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.