Jakarta Fair to focus more on entertainment

JAKARTA (JP): The one-month Jakarta Fair, scheduled to start on June 15, will be focused more toward entertainment than business in order to attract more visitors.

The organizing committee expects that 170,000 people will visit the fair that features 1,200 booths, with Rp 120 billion in business transactions, the event organizer, Harry Rusli, said on Thursday.

Last year, the fair attracted 140,000 visitors to 966 booths and saw Rp 120 billion in transactions, Antara reported.

Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri is slated to open the fair in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

The entrance fee will be Rp 6,000.

A total of 128 concerts, with 155 artists participating, will be performed, according to musician Harry.

Among top artists to perform in the event are The Fly, Pas, Base Jam, Iis Dahlia, Slank, GIGI, Jamrud, Wayang, Cici Faramida, Nini Karlina, Bunglon and Nugie.

The concerts will start nightly at 9 p.m. on the 30 x 18 meter stage with 40,000 watt sound system.

The annual Jakarta Fair is part of a series of events to be held in celebration of the city's 474th anniversary.

Another event is the JakArt@2001 International Arts Festival, which features over 250 performances and exhibitions spanning numerous forms of art, including music, dance, theater and the visual arts.

The United States Embassy is sponsoring a series of dance performances from the Saraswati dance company of the Yogyakarta- based Indonesian Art Institute (ISI), which will collaborate with American Janis Brenner.

The Embassy has invited four musical groups, the Borowsky Family from Baltimore, Maryland, Ira Coleman's Carribean Jazz Connection, Amina Figarova Quartet along with special guest Dmitri Matheny, and Lotus, a three-person a capella singing group.

An exhibition of modern batik called Segaragunung presents works of a collaboration between Nia Fliam and Agus Ismoyo, traditional batik artists from Yogyakarta, and Australian aboriginal women from the desert community of Utopia, Australia. It is held at the National Museum from May 31 until June 30.

JakArt@2001 also includes the so-called Jakarta Habitus Publik 2001, involving art in the open air. Various artists will present murals and installation art in different places.

They are now working on murals at Jl. Pintu Besar, North Jakarta; at a bus stop near Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta; Blok M bus terminal and the entrance to Blok M shopping mall, South Jakarta; and the shooting range at Jl. Asia Afrika, Central Jakarta.

Venues for the installation art are the public park at Jl Teuku Umar, Central Jakarta; Soemantri Brojonegoro sports center, Blok M terminal, and Blok M Mall in South Jakarta.