Middle class' foundness for art flourishes

Middle class' foundness for art flourishes

By Franki Raden

JAKARTA (JP): One of the most interesting phenomena in Indonesia's development is the rise of a class in society called as the middle class. Economic growth under the New Order is one explanation for the emergence of this new class. Supported by their strong buying power, the middle class tends to seek new experiences and sensations in life. They have become a prominent part of the urban community who willingly adopt a new lifestyle imported from western countries.

The middle and upper classes in Indonesia have developed a unique society of their own. They reside in housing estates or apartments with marvelous interiors, drive luxurious cars, work in high-rise buildings, dress up, hang out at pubs and discotheques, vacation at expensive hotels, dine at international restaurants, shop at supermarkets and shopping malls, buy sophisticated audio-visual equipment, join health clubs, play golf or tennis, obtain credit card memberships and study abroad.

This emerging class has also shown strong potential as consumers of popular art products, especially those imported from western countries. Their buying power has helped pop performances and Hollywood films find a flourishing market here. The situation, which favors art products, has also led to the establishment of new concert halls, ballrooms, cineplexs, laser disc rental stores and performance promoters.

More serious

At the end of the 1980's and early in the 1990's, the middle class' taste for arts became more serious. In the world of plastic arts, this improvement in taste has led to new collectors for creations of such painters as the late Hendra and Affandi, or Jeihan, Srihadi and Popo Iskandar. The trend is more obvious with the establishment of art galleries which collect quality art in Jakarta. In June last year, an art foundation, Yayasan Seni rupa Indonesia, was established and it immediately organized a painting exhibition featuring minor works by world maestros.

In the world of theater, the trend is marked with the presence of Teater Koma which, unlike most other theater groups, is professionally managed, performs regularly and sells quite expensive tickets.

New musical groups such as Twilite Orchestra, the Nusantara Chamber Orchestra and the born again Jakarta's Symphony Orchestra also support the trend. Jazz music has also been well supported by this particular class of society. The four day Jak Jazz festival last month, with tickets selling for Rp 25,000 (US$11.36), was attended by thousands of middle class spectators, mainly aged between 20 and 40 years old. Such support has also contributed to the establishment of jazz pubs, including Jamz and Blue Note in Jakarta.

The performances by Twilite Orchestra, whose music is more pop than classical, and whose tickets range from Rp 150,000 to Rp 250,000, attracted about 1,000 to 3,000 middle class people. Its last concert at Puri Agung, Sahid Jaya Hotel in December received heaps of applause from the audience although most of the repertoire was classical. Twilite often plays at parties, both corporate and individual, and marriage parties. Even in developed countries, such a thing rarely occurs since it takes huge funds to ask an orchestra to perform. Twilite Orchestra surely has indirectly benefited from the people's passion for great opera singers such as Pavarotti, which was shown in the electronic media, and for the performances of famous foreign orchestras in Indonesia.

Based on these facts, it's no wonder that 10,000 Indonesians spent at least Rp 1 million to attend a Michael Jackson concert in Singapore in 1993. Many Indonesians were also willing to spend between Rp 250,000 and Rp 1.5 million for a ticket to Pavarotti's concert, also in Singapore.

The development of a taste for art of this particular class can be also seen from the large number of people who attended the Sting concert at the Jakarta Convention Center and the six-day performance of Chick Corea at Jamz in November. The ability of Jakarta's Symphony Orchestra and Nusantara Chamber Orchestra to continuously feature classical music in performances that cost about Rp 30,0000 per person is another indication of increased demand.

Producers like Aquarius, for example, didn't hesitate to record experimental jazz music by the Krakatau group.

Contemporary arts

Progressive contemporary arts have also been touched. A contemporary Indonesian-English music concert, performed by STSI Surakarta of Indonesia and Evelyn Glennie of England at the Jakarta Convention Center in June 1993, was crowded by people who bought Rp 250,000 to Rp 2.5 million tickets.

A taste for contemporary arts has also allowed The Stage, a cafe in the basement of Ratu Plaza in South Jakarta, to be a fixed venue for progressive arts. Among the Indonesian musicians who performed at the cafe in 1993 were Deddy Satya, Harry Roesli, Slamet Abdul Sjukur and Trisuci Kamal.

A contemporary music concert, Suita, ran for two days at Jakarta's Gedung Kesenian in 1992. Tickets sold for Rp 20,000 an it was considered the very successful in regard to the size of the audience and production organization. The concert was featured in conjunction with Gedung Kesenian's annual international arts festival, The Jakarta Performing Arts. An international dance festival, called Indonesia's Dance Festival, takes place every year at Gedung Kesenian and Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center. It is mainly attended by the middle class. The modern (pop) dance began entertaining the young middle class in the early 1980's. Guruh Soekarnoputra, with his Swara Mahardhika, is one of the developing pioneers of this form of art.

Business

The middle and upper class' passion for art activities has not escaped the attention of business circles. Beginning last year, the arts have been used to advertise consumer goods targeted at the middle class. A big real estate company owned by tycoon Ciputra, for example, has made use of art as a selling point for its new housing complex. Its slogan is "city of arts".

Businesses are manipulating art codes into the code for a middle class lifestyle. This is something that already exists in traditional Indonesian society where art is considered a vital tool for the social reproduction process. The difference is traditional society uses its own products, keeping its cultural life independent. The products used by Indonesia's new middle class is imported from the west, so this segment of society is trapped in a consumptive urban society. And, in turn, this middle class society has led the working class to adapt a consumptive lifestyle and to depend on western art products. As a result, the hegemony of western culture in Indonesian culture will be stronger.

If Indonesians, especially the middle class, do not make an effort to balance the situation, Indonesia will become nothing but a potential market for western cultural products.