Titis to paint to musical accompaniment<\/p>\n
By Laksmi Pamuntjak-Djohan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Picture, if you will, a forty-something lady at
\nthe opening of her painting exhibition in Paris. She already has
\nover 65 exhibitions under her belt, and some of her works have
\nbecome prized collector's items.<\/p>\n
But in an era when there are too many ideas and not enough
\nexpression, she wanted something different.<\/p>\n
So she read poetry with a cellist accompanying her. Spoken
\nlines blended seamlessly with the flowing musical phrase. The
\naudience was spellbound. In fact, it was so enthralled that
\n\"collaboration\" seemed too technical a word to do the performance
\njustice.<\/p>\n
But the lady, Titis Jabaruddin, was already lost in thought.
\nSuddenly, she was itching to transpose the experience to her
\nhomeland of Indonesia. Call it anything you like: coming-of-age,
\npostmodernism, artistic heresy, or plain freedom of expression.
\nBut the real message is that collaboration between conventionally
\nunrelated artists simply shows that art has no boundaries.<\/p>\n
Such is the premise behind Intermezzo, scheduled to perform at
\nthe Gedung Kesenian Jakarta on Tuesday, at 8 pm. This time, the
\ncollaboration embraces a broader hodgepodge of artists: Titis,
\npianist Irsa Destiwi, dance choreographer Agus Jolly, music
\ndirector Jassin Burhan and French cellist Robin Clavreul. A
\npretty disparate group, you may say, both in expertise and
\nexperience.<\/p>\n
Agus Jolly is a very prominent local artist with numerous
\npainting and sculpting awards to his credit. His spectacular
\nbreakthrough in the area of installation art has taken him to
\nAustralia, while his intense involvement in dance and
\nchoreography has led him to India and New York.<\/p>\n
In an interesting contrast, Jassin Burhan's active
\nparticipation in the local music scene only began since his
\nreturn from his studies at the Conservatoire Nationale Superieur
\nde Musique de Paris.<\/p>\n
Robin Clavreul, born in 1950, has long traveled the European
\nhighway of classical musicianship. His cello studies include
\nseeking out podium pointers from Jorma Panula at the Sibelius
\nAcademy in Helsinki, after which he continued honing his craft at
\nthe likes of the L'orchestre de l'opera de Paris and Pierre
\nBoulez's L'ensemble Intercontemporin.<\/p>\n
As for Irsa Destiwi, she is the current golden girl of Yayasan
\nPendidikan Musik, a promising talent of merely 17 summers.<\/p>\n
The program will begin with their duet, possibly to lay the
\nfoundation. With the exception of a prelude by J.S. Bach, the
\nsubstance is predominantly French, with Elegie by Gabriel Faure
\nand two sonatas by impressionist master Claude Debussy and Henry
\nDuparc. It is a kind of a gentle and conventional prelude to
\ndaring things to come.<\/p>\n
Imagine this scenario: Titis will paint on the podium. By the
\ntime the music ends, she will have finished her work, which will
\nthen be auctioned off. Fifty percent of the proceeds will be
\ndonated to the starving people of Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Agus Jolly will do expressive things with his body, mining a
\nmother lode of inspiration from various crises that are currently
\nafflicting the nation: burning forests in Kalimantan and Sumatra,
\nthe mass starvation in Irian Jaya, the economic recession.<\/p>\n
There is no connection between them other than the shared
\ncontext of an ongoing piano-cello duet, a 45-minute contemporary
\nfare which includes G. Scelsi's Fluve Magique, Luciano Berio's
\nLes mots sont alles, and a sonata by D. Chostakovitch. This
\nscheme is both Arcadian and virile: individual bodies at play, in
\ntheir element, the music being their only link to each other and
\nto the audience.<\/p>\n
The images that come to mind are certainly provocative.
\nThere will be relative stillness (Titis) against motion (Agus).
\nImmediate inspiration (Titis) against planned metaphor (Agus).<\/p>\n
With Agus, there will be none of the wearying constants of
\nchoreographic symmetry: he will groan, cry, writhe, slump to the
\nground as he agitates against the brutal forces of nature and
\ntheir effects on mankind.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Titis' self-expression will be governed by mood,
\nshrouded in mystery, unfolding in no clear direction. And just
\nhow will those stark counterpoints coalesce with the linear flow
\nof the music?<\/p>\n
Even Titis' purpose hints of an oxymoron. While her choice of
\nacrylic is one step to ensuring that she can better meet her time
\nlimit, what if she doesn't finish her painting properly at the
\nend of the musical phrase? What should we make out of artistic
\nexpression that is timed to precision? Is it real inspiration?
\nOr is it calculation?<\/p>\n
The criteria for judgement will be as nebulous: do we judge
\nindividual acts by themselves or the performance as a whole?
\nThe artists seem to want us to think in terms of separate
\nentities: \"each artist has his\/her own activity and integrity
\nwithout any attachment or obligation to each other, be it in
\nharmony, melody, color or movement.\"<\/p>\n
But until we watch it for ourselves, we will not know what
\nfeeling will be generated by a collaboration that does not aspire
\nto make any joint statement.<\/p>",
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