Art Summit part of 'bigger process'<\/p>\n
By Stevie Emilia<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As Henrietta Horn and the dancers from Folkwang
\nTanzstudio left the stage at Graha Bakti Budaya in Taman Ismail
\nMarzuki on Thursday evening, the Third Art Summit Indonesia 2001
\nInternational Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts officially
\nclosed.<\/p>\n
For a month, art enthusiasts were treated to performances by
\nworld-class artists from 10 countries, including dancers,
\nmusicians and actors from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
But the big question is, what next? Were the shows just shows?
\nWas this huge event simply a waste of energy and money?<\/p>\n
The dean of the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ)'s School of
\nPerforming Arts, Sal Murgiyanto, said the festival was part of a
\nlarger process of educating children about culture and the
\nprocess should not end with the closing of the art summit.<\/p>\n
He said the process of educating the younger generation was
\nnot a waste of time, energy and money, nor was it the
\nresponsibility of one government office, institution or group.<\/p>\n
\"Everyone should take part in this process,\" the noted dance
\ncritic said.<\/p>\n
He said this education process was important because younger
\npeople today tended to judge everything based on its economic
\nvalue.<\/p>\n
\"In the end, as we can see now, people have little
\nappreciation for the lives of other people, killing others is so
\neasy. These cultural, performing arts are intended to touch
\npeople, to remind them and to make them aware there are other
\nimportant aspects to people's lives, like love, hope, joy and
\nappreciation,\" Sal said.<\/p>\n
The process of educating children has to go beyond simple book
\nknowledge, otherwise it is pointless, he said.<\/p>\n
\"As you can see now, even during shows some people let their
\nmobile phones ring, disturbing and violating other people's right
\nto enjoy the shows. It's arrogant, (there is) no sensitivity or
\nappreciation for other people at all.\"<\/p>\n
He realizes, however, that many people would prefer to stay at
\nhome and watch TV rather than attend an art performance. Yet,
\nthis does not mean art summits and festivals are not important.<\/p>\n
\"Like I said before, this is a process. If there are not very
\nmany people coming to enjoy the shows, maybe we should improve
\nthe management, not the other way around,\" said Sal, a member of
\nthe summit's artistic board.<\/p>\n
The attendance at this year's art summit was something of a
\ndisappointment for organizers, particularly considering that
\nthere were more artists participating in the summit than in
\nprevious years.<\/p>\n
At the first festival, 15 art groups from nine countries took
\npart, while at the second one there were 15 groups from eight
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
The organizers did their best to attract audiences. According
\nto Yusuf Susilo Hartono, who handled public relations for the
\norganizing committee, students from several schools in Jakarta
\nwere invited to watch rehearsals and talk to the artists.<\/p>\n
The organizers also worked out a deal with state-owned
\ntelevision station TVRI to air its opening ceremony, enabling a
\nwider audience to enjoy at least one of the summit's events.<\/p>\n
\"We even received e-mails from abroad, expressing happiness at
\nbeing able to enjoy the opening ceremony. Since TVRI also reaches
\nAustralia, some of the people there were able to enjoy Strange
\nFruit's dance piece which kicked off the event,\" Yusuf said.<\/p>\n
As part of its efforts to expose more people to the cultural
\nevent, two of the performances -- by Strange Fruit of Australia
\nand El Warsha of Egypt -- were free of charge. Strange Fruit
\nperformed for two days at Plaza Senayan's outdoor plaza in South
\nJakarta, while theater troupe El Warsha held two performances in
\nTaman Ismail Marzuki's outdoor hall.<\/p>\n
\"The decision to open the art summit with Strange Fruit
\nperforming outdoors for free at Plaza Senayan was an excellent
\nidea, exposing the general public to the festival. It opened
\naccess and increased awareness for many people not normally
\ninterested in buying tickets to see contemporary
\nperformances,\" said Linda Hoemar Abidin, a performing arts
\nmanagement lecturer at IKJ.<\/p>\n
She said some of the performances at the summit were very
\ngood, such as the piece by Indonesian dancer Boi G. Sakti. \"(If)
\nemerging artists like him were given the invaluable opportunity
\nto travel abroad -- to see performances, to exchange ideas, to
\nlearn from and work with international artists -- they would
\neventually flourish,\" the former dancer said.<\/p>\n
While organizers may have hoped for larger attendance figures,
\nsome performances were sold-out and many performers received warm
\nresponses from the audience, such as Boi G. Sakti, Farida Oetoyo,
\nTeater Koma, Akhram Khan, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Pappa
\nTarahumara, Kim Bock Hee and Folkwang.<\/p>\n
Others performances, including many of the musical
\nperformances, received a moderate response.<\/p>\n
\"The art summit certainly plays a significant role in further
\ndeveloping the country's performing arts since it offered
\nartists, arts workers, managers, scholars and the general public
\nan opportunity to gain an understanding of other cultures, and
\nmost importantly, our own,\" Linda said, adding that the summit
\nmay indirectly influence the way artists create new works and the
\nway people look at the performing arts.<\/p>\n
\"However, it was disheartening to see that the reserved VIP
\nrows often remained almost empty,\" she added.<\/p>\n
In order to encourage more people to attend future art
\nsummits, she suggested organizers further subsidize the tickets
\nin order to allow more young people to attend performances.<\/p>\n
\"I hope the excitement created by the event will be maintained
\nthrough follow-up activities such as innovative performing arts
\nprograms at each performance venue.\"<\/p>",
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