From Institutions to Falchas: Rethinking Cultural Relations through Collective Practice

Drawing on the Asia-Europe Cultural Diplomacy Lab and case studies from institutions including Het Nieuwe Instituut, UAL, and the History of Science Museum in Oxford, this essay argues for a shift in international cultural relations from hierarchical diplomacy toward pluriversal, care-based cooperation. Using the falcha, a Newari communal resting space as its central metaphor, the essay proposes that cultural infrastructure (both physical and digital) should function less as a site of transaction and more as a node for collective dreaming, mutual learning, and decolonial world-building.