Berkumpul Borneo: Weaving a united creative future across the island

THE just-concluded ‘Berkumpul Borneo’ stood as an energising display of solidarity, exchange, and grassroots creative leadership.

The three-day event, which took place at the Sabah Heritage Village Phase 2 in Kota Kinabalu, was organised by Borneo Bengkel and Pangrok Sulap as part of the Borneo Creative and Culture District 2025 – a programme run under the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (MoTAC), in collaboration with Sabah’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Balai Seni Negara (National Art Gallery), Sabah Art Gallery, Sabah Museum, National Arts and Culture Department, Tourism Malaysia, Kraftangan Malaysia, as well as several strategic partners from the local creative industry.

Berkumpul Borneo brought together art collectives from Brunei, Kalimantan, Sabah and Sarawak for a vibrant programme of screenings, exhibitions, workshops, and community sharing-sessions.

The participants were treated to eight independent films from across Borneo, showcasing the island’s diverse stories, filmmakers, and visual languages.

They also had the opportunity to join creative workshops such as woodcut printmaking led by Pangrok Sulap, and plastic-upcycling sessions using waste materials, facilitated by Kalimantan-based initiative Susur Galur.

A selection of publications, exhibition catalogues and virtual tours and games from Sarawak, Sabah, Kalimantan and Brunei were also exhibited, allowing the participants to explore the breadth of creative activity emerging across Borneo.

The sharing-sessions drew especially strong interest, as creatives from across the island exchanged insight into their operations, challenges and ambitions.

These conversations highlighted how Bornean communities had been curating, producing and sustaining cultural work – revealing both the resourcefulness and the shared purpose that underpinned the grassroots creative ecosystems in the region.

‘Celebrating what makes Borneo so special’

Borneo Bengkel co-curator Catriona Maddocks remarked: “We’re really excited for this chance to bring together creatives from across the island.

“It’s not often that we get to see so many brilliant grassroots movements in one place, learning from each other and celebrating what makes Borneo so special.

“We’re really thankful to MoTAC and also the National Visual Arts Board for engaging us and supporting this initiative.

“Borneo has a vibrant and emerging art scene, and Berkumpul Borneo is a powerful opportunity to showcase that energy.”

Borneo Bengkel is a platform intended to unite and celebrate Borneo’s creative community through interdisciplinary dialogues and cultural exchanges.

With collaborations throughout Sarawak, Sabah, Kalimantan and Brunei, it has hosted, curated and facilitated residencies, exhibitions, workshops and dialogues.

Bengkel, which means ‘workshop’ in Malay, reflects the core value of knowledge exchange through which indigenous identities, traditional knowledge and the Bornean aesthetics are explored in a contemporary context.

Roadmap for collaboration

In connection with Berkumpul Borneo, all participating collectives later reconvened for a closed-door working session, ‘What’s Next for Borneo’, which marked a key step towards building long-term inter-island collaboration among Borneo’s creative communities.

The discussion included reflections on Berkumpul Borneo, as well as planning for a shared 2026-2027 calendar of activities.

The collaborators then mapped out the skills and resources that they had, identified areas where support would be needed, and collectively strategised ways to uplift one another across borders.

The group also discussed shared methods, ethics, and approaches to nurturing a more united, community-driven creative ecosystem across the territories of Borneo.

Maddocks added: “Borneo Bengkel has been running gatherings like this since 2017, and it’s inspiring to see how the network has grown.

“Each year, it feels like we’re building something stronger together – laying the groundwork for a vibrant, connected creative future for Borneo.”

Empowering Bornean creativity

Pangrok Sulap is an art collective established in 2010 in Ranau, Sabah.

The collective is made up of multi-disciplines of artists, curators, writers, researchers, activists, musicians, graphic designers, entrepreneur craft makers and other members of the creative community.

This diversity enriches the collective discipline and in turn, makes the collective more dynamic; hence, benefiting itself to run various activities and programmes.

Along with its mission of strengthening the community through art, Pangrok Sulap has organised and held art exhibitions, projects and collaborations with multiple communities for the development of social, culture, economic and education.

Since 2013, the collective has taken part in various art exhibitions locally and globally.

