New website puts richness of Indonesian art online

JAKARTA (JP): Click www.IndonesianArt.net, and enter into a never-ending exploration of the virtual world of Indonesian arts and culture.

The newly established website, scheduled to start its official debut operation next November, promises to enable ardent art lovers, students and Internet users to gain an abundance of information on Indonesian traditional to contemporary music, fine arts, theater, dance, architecture, literature and fashion.

The site, operated by PT Multimedia Global Senindo, is also aimed at promoting Indonesian arts internationally.

The company's executive director, Dwiki Dharmawan, said it was the sole site providing comprehensive information on the entire field of Indonesian arts and culture. It is presented in news form, features, telecasts and encyclopedia formats, as well as interactive lectures and workshops.

"There are some websites already focusing on fashion, arts and the like but they only concentrate on one or two art subjects. We are different, as ours contains all fields in the arts," said Dwiki, a jazz musician from Krakatau Band.

Dwiki used the music domain as an example, saying it would lead to information on various genres, from traditional to contemporary.

Want to know more about Javanese gamelan? Just click gamelan and, accompanied by the strains of gamelan music, you will be able to read about the orchestra, its sociocultural background in Javanese society and also learn about how the instruments are played.

If your interest runs to finding out about jazz music in Indonesia, browse through jazz. You will be able to access a list of jazz bands, musicians and their albums, plus web broadcasts of top performances.

"Some live concerts of Indonesian jazz musicians can also be viewed on our website," said Dwiki.

Or do you want to take in a museum or two? Museum will give you a tour of the collections in the capital's museum row.

Unfortunately, a subscription is needed for a deeper cultural exploration.

Technical director Jeffrey Suryadinata said one of the company's objectives was to get Indonesian artists to use the Internet and other high-tech communications.

"Only a few local artists realize the importance of going online. Most foreign artists now have established their own home pages for promotional efforts and other purposes," said Jeffrey.

The company, he said, can either help local artists in establishing their homepages or ask them to give the latest information to IndonesianArt.net.

"We want to build cross-border communications between local and international art communities," said Jeffrey.

To provide comprehensive information on all aspects of Indonesian art and culture, the company plans to set up cooperation with the academic world, art institutions and other related organizations.

It will soon cooperate with the Jakarta Arts Institute, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in Bandung, West Java, and ISI Yogyakarta Arts Institute to develop virtual lectures and online study course.

"This may sound like an ambitious project," acknowledged Jeffrey.

To realize the project, the company has made an investment of about US$7 million and plans to secure additional funds for expansion.

The website can be accessed through networks in 11 cities, including Jakarta, Denpasar (Bali), Surabaya (East Java), Semarang (Central Java), Yogyakarta, Bandung, Batam, Medan (North Sumatra), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Balikpapan (East Kalimantan).

"Our website is mostly designed for serious art lovers. You won't find gossip about celebrities here... sorry," said Dwiki. (raw)