Manila to announce art awards

JAKARTA (JP): Winners of the ASEAN Art Award 1997 will be announced on Wednesday in Manila, according to the secretariat of the Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation.

Dede Eri Supria, Hanura Hosea, Nasirun, Tisna Sanjaya and Yuswantoro Adi, the artists selected to represent Indonesia, will leave for Manila tomorrow.

They were the finalists in the foundation's Indonesian Art Award 1997, which has been held four times.

The ASEAN Art Award, which started in 1993, will select winners from artists who have won national competitions in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Regardless of the results, the debate on the criteria of the Indonesian Art Award will likely continue. Participants at a foundation-organized meeting on competitions last week complained that selection was too narrow and subjective.

An indication of this sentiment was the drop in entries from around 2,500 last year to 1,246 works this year.

A member of the audience suggested that criteria be set for each school of fine arts.

"That would not be possible," jury chairman Amir Sidharta said. "Because it might be the case that those schools do not even exist here."

The jury members claim that proof of their objectivity is the fact that little-known artists are among the winners, as well as noted ones like Dede Eri Supria.

The theme this year was "ASEAN Awareness," or work connected with "awareness, impressions, feelings and views of real life in Southeast Asia/Asia". Jurors said this was wide open to interpretation.

But a meeting of participant said the set theme, which was not a requirement last year, may have discouraged some artists.

The Indonesian competition was supported by the Philip Morris group of companies. (anr)