In addition, it has been actively involved with many community projects, forums, workshops and art studies.

Some of the collective works have become collections of museums and galleries such as Mori Art Museum in Japan, Singapore Art Museum and Queensland Art Gallery in Australia.

For Adi Helmi Jaini, a member of Pangrok Sulap, having creatives who are building the scene through their creative spaces and activities is really inspiring, and this offers a great chance to reconnect, collaborate and see on things that can be created next.

“We’re really happy to have hosted everyone in Sabah.

“Facilitating this gathering has been meaningful for us – seeing so many collectives connect, collaborate and dream together, shows just how powerful Bornean creativity can be,” he said.

Feedback

Berkumpul Borneo hosted representatives of grassroots organisations from all across the island: namely Ruang Tamu Ekosistem from Sabah; HAUS KCH from Sarawak; Emehdeyeh and Susur Galur from Kalimantan (Indonesia); as well as Minority Agenda and Kitani Kreatif from Brunei.

“It’s been wonderful to gather and engage deeply with each other’s creative practices,” said Susur Galur delegate Dwi Sasta Kanaya.

“Sharing our methods and approaches helps us understand not just how we work, but why we work, and that exchange is essential in strengthening Borneo’s creative community.”

Established in 2021, Susur Galur focuses on interdisciplinary practices in the study of past and contemporary cultures in producing social relationships in everyday life through preservation activities; art programme management; sharing knowledge through research, art projects, workshops, festivals and art exhibitions; and reinterpreting socio-cultural spaces as playgrounds and artistic laboratories.

The other Kalimantan-based collective is Emehdeyeh.

Founded in 2022 by a group of young artists in Pontianak, this collective serves as a lab space for artistic production, experimentation and collaboration, open to diverse ideas, responses and creative discourses emerging from the social and cultural dynamics of West Kalimantan.

Through various activities, Emehdeyeh strives to sustain and energise artistic practices that remain productive, relevant and engaged with local contexts.

Its presence aims to strengthen the art ecosystem in West Kalimantan, while fostering the growth of new ideas and networks within Indonesia’s contemporary art landscape.

For Nuur Aqilah of Brunei’s Kitani Kreatif, she was all praise for Berkumpul Borneo.

“Coming from the smallest nation on the island, it’s really exciting to be part of a platform like this.

“Gathering with fellow creatives from across Borneo gives us a powerful surge of shared energy and reminds us how connected our artistic journeys truly are.”

Kitani Kreatif is a research-development-impact laboratory that works locally and regionally to advance the cultural and creative economy.

It explores how creativity generates cultural, economic, social and environmental value, and designs projects that foster experimentation, regeneration and revitalisation.

Minority Agenda, another Brunei-based group, is an art advocacy initiative that uses creative expression to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. It amplifies indigenous and marginalised voices through exhibitions, installations and workshops that foster dialogue and understanding.

By centering art as a tool for advocacy and storytelling, it collaborates with communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil societies (CSOs) to celebrate diversity, empower representation and drive meaningful social change.

Sabah’s representative, Ruang Tamu Ekosistem, is an art community centre founded in 2022 in Kota Kinabalu. The community provides a flexible creative space for different local groups from various artistic and professional backgrounds.

Its main goal is to build a collaborative ecosystem that connects artists and creators from fields like art, music, writing, food and education.

Sarawak’s HAUS KCH is a creative hub that produces community-centric programming for the socio-economic benefit of grassroots creative industry players in Kuching and beyond.

Over the past nine years, it has established a solid collaborative network eager to work with producers and other creatives from within and outside of Kuching city.

Unified platform for creative talents

Berkumpul Borneo closed on an optimistic note, with participants reaffirming the importance of island-wide solidarity and committing to continued gatherings, exchanges, and co-created projects.

In line with the expansion of Borneo’s creative network, the gathering in Kota Kinabalu stood as a major milestone in strengthening the region’s contemporary arts landscape.

“There are some exciting plans ahead for the creative scene in Borneo,” said Maddocks.

“Berkumpul Borneo is, indeed, a rare opportunity to platform creative talents in one place, bringing together artists, curators and collectives from across Sarawak, Sabah, Kalimantan and Brunei,” she added.