Art, music to grace capital

Art, music to grace capital

Artists from several countries will be in Jakarta for the
triennial Arts Summit, to entertain lovers of contemporary music,
dance and theater for an entire month.

Painters and other artists are also scheduled to join local
artists in exhibitions throughout the event.

Running from Sept. 11 to Oct. 10, Art Summit Indonesia 2004
will also include a three-day seminar hosted by playwright Putu
Wijaya, which will discuss, among other issues, cultural
collaborations.

The event, organized by the Office of the State Minister for
Tourism and Culture, was last held in 2001. The scheduled
participants this year are coming from France, Finland, South
Korea, Russia, Britain, Thailand, Japan, Egypt, the United
States, Hong Kong and Germany. Others participants are expected
from New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan.

Organizers said the screening process for the event was aimed
at selecting the best possible participants, adding that the
greatest difficulty was finding local artists.

"We want artists who will be on a par with the foreign
performers. But in contemporary arts, our artists are becoming
fewer and fewer," musician Suka Hardjana said at a press
conference earlier this week.

While past Art Summits have drawn more expatriates than
Indonesians, State Minister I Gede Ardika said he hoped more
locals would follow this year's event.

The main venues for the Art Summit will be the Jakarta
Playhouse, Galeri Nasional and the Ismail Marzuki Arts Center. --
JP