ISI Yogyakarta Academic Proposes Art as a Medium for Disaster Education

Yogyakarta (ANTARA) - A lecturer from the Art Management Department at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) Yogyakarta, Mikke Susanto, is promoting artworks as a medium for education, emotional recovery, and public advocacy in building community resilience to disasters.

“There are at least three important relationships between art and disasters, namely disasters as representation in works, art as part of recovery, and art as public advocacy,” said Mikke during the discussion “The Role of Culture in Building Disaster Resilience in Society” at the ISI Yogyakarta campus on Friday.

According to him, art can also serve as public advocacy to raise awareness about various events as well as efforts to mitigate or build resilience against disasters.

“Artists always make efforts to record and remind, so that there are not more victims than before,” he said.

Mikke stated that art can also play a role in the emotional recovery of communities post-disaster, including after the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake.

He recalled the atmosphere of the night after the earthquake in the Sewon area, Bantul, when the community still presented simple gamelan expressions amid the darkness and limitations.

“Emotionally, we must first be calm. The community must first be emotionally calm, then carry out actions rationally,” he said.

He assessed that visual cultural literacy is important to help communities understand disaster risks in a more creative and acceptable way. Visual cultural literacy will greatly assist in raising awareness.

“Art approaches can be developed in various forms, from visual works, performances, educational content, to participatory practices involving the community,” he said.

In the discussion, which featured Assistant Deputy for Disaster Risk Reduction from the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Andre Notohamijoyo, Mikke proposed that art universities begin considering special learning on the relationship between art and disasters.

“I propose that there be a course on art and disasters, because we are in the primary location,” said Mikke.

The discussion also featured ISI Yogyakarta Rector Irwandi, Professor of Disaster Sociology at the National Defence University, Syamsul Maarif, and artist Endang Lestari.