Cultural center binds Germany, RI

Cultural center binds Germany, RI

Christina Schott, Contributor, Jakarta

Did you know that Berlin and Jakarta were "sister-cities"? They are, although not many activities -- both here and there -- underline this partnership.

People in both cities want to change this. Some of them gathered recently in Berlin to rebuild the former Indonesian Cultural Institute and ended up creating a new entity -- the German-Indonesian Cultural Institute (DIKI).

Art workshops, Indonesian films and socio-political discussions are on the program -- artists, commentators and filmmakers like Fauzi Azad, Heri Donoa, Lexy Rambadeta and Garin Nugroho are on the institute's invitation list for this year.

According to its statutes, DIKI aims to promote Indonesian culture in Germany and to support the cultural exchange between both countries. This means informing both cultures about developments in fine art, literature and music, about new media and social movements. The institute also offers an Indonesian language course for beginners.

"A lot of people muddle their way through organizing intercultural events between Indonesia and Germany. We can save a lot of resources and prevent the sporadic character of such activities if we bring them all together and build a new network with an organized structure," newly elected DIKI chairman Martin Jankowski said.

The Berlin-based writer speaks from his own personal experience: Jankowski and his friends have tried for more than two years to connect activities between Berlin and Jakarta, Germany and Indonesia.

The Indonesian Cultural Institute has been around since September 2001, initiated by Indonesian artist Yudi Noor who lived for 13 years in Europe. The handful of Germans and Indonesians involved from the beginning set a good base for further communication between the two countries. But the small group had to work hard to get funding.

The change into a bilateral institution was necessary to make everybody feel appreciated -- and responsible -- before, official institutions from both sides tended to pass the buck to their counterparts.

Intercultural connections between Germany and Indonesia are historically quite close. But while German culture in Indonesia is represented by the Goethe-Institut, there is no such Indonesian institution in Germany. There is also not much support from officials about staging events on Indonesian topics.

The newly elected management committee of Iwan Setiabudi, Stephan Gutzeit and Martin Jankowski have promised they will try to give DIKI a wider public profile in Germany.

Setiabudi has already lived for a decade in Berlin. He recently finished his final exams on information technology and is also a political activist. He has been responsible for most of the existing connections made between Germany and Indonesia and putting forward the Indonesian perspective.

Gutzeit has studied the language and culture of Indonesia and is strongly connected to the archipelago. He began the institute's first Indonesian language course at cost price (the institute works on a non-profit basis) two weeks ago.

Chairman and former East German cultural activist Martin Jankowski has a lot of experience organizing events like the Berlin International Literature Festival as well as searching for sponsorship and funding for cultural programs.

While there were some German-Indonesian societies in Berlin and several other cities, they mainly focused on traditional arts and non-controversial events. DIKI's focus was more on contemporary arts and developments that left space for discussion and debate, the board explained at the first general meeting.

About 50 members have joined DIKI more than month after its formation in December -- among them artists, historians, jurists, journalists and students. The hope is that each successive DIKI event brings in more members. A discussion with painter Fauzi Azad at the Indonesian Embassy and the showing of the documentary film Shadow Play have already proved successful drawcards.

Meanwhile, the network built up by Yudi Noor remains an important part of the organization.

The next events on the agenda are work by contemporary artist Heri Dono and a seminar about the romantic painter Raden Saleh who lived for some time near Dresden in the former East Germany. Obviously, traditional art still has plenty of fans, as DIKI also plans a symposium about Batik and a Gamelan-workshop.

Another plan is to form a consulting committee of specialists in Indonesia that can help to select interesting guests and projects for the intercultural exchange. "We would like to get prominent partners in different categories like politics and literature, fine arts, music and so on," said Jankowski, a poet himself. No names have yet been confirmed.

If motivation stays high and applications for sponsorship are as successful as the expanding social network, a cultural festival held in both cities is planned for next year.