Batavia Art Festival lacks visitors

Batavia Art Festival lacks visitors

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The fourth Batavia Art Festival held on Sunday was disappointing
as only dozens of people turned up at the biggest festival held
by the Jakarta Historical Museum at Fatahillah Square in West
Jakarta.

"We did not expect a low attendance today. It is the last
weekend before Ramadhan, perhaps many Jakartans opted to go
outside the city to visit family graves," said Tinia Budianti,
the head of the museum.

"Besides, here at the festival, we held cultural performances,
which only few people got to enjoy," she added.

The one-day festival presented some art performances from
traditional dances to the modern breakdance, as well as music
performances, including dangdut (traditional local music).

There were about 25 stalls selling handicrafts from
Yogyakarta, Bali, Thailand and India.

"Compared to previous Batavia Art Festivals, the number of
participants were higher this time," Tinia said. "Previous
festivals hosted less than 20 stalls."

Among the stalls at the festival, two stood-out: silhouette
drawing and Tarot card reading, the later of which had the most
visitors.

"We are here to explain to the public that Tarot reading is
not a superstitious thing involving genies or such things,"
Saesario Indrawan, one of the Tarot readers, told The Jakarta
Post.

After the lengthy introduction from the Tarot readers and an
Indian Vedic astrology expert, several of the Tarot readers gave
their services free.

"Men usually ask about business matters while women usually
ask about their soul mate or personal matters," said Saesario.

Indeed, a young woman looked a bit nervous as other people
were listening to what the Tarot reader had to say.

"Your father has chosen someone for you. The match is perfect,
so you should not reject him," said a Tarot reader.

Saesario, or Rio, said that he was an employee of Pelita
Harapan University, but he did Tarot reading by request only.

"The clients contact me on my cell phone. For each visit I
charge Rp 200,000 (US$21.73)," he said.

Rio said that sometimes people asked him to do Tarot reading
to observe other people.

"I refuse such requests because it is not fair, although it is
possible to know about other people through Tarot cards."