Reimagining Transcultural Cemeteries Through Art, Science, and Technology

Abstract

This research article examines an art-based research creation developed within the OASis Europe project during the Shadow Architecture residency, which reimagines transcultural cemetery architecture through Indonesian Indigenous practices and contemporary technology. The project challenges Western paradigms of concealment by reframing cemeteries as neglected urban spaces and sites of relational memory. The work consists of two speculative outputs: Native Signals from a Resting Ground, a physical installation inspired by Trunyan open-air burial traditions that integrates live Indonesian seismic data as a generative soundscape, and A Cemetery of Possibilities, a custom GPT-based interface that invites participants to imagine their own memorial forms. Through these works, the project investigates how art, science, and technology can operate as media of memory and co-authorship, enabling individuals to articulate personal narratives and transcultural identities within the site of the cemetery. By integrating Indigenous cultural practices, geoscience, and computational creativity, the research proposes an experimental speculative necro-aesthetic art grounded in reciprocity between human and more-than-human worlds.