Batavia Art Festival lacks visitors<\/p>\n
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The fourth Batavia Art Festival held on Sunday was disappointing
\nas only dozens of people turned up at the biggest festival held
\nby the Jakarta Historical Museum at Fatahillah Square in West
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
\"We did not expect a low attendance today. It is the last
\nweekend before Ramadhan, perhaps many Jakartans opted to go
\noutside the city to visit family graves,\" said Tinia Budianti,
\nthe head of the museum.<\/p>\n
\"Besides, here at the festival, we held cultural performances,
\nwhich only few people got to enjoy,\" she added.<\/p>\n
The one-day festival presented some art performances from
\ntraditional dances to the modern breakdance, as well as music
\nperformances, including dangdut (traditional local music).<\/p>\n
There were about 25 stalls selling handicrafts from
\nYogyakarta, Bali, Thailand and India.<\/p>\n
\"Compared to previous Batavia Art Festivals, the number of
\nparticipants were higher this time,\" Tinia said. \"Previous
\nfestivals hosted less than 20 stalls.\"<\/p>\n
Among the stalls at the festival, two stood-out: silhouette
\ndrawing and Tarot card reading, the later of which had the most
\nvisitors.<\/p>\n
\"We are here to explain to the public that Tarot reading is
\nnot a superstitious thing involving genies or such things,\"
\nSaesario Indrawan, one of the Tarot readers, told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
After the lengthy introduction from the Tarot readers and an
\nIndian Vedic astrology expert, several of the Tarot readers gave
\ntheir services free.<\/p>\n
\"Men usually ask about business matters while women usually
\nask about their soul mate or personal matters,\" said Saesario.<\/p>\n
Indeed, a young woman looked a bit nervous as other people
\nwere listening to what the Tarot reader had to say.<\/p>\n
\"Your father has chosen someone for you. The match is perfect,
\nso you should not reject him,\" said a Tarot reader.<\/p>\n
Saesario, or Rio, said that he was an employee of Pelita
\nHarapan University, but he did Tarot reading by request only.<\/p>\n
\"The clients contact me on my cell phone. For each visit I
\ncharge Rp 200,000 (US$21.73),\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rio said that sometimes people asked him to do Tarot reading
\nto observe other people.<\/p>\n
\"I refuse such requests because it is not fair, although it is
\npossible to know about other people through Tarot cards.\"<\/p>",
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