Arka Kinari

What happens when a rogue’s gallery of artists, activists, and makers transform a rusted sailing ship into a floating cultural platform, to bring a live show to the most remote coastal communities of the world? After years touring by sea, the artists Nova Ruth & Grey Filastine will step ashore to share a true story that is stranger than fiction.

“Artivism at Sea” is an intimate, thought-provoking, live performance combining narration, live music and cinematic documentary footage. You’ll find out what happens behind the fences of seedy ports from Morocco to Mexico, be hosted by soldiers on a barren rock, and witness the bizarre legacy of nuclear testing in the pacific.

You’ll also hear the challenges of touring a floating arts production in the world’s least charted waters, visit everywhere from mega-cities and stilt villages, and be hosted by sufi schools, punk collectives, and tribes of sea nomads.  

Everything you can imagine about the wildness of the sea will be confirmed… and then some.

Grey Filastine

Grey Filastine creates sound, video and performances that explore ecological conflict and imagine alternative futures. His work crosses borders and connects communities, having been presented in venues ranging from migrant camps to opera houses, from urban kampungs to contemporary art festivals. He is the author of a dozen albums of electronic music and film scores, and was praised by Pitchfork for creating music that “sounds less like ‘world’ music and more like music from another world.” Creating that other world – using any medium necessary – is precisely what Grey Filestine wants to achieve. He is the co-founder of the floating cultural platform Arka Kinari and continues to navigate its steady course.

Nova Ruth

Nova Ruth is a musician, activist, and life-artist from Malang, East Java. Raised between singing in a Pentecostal church, reciting the Qur’an, and playing gamelan, she grew up immersed in diverse traditions that shaped her search for common ground through art. One of Indonesia’s first female emcees, she co-founded Twin Sista, a pioneering rap group whose lyrics introduced a new generation to feminism and environmental awareness. As a community organizer, she founded Legipait, a café-turned-art space that champions bold, local creativity. Her work explores the voice of nature, the Anthropocene, and the decolonization of narrative. With her partner Filastine, she left her mountain home for the sea, co-founding Arka Kinari – wind- and solar-powered ship. Together, they travel to coastal communities, raising people’s awareness on climate change through performance, music, and workshops.