JakArt 2001 carnival rolls into town for a month

JakArt 2001 carnival rolls into town for a month

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): A canopy of blue skies is stretched
across the city for JakArt 2001, the first international carnival
of the arts in the capital, to open on Thursday.

For an entire month the city will be converted into a
sprawling stage throbbing with the sight of visual arts and the
sound of performing artists from around the world. Performances
will not be restricted just to auditoriums, stadiums and museums,
but will be thrown open to the public at hotels, malls, parks,
street corners, markets, churches and mosques.

Community workshops, seminars and exhibitions will be taken to
the kampong and the poor and rich alike coaxed to participate in
the rejoicing of Jakarta's 474th founding anniversary. During
this time the roving Stage Bus is expected to attract much
attention, as the vehicle that transforms into a theater travels
the city's streets for 30 days.

"All this is in celebration of the new millennium," beams
Maria Kolonia, JakArt 2001 executive director.

A Greek author and filmmaker, Maria came to Jakarta two years
ago. She had traveled to Bali for holidays in the past and when a
job opportunity for her husband made it possible for both of them
to live in Jakarta she was ecstatic.

Along with other friends here, Maria is concerned with
her beloved city's deteriorating image internationally. In the
spirit of the era of globalization she could not just sit and
watch, though at first JakArt was all talk.

"Both local and foreign artists living here wanted to do
something but we did not quite know what and how," Maria told The
Jakarta Post at the office of JakArt in the basement of the
S. Widjojo Center, which is hustling and bustling today with
hundreds of volunteers and activities.

It took Mikhail David, artistic director and a visual
artist who has lived here since 1982, to float the idea of an
art festival involving the entire city and as many of
its 20 million residents as possible. Sharon Eng,
treasurer, musician and teacher, said that eventually
the friends came up with a budget of US$2 million to fund the
festival but the treasury, of course, was empty.

As the carnival became more of a reality the money trickled in
slowly but surely, although 90 percent of the cost is being
shouldered in kind by embassies and friends in the corporate
sector. Eng's dream is to see JakArt financed entirely by the
corporate sector in the future, just like the Singapore Art
Festival, along with the active participation of the government.
When this happens the artists can concentrate on their art
instead of having to think about funding.

Despite all the hurdles, the festival is about to become a
reality, with more than 300 events planned for throughout the
month of June.

Many artists from the local kampong will be able to show off
their talent by painting murals in public places or trying their
hand at photography.

Members of the Association of Young Indonesian Architects
(AMI) worked hand in hand with the residents of Pluit's Kampong
Tanggal Indah, where 900 homes along the river will be painted by
the slum dwellers themselves.

"When we first went into the kampong, the people expressed
skepticism. They wanted to know what we wanted from them?" said
Djohara, 34, a local architect, as he put the final touches to
plans for the project.

He is excited at the thought of the multicolored kampong that
will dot the city's horizon like an eternal rainbow, as it is
seen from the toll road that connects Jakarta to the airport. To
further enhance the face of the city, imaginatively designed
bamboo structures will be installed at strategic places, chosen
by 50 artists working with AMI.

June 24 is set aside for Keliling Monas (around Monas), when a
plethora of cultural activities will involve the public around
the National Monument. The director of film studies at the
Institute Kesenian Jakarta (JKI), Gatot Prakosa, will hold
workshops for children from the kampong, in their own
neighborhoods, to introduce them to film animation and video
production.

Films made by students of JKI will be screened outdoors in
different areas of Jakarta's five districts, after which it will
be possible for the public to choose their next form of
entertainment, either a poetry reading or an open-air theater
performance.

Not to be left out, prisoners too will get a glimpse
of what is going on in the world of art with performances to be
held within cells.

As participants prepare for a three-day seminar and interfaith
dialog on the role of art in promoting peace and harmony in the
world, designer Harry Dharsono is busy putting the last stitches
to costumes he has designed especially for the Greek cast of the
Knossos Theater, which will perform Antigone, the tragedy which
Sophocles wrote as a tribute to democracy.

Apart from the Halle Orchestra, in association with the
British Council, a Giorgio de Chirico Italian retrospective on
the father of Expressionism in modern sculpture and Afro-Funk
music by Denmark's Moussa Diallo, the highlight of the
international program is Maximiliano Guerra, the Argentinian
choreographer and successor to the late Rudolf Nureyev, master of
contemporary dance.

The local fare includes traditional wayang (shadow puppet)
plays and topeng (mask) dances from 15 provinces and a live
performance by Indonesian composer Slamet Abdul Sjukur, as he
takes his monochord to the local mosque to play music inspired by
the Creator.

Sjukur will also involve handicapped children in a workshop
where he will compose music from the sound made by the
wheelchairs of the participants.

Kite exhibitions and workshops will collide with other
classical performances, along with hip-hop dances and a
treat of jazz all the way from the Caribbean.

World famous architect Antoine Predoc will preside over a
design competition and workshops, a batik exhibition of Brahma
Tira Sari from Yogyakarta and youngsters from Surakarta will
contrast with dreamscapes created in batik by aboriginal women of
Australia. Food from around the world will fuel the
body as viewers trip from one exhibition to another.

JakArt 2001 promises, in short, to be a well deserved break
for people, presidents and legislators alike from all the recent
problems here.

For further inquiries telephone 5265762 or go to
www.jakart.com.