Borneo Laboratory

20/03/2026

4–6 March, Kuching. At .kch
For three days, we gathered across disciplines, places, and ways of knowing. Walking, listening, mapping, and questioning what it means to work with rather than on.

This workshop was not a conclusion, but a beginning.
A space where relationships were seeded, where stories surfaced, and where practices of reciprocity started to take form.

To everyone who joined us, thank you for your presence, your openness, and your willingness to stay with complexity.

The conversation continues.
Next stop: Chiang Mai.

Video edited by

11/03/2026

Urban Wilds in Regenerative Fellowship Kuching 2026
With chef Alex Ting from Kyujin, we are reminded that the extraordinary often emerges from the ordinary.

For this evening, the ingredients were sourced entirely from Petanak Market, our local market in our neighbourhood in Kuching, where the richness of Borneo’s landscapes unfolds through food, from forest harvests to the abundance of the sea.

Together with our guests from across Asia, we invited them into a shared journey of taste that reflects the diversity, stories, and ecological connections embedded in the ingredients of this place

10/03/2026

The Practitioners Behind the Regenerative Fellowship

The Regenerative Fellowship in Kuching brought together a group of practitioners from across Asia who are working in different fields, yet are connected by a shared curiosity: how might regenerative practices shape the future of our cultures, cities, materials, and landscapes?

Each fellow carries a different inquiry.

Hana from Think City brings experience in urban regeneration, exploring how cities can evolve while remaining attentive to history, community, and place.

Bioeconomy Corporation and CAST Foundation, together with Borneo Laboratory, are interested in the idea of a bio-material commons, exploring regenerative materials that could gradually phase out conventional extractive materials.

Ssu Min and Hsiu Ju from Taiwan Creative Nodes is working closely with Indigenous communities in Hualien, learning from ancestral knowledge systems and documenting these practices through drawings and publications.

Perspective Studio explores the symbiosis between forest ecosystems and craft traditions, asking how material cultures can remain rooted in living landscapes.

GMBB brings insights from Kuala Lumpur’s evolving art ecosystem, reflecting on how creative communities can grow while supporting long-term cultural resilience.
Tsutsumi from Japan investigates how urushi (traditional Japanese lacquer) might find new relevance in contemporary products without losing the integrity of its craft lineage.

Release Kyoto works on regenerative tourism frameworks, advising both the Kyoto government and local communities.

Local Alike’s ambition is to enable over their communities to adopt regenerative practices that strengthen both culture and ecology.

Though their practices differ, the fellowship allowed these inquiries to meet in one place, creating a space where ideas could cross-pollinate and new possibilities could begin to emerge.

Regeneration rarely begins with a single solution.

More often, it begins with many questions held together in conversation.

01/03/2026

On Reciprocity 2.0: An Exhibition in Transit

An exhibition that does not settle.

Set along a staircase above a kopitiam, this chapter unfolds through fragments, encounters, and field notes gathered in movement. What began as a journey across cities and conversations now returns as an evolving reciprocal archive.

Photographs, annotations, documentation, and traces from On Reciprocity 1.0 and 2.0 are brought into relation here. Not as a conclusion, but as a pause. A space to reflect on how community, climate, and cultural practice intersect across geographies.

This is not a fixed display. It is an exhibition in transit, continuing to shift, respond, and deepen over time.

The Reciprocal Archive from On Reciprocity 2.0 will open to the public for the first time on the 7th and 8th. Wendy Teo will be present to host and share more about the journey behind the work.

More programme announcements will follow in April, including outreach events and conversations at the space.

Please note: the exhibition is closed on Mondays.

📍 Think and Tink
1a, 230, Jalan Ang Cheng Ho
Kuching 93100
Sarawak, Malaysia

🗓 1 March – 31 June 2026

Climb the stairs above the kopitiam. Engage with the archive. Be part of how this work continues to evolve.

23/02/2026

17/02/2026

BANDUNG // Grammars
Making Place Without a Blueprint

At Grammars, we gathered to explore what it means to make place without a fixed plan. Featuring Artiandi (Office SA) and Wendy Teo (Borneo Laboratory), and moderated by Hamzah Al Asadulloh (Studio Lion) with comments from Prananda Malasan (Museum Benda), the session invited us to rethink how places are created, cared for, and sustained.

