Founder / Professor

Kenta Kishi is an architect and urbanist, and a Professor at the Graduate School of Transdisciplinary Arts, Akita University of Art. He graduated from the School of Architecture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, and later earned his master’s degree from the Department of Architecture, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, US.

His work focuses on socially engaged research and art projects that investigate the structure and transformation of residential culture in Southeast Asian and Japanese urban areas, aiming to explore the possibilities and challenges of human habitat in the post-20th century.

Since 2010, he has also co-organized OHS (Operations for Habitat Studies), an urban studies organization based in Surabaya, Indonesia. In 2023, he was appointed Visiting Professor at the CSEAS (Center for Southeast Asian Studies), Kyoto University.

Co-founder & Director / Researcher and Curator

An urban researcher who, over the past fifteen years, has been actively initiating various studies and publications focused on the dynamics of urban kampungs. His approach integrates artistic practice both as a method and as a medium of publication. He has a strong preference for field-based pedagogical activities, such as workshops and in-situ exhibitions or public presentations, which aim to foster direct collaboration between academics, practitioners, and local communities.

Bintang is known as the initiator of several international workshops, including Alter-Shelter, Thermopolis, and Ritus Liyan, and is one of the co-founders of the Institut Seni Tambak Bayan (ISTB).

He currently serves as Director of OHS (Operations for Habitat Studies), is an active research partner at the CSEAS (Center for Southeast Asian Studies), Kyoto University, and is part of the research team for the East Java Biennale XI 2025.

Researcher / Architect

Architect and researcher working at the intersection of spatial practice, environmental change and community agency. Her recent research with the Institute for GSR (Global Sustainable Development) Sheffield explored the dynamics of infrastructure and social networks in the transition of young people to adulthood in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Currently, Sarah is developing her architectural practice at OHS (Operations for Habitat Studies). In her work, she is looking at the micro structures within kampung and their potential to drive transformative urban change.

Researcher / Anthropologist

An anthropologist with a focus on subcultures in East Java, folk arts, and the dynamics of urban kampungs. He completed his studies at the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Airlangga University. Together with his colleagues, he founded Arek Institute, a research center that highlights the Arek subculture in East Java.

Nugi is currently active in OHS (Operations for Habitat Studies), a cross-disciplinary initiative exploring the relationship between habitat and the spatial practices of urban kampung residents. Through an ethnographic approach, his work delves into grassroots narratives and forms of expression in response to urban transformation.

Programme Manager / Architect

Graduated from Architecture of ITS, Surabaya and experienced in urban furniture design. Mumtaz explores the connections between space, cities, and artistic expression. Her involvement in this urban studies collective, OHS (Operations for Habitat Studies), since 2017 has exposed her to interdisciplinary perspectives—where architecture, urbanism, socio-spatial and artistic practice intertwined.

In recent years, she’s been drawn to the arts. Lately, her work unfolds in exhibition design, curating spatial narratives that blur boundaries between disciplines. Her works as exhibition designer are “Between the Rivers”, an architectural archive exhibition at Fort van den Bosch, Ngawi (2023) and “Singing Birds, Moving Mountains”, an art exhibition at Tokyo Arts and Space, Japan (2024). Currently she is also performing as part of artistic team for the East Java Biennale XI 2025.