When Dayu was only three years old, she could not yet pronounce “Gudskul” clearly, what came out of her mouth was “Ucuy”, a spontaneous pronunciation that sounded funny, but actually felt familiar to the ear. Without realizing it, “Ucuy” began to be used by Gudskul members as a new term for “Gudskul” in their daily conversations.
Dayu is the daughter of Bonit and Rake. This small family lives not far from Gudskul. The close proximity, flexible work environment, and the absence of an alternative caregiver at home mean that Dayu often accompanies her mother to work. Since she was only a month old, she has been brought into Gudskul’s collective activity spaces – growing up amidst conversations, meetings, classes, and the hustle and bustle of Gudskul’s activities.
Bonit is an important part of the Gudskul ecosystem. She is one of the backbones in the managerial aspect, active in RUX – Gudskul’s business unit – as well as being the subject coordinator in Gudskul Collective Studies. In addition, Bonit is also part of Grafis Huru Hara and Selarasa Food Lab. In her daily life, she handles various managerial jobs, from budgeting, program implementation, logistics, artistic production, to administration.
Bonit has quite flexible working hours. In one week, she does not have a fixed schedule to come to Gudskul, unless there is a specific agenda that has been scheduled beforehand. In general, she comes to Gudskul about three times a week. However, when things are hectic, she can come almost every day. Bonit usually arrives in the late afternoon and often stays until the evening, depending on the needs and dynamics of the activities taking place. Occasionally, she also travels out of town or abroad for a few days to a few weeks to run Gudskul programs.
The rhythm of work at Gudskul goes hand in hand with the lifestyle of Bonit and her family who are not used to being “morning people”, and hardly recognize the concept of weekends. Their activities can take place at any time, both on weekdays and weekends. This rhythm also affects the way Bonit carries out her domestic role. She usually starts her activities around 8am, beginning with household chores such as washing dishes, preparing meals for the family, and feeding Pimpim, her pet dog. It’s only during the day that Bonit moves on to work at Gudskul.
Interestingly, she does not always cook every day. This pattern is different from her habit of living with Gudskul members when running programs in other cities or countries. In such collective situations, Bonit almost always cooks every day, supplying the food needs of Gudskul members before the activity begins. For Bonit, cooking is not just a kitchen matter, but also a form of caring and organizing in collective life.
An example of this occurred during documenta fifteen in Kassel, Germany, when Gudskul organized a shared living space (domitory) and collective kitchen called Gudkitchen that lasted for 100 days. In Gudkitchen, Bonit plays a key role, not only as a cook, but also as a daily shopping organizer, consumption logistics manager, cleaner, as well as the life guard of the space amidst the dynamics of meeting across individuals, groups and cultures.
While at home, where there are not many people to feed, Bonit finds cooking every day to be inefficient. For her, it’s better that the cooked food is properly distributed and not wasted. Therefore, she often buys ready-made meals for her family, and only cooks occasionally, especially if there is a special request from Dayu. This reflects her way of balancing domestic and social labor-between the private space at home and the collective space at Gudskul.
Bonit is one of the Gudskul members who has a family and involves her family as part of the Gudskul ecosystem. She is the member who most intensely brings her children to Gudskul. For Bonit, Gudskul is a second home, not just a workspace or a place to learn, but also a living space, a place to grow, experiment, and share.
As someone who has helped build Gudskul since its inception, Bonit feels that her relationship with Gudskul has changed along with the growth of her nuclear family. While she used to have more time, ideas, and energy to be fully present for Gudskul, now she has begun to position Gudskul as a space that can be utilized to continue creating and working-without having to leave her role as a mother.
Outside of her role at Gudskul, Bonit also continues to nurture a small space that is often invisible on the surface: her personal space as an individual. Lately, she has become increasingly interested in unpacking the domestic space-not as an exhausting burden, but as a place where she can express it artistically. The medium she uses is not far from the realm of printmaking, with an interactive form of presentation. One example of her work is Domestic Dynamo, which was exhibited last year at 413 BETA, Seoul, South Korea.
As an individual, Bonit also has her own personal pleasure space that is the source of her passion: K-pop and Korean dramas. BTS is her main favorite K-pop group, both in terms of their music and the personal and social messages they bring up through their work. Her passion is evident in her personal collection, which includes music albums, photo books, photo cards, nendoroids, posters, and small dolls displayed alongside Rake’s collection and Dayu’s toys.
For Bonit, hunting for BTS physical goods is a kind of energy injection. When Bonit hunts for BTS merchandise during the Gudskul program abroad, she tends to shop more freely and lavishly, as the selection of items is more varied and the shopping experience feels more “free”. This is in contrast to Jakarta, where buying BTS albums often intersects directly with the reality of household needs – like having to choose between monthly shopping or J-Hope’s album.
This is how Bonit and her family’s daily lives have grown alongside Gudskul’s journey. Since Gudskul was founded in 2018, Bonit’s personal life with her family began, she married Rake that same year, and welcomed the birth of Dayu the following year. Now that Dayu has grown up and is fluent in “Gudskul”, the word “Ucuy” may no longer come out of her mouth. But for Gudskul, the greeting still holds its own warmth, becoming an internal language that continues to live without realizing it.
Angga Wijaya
Coordinator of Gudskul Studi Kolektif subject, Bonit’s comrade-in-arms from college days.