We shared stories of practice where presence matters more than drawings, and relationships matter more than objects. Place is not something finished or handed over, it emerges over time, shaped by people, land, and care. We reflected on unlearning top-down approaches and embracing collective authorship, where trust, reciprocity, and small gestures guide our decisions.

Climate was seen differently too: not as numbers, but as the sacred landscapes we inhabit, and the care we show to communities and the environment. Drawing from examples across Borneo and Southeast Asia, we explored ethical placemaking in publishing, exhibitions, and everyday practice: returning knowledge and stories to those who made them, rather than chasing spectacle.

In Bandung, we learned that presence is itself a form of design, giving is radical, and slowing down, being close to land, body, and each other, nurtures humane, time-rich collaboration. Place, as we discovered, chooses us as much as we choose it.

17/02/2026

PERIPHERAL CENTRES //

What happens when we rethink the map?

Bangkok — a regional metropolitan hub.
Borneo — an ecological and cultural frontier.

How do artists and cultural practitioners shift power, perspective, and possibility between centre and periphery?

Join us for a book launching & discussion exploring these questions through dialogue between Wishulada Panthanuvong (Bangkok) and Wendy Teo (Kuching, Sarawak).

Together, we will reflect on:
• Art as ecological responsibility
• Cultural practice beyond extraction
• Rewriting dominant narratives of region and periphery
• Regenerative thinking across Southeast Asia

Connext Space, 3rd Floor, The Seasons Mall
Saturday, 21 February
9:00–12:00

Featuring conversation + Q&A sessions
Light morning exchange in an intimate setting.

Limited seats.
RSVP: +66 652 263 947 (Wishulada)

Let’s rethink what “centre” means — and who gets to define it.

ArtAndEcology Borneo ThailandArt OurClimateGlossary

17/02/2026

What does regeneration actually look like in practice?

𝗢𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟲, 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀.

The fellows have been working on a set of regenerative practice guidelines, exploring how culture, tourism, art, and institutions can support long-term environmental and civic value.

This Open House is an invitation to think with us.

If you’re working at the intersection of:
culture × ecology
tourism × community
art × public life
policy × place

We would love you in the room.

Come meet the fellows.
Challenge the ideas.
Contribute to shaping the framework.

Location Think and Think
Date March 6, 2026
Time 9am–1pm
(Light lunch provided)

Organised by Borneo Laboratory, Release World, Social Value Japan, Change Fusion, Local Alike
Funded by Japan Foundation

RSVP via DM.

15/02/2026

During our On Reciprocity 2.0 Southeast Asian book tour, we received a number of messages asking where to obtain our latest publication, Our Climate Glossary.

We truly appreciate your enthusiasm and interest. To make it easier, we have compiled a list of places and individuals where the publication is currently available:

west Malaysia-



kl tsutayabooks



east Malaysia

kch

Kalimantan, Indonesia galur


Java island, Indonesia
bandung
yogyakarta

West Timor, Indonesia senda

Taiwan
, Taitung

The book is also available in Vietnam, Thailand and New Zealand too, you just need to let us know if you are interested, we can help to contact the local partner.

Or else, you could also get it online via our publication link in our linktree.

Enjoy reading!

08/02/2026

30/01/2026

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭

Featuring
Artiandi (Office SA)
Wendy Teo (Borneo Laboratory)

Moderated by
Hamzah Al Asadulloh (Studio Lion)

Commented by
Prananda Malasan (Museum Benda)

🗓 Saturday 7 February 2026
⏰ 4.30 PM
📍 Grammars, Bandung

What does it mean to make a place today, when spaces are shaped as much by people, practices, and relationships as by buildings?

This gathering brings together 3 personalities who wear many hats, who will share how a place is formed through different ways of working: research labs, architectural practice, publishing, and other lived approaches.

Together with you, the speakers will reflect on ongoing processes of learning, collaboration, care, and experimentation, and how ‘safe space’ can slowly emerge over time through shared intentions and everyday practice.

The session is held in conjunction with a mini launch of Borneo Lab’s recent publication, Our Climate Glossary.

Light refreshments wil be served.

RSVP: +60176702608 (WhatsApp)