Working across text, sound, moving image, and spatial design, Ernada's practice is rooted in post-colonial critique and feminist theory. Her work explores the entanglements of surveillance, language, and resistance, particularly within Southeast Asian contexts. Through installations, broadcasts, and collaborative formats, she examines how infrastructures shape who gets to speak, be heard, or disappear, often inviting the immaterial to confront what escapes institutional logic. Previously, Ernada worked as a communications strategist and writer for INGOs.
I'm Never Doing This Again
The Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) is a cactus celebrated for the extraordinary rarity of its bloom. She lives in our living room, brought over the ocean as a cutting that grew into a full plant. Sometimes it makes huge blossoms, luminous in color. It is said to only bloom once a year and only for one night. When there is a blossom we watch and we wait, maybe it will bloom. Less a flower than an event, an appearance.
it smells of sweat and jasmine
Part of a group exhibition curated by Dewi Sofia on, that ddresses labour issues in colonial, contemporary, and diasporic Indonesia through the lens of women and genderqueer artists. Through collecting the artists’ personal histories, experiences, and research, the exhibition traces the complex intersections of patriarchal violence, capitalist labour exploitation, and (neo)colonial plunder.
Softcore
‘Softcore’: a femme-led installation that reimagines nightlife as a care-driven, interactive system, one that listens back, holds you gently, and pulses with collective joy. Where sculpted sound stations meet cuddle-ready loveseats and retro consoles hum with play. Somewhere between a lounge, a slow party, and a shared living room.
Haunting the Network: Gendered Surveillance and Media Memory.
In this presentation, Nabila Ernada will share research developed during her time at the Design Academy Eindhoven, exploring postcolonial surveillance, feminist resistance, and the architectures of visibility in Indonesia, from the weaponised image of Gerwani (a feminist group violently disbanded in the 1960s) to contemporary forms of algorithmic control.
(Re)defining Kartini
A group show curated by Serumpun on Kartini Day with a series of conversations, performances, and a shared meal focused on themes such as gender equality, education, and identity. Female speakers and artists with Indonesian roots shared their inspiring stories and experiences.
Bacchannalia Absorbs the Night
t-world at Vienna Design Week
Nabila Ernada, Nomi Toirkens, Elna Aurand, Violeta Perez Hurtado, Caroline Holper and Phoebe Hotopf—brought their mobile kitchen project, Kiosk T//WASTE, to Vienna Design Week, where it won the tenth Stadtarbeit Social Design Award. The project aimed to both challenge our notions of food waste within industrial food systems by turning discarded ingredients into something not only edible but desirable. The group’s mobile kitchen roamed through Vienna’s third district, transforming rescued ingredi
The ATM: Rituals of Debt
Part of V2_ Summer Sessions, the residency opened up a new research trajectory on money, submission and magic
Elevator Radio @ Milan Design Week 2024
Elevator Radio is a radio station operated by students and alumni of Design Academy Eindhoven. With the medium of live broadcasting and audio, it serves as an "urgent publishing" platform, amplifying voices and providing space for experimentation and collaboration within the design community. During Design Week, on BASE Milano's rooftop, Elevator Radio presents a journey into radical design, redefining reality and imagination.
here becomes elsewhere
Part of the six month residency, produced a group show and own work titled The Foot Guru. During the six months, Nabila developed new game design skills and focused on trying to read something new every day.