Indonesia plans cultural road show in Germany

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia plans to hold a major cultural road show in various cities in Germany next year on a slightly smaller scale than its highly successful show in the United States in 1992.

Edi Sedyawati, the director general of culture at the Ministry of Education and Culture, said yesterday the show is intended to introduce the German people to diversity and beauty of Indonesia's art forms.

A team from the Hildeschein museum, in Hildeschein, Germany, is currently in Indonesia to discuss the arrangement and also to select some of the art works and cultural artifacts that will be included, Edi said.

"Basically the exhibition is going to be a program to introduce Indonesian culture to the German because the team thinks it is not quite popular there," she said.

The show will be launched in Hildeschein and then move on to other cities in Germany, she said, adding that Vienna will also be on the itinerary. She did not say how many towns will be covered.

Edi confirmed that the exhibition will copy the popular Festival of Indonesian Arts and Culture in the United States, which covered 50 cities in 1991 1992.

Popularly known by the Indonesian acronyms KIAS, the road show included 250 art exhibitions, performing arts events, lectures and various other programs. The festival chairman was Mochtar Kusuma-Atmadja, the former Indonesian foreign minister.

KIAS received massive publicity and drew favorable reviews by American arts critics in the U.S. The message, which was to introduce Indonesia to the American people, reached scholars, artists, critics, potential investors, tourists and even school children.

Edi said the cultural festival in Germany, which will coincide with the celebration of Indonesia's 50th independence anniversary, will be on a smaller scale than KIAS.

The members of the Hildeschein museum team yesterday held a meeting with Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro to discuss the arrangement. They were accompanied by Ambassador Karl Walter Lewalter.

The team will also be visiting various museums in Indonesia to select what will be displayed at the festival, Edi said.

Two people from the team are visiting Sumatra to make a film about Indonesia's natural world, which will also be shown in the exhibition.

Hildeschein has hosted several exhibitions featuring foreign arts and cultures in the past, including showcase of ancient Egypt and China. (01)