About
As part of Human-Nature, the British Council’s 3-year programme in Malaysia exploring the role of the arts and creative approaches to highlight climate adaptation, Radical Ecology and Borneo Bengkel, in collaboration with the British Council Malaysia, present TIME OF THE RIVERS, an artist fellowship programme running from April to September 2025.
The Time of the Rivers Fellowship engages four artists from Malaysia and the UK to explore climate adaptation, decolonial approaches to art and ecology, and socio-political impacts on displaced communities.
Programme Overview
The Fellowship builds on ongoing research and community engagement by Radical Ecology and Borneo Bengkel, focusing on the ecological and social impacts of major dam projects such as Bengoh (Sarawak, 2010s) and Burrator (Dartmoor, 1890s). It centres the lives of displaced communities and historic legacies of dispossession, questioning how the extractive dynamics of economic development are also reflected in dominant approaches to heritage and culture that continue to connect the UK and Borneo to this day. In response to these issues and the projected impacts of global warming, the project also considers the reparative and emancipatory potential of artistic strategies that reconnect us with the time and flow of our river ecologies.
Programme Components
- Online Mentoring Sessions (April-May): to deepen decolonial approaches to art and ecology.
- Field Visits (June-July): two immersive 2-week field visits in Borneo and the UK.
- Online Showcase (September): present research findings and proposals for new works that will emerge through the 6-month programme.