2026 | Tushar Joag Memorial Lecture | Dito Yuwono & Mira Asriningtyas
Fourth Tushar Joag Memorial Lecture
Lecture by Dito Yuwono & Mira Asriningtyas,
(Curatorial/ Artistic/ Institutional) Practice on a Moving Ground
Chaired by Chaitanya Sambrani
Seminar Halls 1, 2 & 3, Kamaladevi Complex
India International Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Friday, 16 January 2026, 6 pm
The Fourth Tushar Joag Memorial Lecture, instituted in memory of our dear friend and radical artist-pedagogue Tushar Joag (1966–2018).
(Curatorial/ Artistic/ Institutional) Practice on a Moving Ground
“The lecture reflects upon a practice that is perpetually in flux—what we describe as a practice on moving ground. Drawing from this, we propose strategies for embracing instability as a generative framework, offering actionable approaches for how artistic, curatorial, and institutional practices can adapt and reconfigure in response to ongoing change. Practitioners can leverage the flexible boundaries between roles to form hybrid collaborations and collective structures. We recommend leveraging this openness to reimagine art as an active infrastructure for civic engagement, solidarity, and justice.
Starting from our individual paths—Mira Asriningtyas as a curator focused on site-specific, socio-political contexts, and Dito Yuwono as an artist engaging with memory, participation, and shared histories—we connect our practices to wider constellations of collaboration and institution-building. By reflecting on our work at individual, collective, and institutional levels, we propose that practicing “on moving ground” means more than just acknowledging precarity; it also represents a methodological orientation. It serves as a method for handling uncertainty, building new solidarities, and staying responsive to changing social, political, and ecological realities.”
Dito Yuwono and Mira Asriningtyas are the new directors of Cemeti–Institute for Art and Society in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (www.cemeti.art). Dito is an artist and curator who comes to this position from Ruang MES56, where he has served as co-director since 2020. Mira, an independent curator and writer, will be taking this role between the Netherlands and Indonesia. They have worked together for over twelve years as LIR, an art space turned into a nomadic curatorial collective. LIR’s projects are characterized by multi-disciplinary collaboration and research-based exhibitions to foster continuous transgenerational transmission of knowledge, memory, and history. LIR’s recent projects including the “Curated by LIR” exhibition series (Yogyakarta & Jakarta, 2018 – 2023); “Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversations” (Kaliurang – New York – Yogyakarta – Taipei, 2020 – 2023); and “900mdpl” (Kaliurang, 2017, 2019, & 2022).
If you wish to watch the extended version of the programme which includes a discussion moderated by the lecture chair followed by a Q&A session with the audience, you may write to us at ssaf.programmes@gmail.com.