Shifting Grounds: Human-Environment Relations in Volcanic Terrain

How do geological forces, local cosmologies, and policy frameworks converge and collide to shape life around an active volcano? This performative lecture by Ng Hui Hsien, STAR Artist-in-Residence, NTU CCA Singapore, and Yoonhee Jung, Senior Research Fellow, Department of History, NUS, delves into the complexities of human-environment relationships in and around Mount Batur in Bali, Indonesia. Drawing on research and lived experience, the presentation examines socio-economic shifts and the fraying of spiritual-ecological bonds intensified by the area’s designation as a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2012.

Through interwoven visual sequences, academic analysis, and textual explorations, the presenters show how artistic and scholarly perspectives diverge and intersect in interpreting this contested ground – and how Mount Batur acts as a sacred agent within local worldviews and ecologies.

Saturday, 13 December 2025
3:00 – 4:30pm
The Hall, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
6 Lock Road, #01-09, Gillman Barracks, 108934

Image: Black lava fields at the foot of Mount Batur, Bali, Indonesia. Photo by Ng Hui Hsien.