Against The Tide

THE COMPLEX HISTORY of the Malay Archipelago is investigated in Arus Balik, a new exhibition curated by the influential Belgian art historian and critic Phillipe Pirotte for the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (NTU CCA) in Gillman Barracks.

Prof Pirotte was chatting with Ade Darmawan, director of Indonesia's top artist collective ruangrupa which was recently named Artistic Director of the 2022 prestigious art exhibition documenta in Germany. Both men love the novels of late Indonesian literary giant Pramoedya Ananta Toer and homed in on Arus Balik, the only novel by Pramoedya that has not been translated into English.

Published in 1995, Arus Balik (which means "the turning of the tide" in Bahasa) tells a historical tale of the final days of the Majapahit empire in the 14th century. In the novel, Pramoedya supports the theory that the great empire's decline stems from its neglect of its maritime security domain, allowing for the Portuguese army to conquer Malacca in 1511 and accelerate its demise.