Dear friends, 

The year 2023 has been meaningful, and as the border slowly opens, the far is no longer far, new friends are made, and family is extended. Within our capacity as a curator collective, LIR has curated some exhibitions such as: "Crossing Ecotones - Mountains Seen; No Mountain Being" group exhibition at OUR Museum National Taiwan University of Arts - Taipei; "Rhinolophus Sinicus" solo exhibition by Nindityo Adipurnomo at D'Gallerie- Jakarta (e-catalogue); "Worship to Power" a solo show by Heri Dono at Kohesi Initiatives - Yogyakarta (e-catalogue); and "Dream Express: Personalized History of Mysticism" solo exhibition by Jompet Kuswidananto at Kohesi Initiatives (e-catalogue).

At the beginning of the year, we started a research residency at Hotel Maria Kapel in Hoorn - the Netherlands, which resulted in a group exhibition titled "Your Gold is Not Our Glory", a walking tour by Mella Jaarsma, and a small victory: changing the local cookie brand from "VOC taste of the golden era" to simply a "Hoorn" cookie (the Metropolis M wrote a little bit about it, here.) We concluded the year with a book launch of the book we co-edited, "Berita Gunung Berapi" at Casco Art Institute - Utrecht

Individually, Mira co-curated a screening program at Alt Space Loop - Seoul, Solid Art - Taipei, and San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery - San Francisco (link). For the occasion, Mira did an online lecture titled "Mother of All Disruptors: Witches, Goddess, and Land Defenders" (available online, here). In the writing practice, Mira's latest essays were published in PARSE Journal issue 17: Citation titled "We Followed Our Curiosity to the Forest"; ArtReview Asia Winter 2023 edition; and in Unclaimed Idea 2: I have not loved (enough or worked), an essay titled "Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: a Proposal of Possibilities in Five Case Studies" for a group exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Dito started the year with a residency in Collectif BONUS - Nantes, supported by the Institut français Indonésie, Campus France Scholarship, and the French Embassy in Indonesia. In August, Dito advised on the "Sarung" group exhibition by the Merapi Siring Kidul collective in Kaliurang. Dito also curated the first Jogja Fotografis Festival (JOFFIS) with an exhibition titled "Menghitung Panjang dan Lebar Sebuah Bingkai" (A Strategy to Measure a Frame) at Galeri R. J. Katamsi (Indonesia Institute of Arts) - Yogyakarta. As his artistic practice, Dito's video works have been part of exhibitions and screenings at "Tidal-Lounged Zone" (Yunlin), "Glued and Screwed #13" (The Hague), "Festival Film Dokumenter 2023" (Yogyakarta); and "Babad Lembana 2023" (Madura). 

We concluded this year by taking a new role as the new directors of Cemeti - Institute for Arts and Society in Yogyakarta, starting March 2024. Dito comes to this position from Ruang MES56, where he has been co-director since 2020, while for the first year, Mira will work on this directorship between the Netherlands and Indonesia.

Over the years, LIR's institutional format has been perpetually renewed, and this directorship is taken as individuals-- as our new speculative practice of institution-making. At the same time, we will resume our individual practices as curator and writer (Mira) and as artist (Dito), practicing in, out, and around the art institution.

Together, we will work around the constellation of friendship and art families in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and Internationally. We are honored by this decision and excited to work with the newly built Cemeti team, the supervisory board, the artists, the support systems, and the society. 

We wish for future collaboration and alliances, and we wish you a warm, joyful, and gentle year ahead. Happy New Year! 

Warmly,

Mira Asriningtyas & Dito Yuwono