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)