Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center loses its touch<\/p>\n
Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Today, Nov. 10, the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center, better
\nknown as TIM, in Cikini, Central Jakarta, celebrates its 33rd
\nanniversary.<\/p>\n
Again, the November Festival is being held to mark the event,
\nfeaturing lectures, exhibitions and performances. The festival
\nwill be launched on Saturday with a cultural address by Azyumardi
\nAzra, rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute for Islamic
\nStudies in Ciputat.<\/p>\n
Today, TIM is not as prestigious as it used to be. There is
\nnothing remarkable about the festival actually. Things were
\ndifferent back in the 1970s when Jakarta was still under the
\ngovernorship of Ali Sadikin. At that time, arts and cultural
\nevents at TIM had wide repercussions for arts and cultural
\ncircles across the country. Bright ideas about arts and culture
\ndebated at TIM became part of a national discourse, and the echo
\nis still being heard today.<\/p>\n
A few examples may serve to illustrate this point. When
\nYogyakarta-based Rendra's Bengkel Teater performed Nobel laureate
\nSamuel Beckett's masterpiece Waiting for Godot at TIM, the
\nperformance became the talk of modern drama buffs across the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
TIM's closed theater also hosted a great discussion on the '66
\nGeneration' in Indonesian literature.<\/p>\n
The open theater, located behind the closed theater, large
\nenough to accommodate 3,000 people, was once the venue for the
\nrevival of the folk art of Betawi, the indigenous people of
\nJakarta, including Betawi folk instrumental music gambang kromong
\nand lenong folk theater. Thanks to such performances, these folk
\nart items, then on the brink of extinction, have been able to
\nsurvive to the present day.<\/p>\n
A contemporary dance piece by Sardono W. Kusumo, called
\nSamgita Pancasona, was once performed at TIM's arena theater.
\nIt was also in this theater that great names in Indonesian
\nliterature, culture and politics, such as Rustam Effendi, Armijn
\nPane, Hamka, Fuad Hassan, Mohammad Roem and Harry Aveling (then
\ndomiciled in Malaysia) gave their lectures. Noted poets like
\nTaufiq Ismail, Sutardji Calzoum Bachri and even German poet Hilda
\nDomein read their verse here too.<\/p>\n
The exhibition gallery next to the closed theater once hosted
\na display of original graphic works by master artist Pablo
\nPicasso. The venue also witnessed scores of exhibitions by famous
\nIndonesian artists such as Affandi, Rusli, Soedjojono, Oesman
\nEffendi, Popo Iskandar, Zaini, Nashar, Sadali and Srihadi
\nSudharsono.<\/p>\n
In short, TIM could then be likened to a mother giving birth
\nto her best children, as well as being considered the home of
\nIndonesian artists.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, some of these "children" have had to leave
\ntheir home as the arena theater, closed theater, open theater,
\nthe Huriah Adam Building, the old exhibition gallery and the art
\nhouse were all demolished around five years ago and similar
\nbuildings have yet to be constructed to take their place. Like it
\nor not, these artists have now made hotels, galleries and cafes
\ntheir new homes.<\/p>\n
The demolition of these historical arts buildings, carried out
\nby none other than the Jakarta administration's cultural agency
\n(then under Azahari Baedlawi) -- obviously with the approval of
\nthe director of TIM's management, members of the Jakarta Arts
\nCouncil (DKJ) executive board, the Jakarta Arts Foundation (YKJ),
\nthe Jakarta Academy and Jakarta governor -- has effectively
\ndestroyed TIM's prestige. It was widely feared that this
\ndemolition was actually closely linked with a plan to convert TIM
\ninto a shopping center with the movie theater Studio 21 as the
\nembryo. Thank God that this fear has proven groundless.<\/p>\n
The presence of various institutions within TIM should make it
\nstronger. But in reality, the existence of these institutions has
\nled to clashes of interests due to an absence of trust.
\nDKJ accused YKJ of being incapable of raising funds to finance
\nthe events at TIM and some DKJ members went so far as to ask for
\nYKJ to be disbanded. Meanwhile, YKJ complained that the programs
\ndrawn up by DKJ had few selling points.<\/p>\n
Now that TIM is operating under a new management team,
\nassigned to carry out the program drawn up by DKJ, TIM employees
\nunfortunately spend a lot of their time gossiping about new
\ninexperienced people winning strategic positions. Older but
\nexperienced employees have been moved to new posts that require
\nthem to learn again from scratch.<\/p>\n
TIM's anniversary is the right time for related institutions
\nin the arts center to reflect on and reformulate their tasks, in
\na way that will promote fresh trust and enable them to work
\ntogether in harmony. The Jakarta administration's cultural
\nagency, which has demolished some of the buildings within TIM,
\nmust establish new relations with TIM's recently-appointed
\nmanagement team.<\/p>\n
Slamet Sukirnanto, a poet and one-time member of DKJ's
\nexecutive board who has enjoyed great benefits from TIM, once
\nencouraged DKJ's secretary of the executive board Syahnagra
\nIsmail to "make TIM the mother of artists again and make TIM the
\nhouse of artists again." Unless efforts towards this goal are
\nimplemented immediately, TIM will truly be abandoned for good.<\/p>\n
While accepting this suggestion, Syahnagra said that, in
\nfuture, TIM was intent upon bringing together young artists who
\ndisplayed potential, while continuing its efforts to develop art
\nappreciation among school students.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, chairwoman of DKJ's executive board, Ratna
\nRiantiarno, said it was necessary for TIM to host international
\nevents in drama, literature, dance, music and the fine arts. In
\nrecent years, there have not been any great art or cultural
\nevents held at TIM, partly because of the demolition of some of
\nits buildings. She added that DKJ was thinking of turning the
\nNovember Festival into an annual international festival in the
\nfuture.<\/p>",
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