Art Summit part of 'bigger process'

Art Summit part of 'bigger process'

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): As Henrietta Horn and the dancers from Folkwang
Tanzstudio left the stage at Graha Bakti Budaya in Taman Ismail
Marzuki on Thursday evening, the Third Art Summit Indonesia 2001
International Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts officially
closed.

For a month, art enthusiasts were treated to performances by
world-class artists from 10 countries, including dancers,
musicians and actors from Indonesia.

But the big question is, what next? Were the shows just shows?
Was this huge event simply a waste of energy and money?

The dean of the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ)'s School of
Performing Arts, Sal Murgiyanto, said the festival was part of a
larger process of educating children about culture and the
process should not end with the closing of the art summit.

He said the process of educating the younger generation was
not a waste of time, energy and money, nor was it the
responsibility of one government office, institution or group.

"Everyone should take part in this process," the noted dance
critic said.

He said this education process was important because younger
people today tended to judge everything based on its economic
value.

"In the end, as we can see now, people have little
appreciation for the lives of other people, killing others is so
easy. These cultural, performing arts are intended to touch
people, to remind them and to make them aware there are other
important aspects to people's lives, like love, hope, joy and
appreciation," Sal said.

The process of educating children has to go beyond simple book
knowledge, otherwise it is pointless, he said.

"As you can see now, even during shows some people let their
mobile phones ring, disturbing and violating other people's right
to enjoy the shows. It's arrogant, (there is) no sensitivity or
appreciation for other people at all."

He realizes, however, that many people would prefer to stay at
home and watch TV rather than attend an art performance. Yet,
this does not mean art summits and festivals are not important.

"Like I said before, this is a process. If there are not very
many people coming to enjoy the shows, maybe we should improve
the management, not the other way around," said Sal, a member of
the summit's artistic board.

The attendance at this year's art summit was something of a
disappointment for organizers, particularly considering that
there were more artists participating in the summit than in
previous years.

At the first festival, 15 art groups from nine countries took
part, while at the second one there were 15 groups from eight
countries.

The organizers did their best to attract audiences. According
to Yusuf Susilo Hartono, who handled public relations for the
organizing committee, students from several schools in Jakarta
were invited to watch rehearsals and talk to the artists.

The organizers also worked out a deal with state-owned
television station TVRI to air its opening ceremony, enabling a
wider audience to enjoy at least one of the summit's events.

"We even received e-mails from abroad, expressing happiness at
being able to enjoy the opening ceremony. Since TVRI also reaches
Australia, some of the people there were able to enjoy Strange
Fruit's dance piece which kicked off the event," Yusuf said.

As part of its efforts to expose more people to the cultural
event, two of the performances -- by Strange Fruit of Australia
and El Warsha of Egypt -- were free of charge. Strange Fruit
performed for two days at Plaza Senayan's outdoor plaza in South
Jakarta, while theater troupe El Warsha held two performances in
Taman Ismail Marzuki's outdoor hall.

"The decision to open the art summit with Strange Fruit
performing outdoors for free at Plaza Senayan was an excellent
idea, exposing the general public to the festival. It opened
access and increased awareness for many people not normally
interested in buying tickets to see contemporary
performances," said Linda Hoemar Abidin, a performing arts
management lecturer at IKJ.

She said some of the performances at the summit were very
good, such as the piece by Indonesian dancer Boi G. Sakti. "(If)
emerging artists like him were given the invaluable opportunity
to travel abroad -- to see performances, to exchange ideas, to
learn from and work with international artists -- they would
eventually flourish," the former dancer said.

While organizers may have hoped for larger attendance figures,
some performances were sold-out and many performers received warm
responses from the audience, such as Boi G. Sakti, Farida Oetoyo,
Teater Koma, Akhram Khan, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Pappa
Tarahumara, Kim Bock Hee and Folkwang.

Others performances, including many of the musical
performances, received a moderate response.

"The art summit certainly plays a significant role in further
developing the country's performing arts since it offered
artists, arts workers, managers, scholars and the general public
an opportunity to gain an understanding of other cultures, and
most importantly, our own," Linda said, adding that the summit
may indirectly influence the way artists create new works and the
way people look at the performing arts.

"However, it was disheartening to see that the reserved VIP
rows often remained almost empty," she added.

In order to encourage more people to attend future art
summits, she suggested organizers further subsidize the tickets
in order to allow more young people to attend performances.

"I hope the excitement created by the event will be maintained
through follow-up activities such as innovative performing arts
programs at each performance venue."