winners selected from 285 works submitted from 43 countries. In contrast with the majority of works that featured advanced technology, Kolektif Hysteria used a simple approach to communicate with the public, among them being social media platforms.
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Work by the winner was exhibited at SHIBUYA QWS in Tokyo from Feb. 28 to March 8, while the awards event was held in late February in Japan. It was closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Humam Zidni Ahmad, one of the members of Kolektif Hysteria, said in a statement that coronavirus and Tokyo’s low temperature did not stop them from going to Shibuya Station to create a mural, art installation and video. “We also made a zine [web magazine] workshop about the future of Tokyo in 20 years’ time,” Humam said.
As quoted from the award's website, chief judge Kei Wakabayashi said, “I don’t believe that there has been a single project that has more aptly embodied the term conviviality out of all the applications for this year."
Judge Leonhard Bartolomeus also praised the project for using “almost no technology”. “Rather than focusing on technological advancement, Hysteria decided to focus on the human/environmental needs first by doing a field works: visiting the site, talk and hang out with people. They were collecting the issues that could be developed together with the artist alongside with the people,” Leonhard said.
Organized by FabCafe as the networking platform for creators worldwide, the annual YouFab Global Creative Awards is managed under creative company Loftwork Inc., which is located in different cities in the world, including Hong Kong, Tokyo and Toulouse in France. The award has been held since 2012. (wir/wng)
