MEREKAM KOTA 2026 Highlights Migration, Labor and Urban Memory in Kupang

RRI.CO.ID, Kupang - Migration histories, bodily experiences, and the role of the working class in the development of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), are explored in the public archive exhibition MEREKAM KOTA 2026 (Recording the City 2026), titled Pinggir piring: Tubuh, Kerja dan Migrasi Pinggir–Pusat” (At the Edge of the Plate: Bodies, Work and Periphery–Center Migration).

The exhibition, featuring nine research works, family archives, and art installations, was officially opened by Kupang’s Acting Head of the Archives and Library Agency Frengki Amalo, at de Museum Cafe JKK on Saturday, October 3, 2026. It will run until October 17, 2026. In his remarks, Frengki praised the organization of MEREKAM KOTA while emphasizing that a city’s future was determined by more than physical development.

In his view, the important question concerning Kupang was not simply what would be built, but who would preserve the stories of residents whose lives deserved to be remembered. This idea is strongly reflected in the exhibition, which brings together family archives, area-based research, residents’ stories, artworks, and visual documentation.

Unlike its three previous editions, MEREKAM KOTA 2026 has a broader curatorial scope. This year, the exhibition invites the public to view Kupang through aspects often overlooked in dominant narratives: bodily experiences, work, and migration from the periphery to the center and vice versa.

Through the theme “Pinggir Piring,” MEREKAM KOTA examines how human journeys have helped shape the face of Kupang. Migration and work are not merely movements between places or sources of livelihood, but inseparable parts of people’s experiences, memories, and struggles.

The opening was attended by several figures, including the Chairperson of the Kupang City Church Congregational Council, Reverend Olfi Magang-Mooy, whose organization oversees de Museum Cafe JKK, the exhibition venue. In her remarks, Reverend Olfi described MEREKAM KOTA as part of the process of passing memories from one generation to the next.

“Now you are recording us, the period we went through, which we could not write down, but our children are writing about. In the future, you will be recorded by the generations that follow,” she said on Saturday.

The message became one of the exhibition’s central themes, as archives are not solely about the past. They also provide a way to ensure that residents’ experiences are not lost as time moves forward.

Reverend Olfi connected the idea to her own experience with one of the figures featured in MEREKAM KOTA 2026, Mama Martina, a female church caretaker who also worked as a laundry worker while Olfi was serving as a pastor at the Tiberias Tuak Daun Merah (TDM) Congregation of the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor (GMIT).

Mama Martina’s story shows how the body can serve as a repository of experience. The body is not merely an object being documented, but carries memories of work, life journeys, social relationships, and the experiences that shape a city.

MEREKAM KOTA 2026 seeks to present three main elements, which are memory, space, and imagination. Memory is represented through family archives, historical introductions to various areas, and works by LAB INGATAN artists responding to the history of places.

The spatial aspect is reflected in writings about figures whose stories were drawn from each research site, as well as in the MEREKAM KOTA installation works. Imagination appears on two levels: the imagination of Kupang before someone arrives and settles in the city, and the imagination formed after experiencing and living in Kupang.

The exhibition features nine research articles, which are Berlayar dan Berbaur, Bolelebo Pelabuhan Tenau Lelebo, Manusia-manusia Pinggir, Karang Dempel yang Telah Redup, Lapak Penghargaan, Mesin tanpa Seragam, Merajut Karir di Ruang Domestik, Manajer Jalanan, and Liliba di Tepian TDM.

It also presents three works by LAB INGATAN artists, a collection of archives from three research sites, and four documentary photographs featuring the pinggir piring figures documented by MEREKAM KOTA.

For some visitors, the exhibition is not merely a space for viewing archives, but also an opportunity to rediscover their homes and surroundings from a different perspective.

One visitor, Ivan Baowolo, said that as a resident of Tuak Daun Merah (TDM), he had gained considerable new information about his neighborhood. “I am a child of TDM, and this is the first time I have learned many new things, such as why so many Rote people live in TDM,” he said.

Ivan hoped MEREKAM KOTA could provide a stronger representation of the areas discussed in the research articles. In his view, visitors should not only read the stories, but also receive help in imagining the spaces, atmosphere, and lives that form the backdrop to each account. Ultimately, MEREKAM KOTA 2026 asks not only how a city grows, but also who makes it come alive.

Amid migration, work, domestic spaces, ports, markets, streets, and residential areas are the stories of residents who may have long remained at the margins of the dominant narrative. Through their archives and testimonies, the exhibition seeks to bring these stories back to the center of Kupang’s collective memory.

MEREKAM KOTA 2026, “Pinggir Piring: Tubuh, Kerja dan Migrasi Pinggir–Pusat,” can be visited at de Museum Cafe JKK, Lai Lai Bisi Kopan Subdistrict, Kupang, until October 17, 2026. The exhibition is open daily from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time. (Annaila Azzahra-EN)