International artists set to perform at second Art Summit

International artists set to perform at second Art Summit

JAKARTA (JP): A variety of performances by internationally
renowned artists will treat audiences during the second Art
Summit Indonesia from Sept. 19 to Oct. 19.

Seventeen groups from nine countries: Germany, Finland,
France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Spain, the United States and the
Netherlands, are scheduled to perform in the month-long event,
billed as the most prestigious art festival here.

And just like the first festival in 1995, this year's event
will also be held at the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center and
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta in Central Jakarta.

"We selected the performers based on their quality, especially
at the international level," said Sardono W. Kusumo, head of the
event's artistic team.

"Those who are invited are also critical about what kind of
festival they perform in," he added, saying that all performers
are selected by a team.

The Ministry of Education and Culture's Director General of
Culture Edi Sedyawati said in a media briefing last week that the
event was expected to become a gathering of those in the national
and international art circles, not only artists, but also critics
and experts.

Earlier, there was uncertainty that the event, scheduled to be
held every three years, would go on as expected due to the
monetary and economic crisis that has hit the country.

"In a situation like this, art is still needed. And the art
summit is also to prove that our country is not as bad as
reported abroad," said the Directorate General's Director of Art
Saini Kosim.

Participants will present musical performances as well as
dances and plays.

From Indonesia alone, the performers include two noted
choreographers: Gusmiati Suid and Miroto. Two composers, Suka
Hardjana and Tony Prabowo, and playwrights W.S. Rendra and Putu
Wijaya will also participate in the event.

Suid, founder of the Gumarang Sakti Dance Company, will
present the group's latest works, Api Dalam Sekam (Fire in the
Chaff). The group is renowned for its contemporary choreography
with notable influence from the Minangkabau, or West Sumatran,
tradition.

Miroto will feature Kembang Sampah (Garbage Flower), a dance
performance inspired by the recent social disturbance which
claimed lots of victims and defiled humanistic values.

Rendra and his Bengkel Theater will stage his 1975 work Suku
Naga (Dragon Tribe) at this year's art summit.

Rendra, whose work is usually loaded with trenchant social
criticism, said that he earlier planned to stage Panembahan
Senopati, which is about the succession of a leader.

"But a lack of funds made me cancel the plan," said Rendra,
who is hailed as the godfather of Indonesia's poets and
playwrights.

Putu Wijaya with his Theater Mandiri will feature Ngeh
(Understand), a compilation of his worst experiences on May 14,
the worst day of the recent riots in the city. That day, with his
children and an unedited film, he escaped his house as a riot
erupted just three houses away from his home.

"Ngeh is a compilation of my experiences in a book and now
it's being staged," Putu said.

Composer Suka Hardjana will feature two of his compositions,
Wulan and Bambam, which will be dominated by gamelan, Javanese
orchestra.

He explained that in Bambam, meaning a start from the
beginning, he tries to describe the country's present condition,
which necessitates starting all over again after the recent
riots.

Four compositions will also be presented by composer Tony
Prabowo, who was requested to compose a musical composition for
an opera by New York's Julliard School of Music to be performed
at the Lincoln Center this year.

In his performance at the art summit, Tony will employ a
conductor from the Philippines and a violinist from the Julliard
School.

Among foreign performers is Cirque Baroque, a French circus
troupe, which performed here last year at the invitation of Yves
Ollivier, cultural director of the French Cultural Center in
Jakarta.

The troupe bears one of the most famous names in the circus
world. Unlike traditional circuses, which mainly focus on animal
acts or human feats of daring or a mishmash of performances
lacking a solid link between them, the troupe tells a story. Each
act is based on a script with defined characters. Each act
requires specific costumes and music.

Other foreign participants include Yukio Waguri of Japan and
El-Warsha of Egypt for theater performances; Alvin Lucier of the
United States, Musicatreize of France, Theo Loevendie of the
Netherlands, Tsuchitori Toshiyuki of Japan and Kaija Saariaho of
Finland for musical performances; and two groups, Bremer
Tanztheater of Germany and Diez-Diez Danza of Spain, will perform
dances.

Aside from theatrical, dance and musical performances,
there will be a discussion with a theme: Contemporary Performing
Arts: The Problem of Multiculturalism and Exploration of Local
Sources.

Yuki Takashi of Japan, Remy Silado of Indonesia and Alvin
Lucier of the United States will discuss music while Sal
Murgiyanto of Indonesia and Hassan El Garethly of Egypt will talk
about dance. For theater discussion, there will be Rustom Barucha
of India, Bakdi Sumanto and Saini Kosim of Indonesia and Yukio
Waguri of Japan. (ste)