5 - Reimagining Batak, Reimagining Pustaha

Since the digitalization of pustaha from collections around the world can be accessed online, this makes it possible to reconnect with pustaha in alternative ways. For instance, the Indonesian collective Kawan Pustaha, together with Lifepatch, started a class for reading and writing the Batak script. Lifepatch is also experimenting with restitution process of pustaha (through the Netherlands-based research program Pressing Matter) and also engaging in with Jorliman Sidabutar in Samosir, who is still practicing the making of pustaha.

By transposing a certain technique to a different locus, in this paper I reflect on my art-work-in-progress and ask, amongst others - can we reinvoke the esoteric knowledge in pustaha and reintegrate it into the living adat in my Batak community, that consist of mostly devout Protestants? Or is it possible to extract the content of pustaha and integrate it into local environmental activism in North Sumatera?


This project tries to unveil the paradox of pustaha, which once provided the knowledge to take care the social, the spiritual, and the environmental aspect of Batak community, but now have to rely on a myriad techniques of care to make sure its existence and relevance. Using participatory and collaborative approaches, this project would aim for a “heightened sense and perception” of the past (that dwells not exclusively on ancestors and rituals, but also on political, societal, and environmental pasts) by delve into the inner working of Batak spirituality, particularly its relation to the ecological wisdom that is said to be documented in the pustaha.