Performing Artists Reflect on Shared Heritage Across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore

On 12-13 December 2025, over 90 Indonesian performing artists gathered at the Bagong Kussudiardja Arts Center (PSBK) in Bantul, Yogyakarta Special Region, to reflect on a shared cultural inheritance connecting Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Through an exploration of Peranakan culture as a case study, artists rediscovered how deeply interconnected their histories, family narratives, and creative practices are-shaped by centuries of migration, exchange, and coexistence across Southeast Asia.

Organized by UNESCO with the support of the Temasek Foundation, the workshop formed part of the programme Embracing Shared Heritage through Performing Arts: Intercultural Collaboration Skills Development across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore . The programme positions the performing arts as a living space in which shared heritage can be interpreted, questioned, and reimagined through contemporary practice. In doing so, it frames shared cultural heritage not as a challenge to national identity, but as a collective strength that enriches it.

Discussions revealed that Peranakan culture resonated strongly with participants' everyday experiences, reflected in language, food, dress, rituals, and family memory. Artists noted striking similarities across borders, prompting reflection on how cultural identities in the region have long evolved through interaction.

Renowned choreographer and visual artist Melati Suryodarmo invited participants to explore Peranakan culture as a lens for identity, diaspora, and belonging. Drawing on her artistic practice, she emphasized the body and lived experience as sites where cultural memory is carried, negotiated, and transformed. Through her sessions, artists were encouraged to translate personal and collective histories into movement and performance, deepening their awareness of how heritage is embodied and continually reinterpreted.

Dramaturg Ugoran Prasad explored Peranakan language as a space of cultural encounter, while cultural practitioners and scholars Halim HD, FX Harsono, and Dr. Lono Simatupang provided socio-historical insights into Peranakan performing arts. Together these contributions highlighted cultural hybridity as a defining feature of the region.