Held on 16-18 December 2022, the exhibition was opened by the Dean of ITB FAD and was attended by lecturers, students, guests, and representatives from high schools in Cirebon.

The ITB Ecoweek has been a recurring event since 2018. It is organized by students of the Visual Arts Undergraduate Study Program in collaboration with the major’s student association TERIKAT. As the name implies, the exhibition highlights the issues on the environment and promotes the concept of sustainability as a solution for innovation and design in minimizing the impact on the environment.

The Dean of ITB FAD, Dr. Andryanto Rikrik Kusmara, M.Sn., stated that crafting is the pride and identity of Indonesia. It is essential to the development of culture in the country; thus, the Visual Arts Study Program must act as a pioneer in the development of crafts in Cirebon.

"Visual arts students are guided to become leaders,” he added. “Leaders are never seen in their comfort zone. Because of this, there is an ongoing challenge for these students to increase the scale of this exhibition. Cirebon is a strategic area, and all students, faculty, campuses must support this country to be greater. This exhibition is not just a student's coursework, but also a step towards leadership."

After the opening of the event, the first day of the exhibition featured an Artist Talk session, where student representatives presented their works from the Textile Craft I Fashion Research course. In this course, Karen Ronauli Eleasha and Salima Dhiya S. M. talked about the development of lifestyle trends over the past few decades and analyzed the forecast of future trends.

Adjusting to this year's theme of sportswear, Karen chose to develop golf sportswear while Dhiya studies outfits for breakdancing. Both sports are known to be competed in the Olympic Games. In addition to its design, they also consider the process of its creation that involves principles of sustainability.

Aside from bringing sustainability principles that consider balance in various aspects of life, the committee of the exhibition hopes that this event can be carried out again in the future with a wider realm of disciplines outside the field of craft. ITB Ecoweek is expected to be a forum for collaboration from diverse backgrounds with one vision of achieving a sustainable future.

Reporter: Adi Permana
Translator: Ruth Nathania (Environmental Engineering, 2019)