Skepticism lingers over benefit of Art Summit

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): The closing of the second Art Summit Indonesia last week was perceived by the local art community with mixed feelings from enthusiasm to skepticism and even to suspicion.

The one-month long international contemporary performing arts event was expected by its organizer, the Ministry of Education and Culture's Directorate General of Culture, to enlighten the lives of the Indonesian people currently entangled in a very deep crisis.

No doubt, the recent performances of 15 theater, music and dance groups from France, Germany, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, the United States, Japan and Indonesia, had energized domestic art activities.

Nevertheless, a lot of people considered this government- sponsored festival, which cost about Rp 2 billion (approximately US$250,000), to be simply a waste of money and energy, especially in a time when the country was undergoing the worst social, economic and political upheavals in the last three decades.

Although the curtains of the Graha Bhakti Budaya at Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center and Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (Jakarta Playhouse), where the performances took place, were already closed, many people including some vocal artists were still guessing the impact of this festival on the development of the arts, in particular, and the lives of common people in Indonesia, generally.

Poet Sitok Srengenge, for instance, sharply criticized that the event neither enlightened the domestic artists' lives nor improved the people's shattered lives.

"This art festival was just an artificial project mainly intended to conceal the country's devastating situation and to show to the world that Indonesia is as normal as ever in order to regain international trust," Sitok wrote in Tempo weekly magazine.

Sitok continued to argue that the organizers of Art Summit Indonesia, consisting of senior artists and bureaucrats, lacked professionalism in handling such an international event.

The selection of participants, he said, was very subjective. He cited examples that the performances of a number of groups including Spain's Diez Diez Danza, Japan's Butoh dancer Yukio Waguri and the Kohzenza, W.S. Rendra and his Bengkel Teater, were below people's expectations in terms of artistic skill and beauty.

"The festival's committee members preferred to choose this year's participants based on seniority rather than artistic achievements," he added.

Quite a few cynics have aired their views about these matters and it is indeed their right to voice their own opinions in this free country, commented Slamet Abdul Syukur, a noted contemporary music composer.

"I have always believed that all activities, including this Art Summit Indonesia, have negative and positive points," explained Slamet, chairman of the Indonesian Composers Association.

It is interesting to note that the organizer of the Second Art Summit decided to present contemporary performing arts in this triennial event instead of mainstream forms, he said.

Contemporary performing arts are quite difficult to watch and to comprehend, therefore it was natural that only a few people were able to enjoy all the performances presented at the Art Summit Indonesia, Slamet explained.

Such views reflected that people's taste in art forms have been shaped to conform to conventional Western tastes.

Meanwhile, local contemporary art emerged in opposition to conventional ideas and values to create new and different forms of art, he said.

"It must be hard for people who usually listen to classical or even pop music, set by Western trends, to appreciate Alvin Lucier's music which treats music sound and instrument in very different ways," Slamet noted.

The works of Tony Prabowo and Sukahardjana also offered enrichment to the local music world, he said.

Other experimental music presented by Finish composer Kaija Saariaho and the Petals Ensemble or the music of Japanese Toshi Tsuchitori were difficult to digest, he added.

However, Art Summit Indonesia invited the audience to view performing arts from different perspectives. Contemporary performing arts provides ample room for pluralistic interpretations and experimentation, he said.

"You don't have to say, think or act similarly in this world," maintained Slamet. "We are often shocked to see things or speak in conflicting ways because we are used to uniformity in every aspect of our lives including music, politics and social views shaped by the New Order regime," he said.

Dance critic Sal Murgiyanto added that contemporary arts require people to appreciate the originality, innovation, creativity and individuality of an art form.

Citing an example, many people said Butoh dances performed by Yukio Waguri and the Kohzenza dance troupe were not as beautiful as that presented by Japanese Butoh dance troupe Sankai Juku at the First Art Summit in l995.

But when people expected to see Waguri perform similar kinds of Butoh dance to those performed by other artists, this meant that Waguri's works lacked creativity and originality, Murgiyanto said.

There are a lot of lessons to be drawn from this Art Summit's performances, he said. In contemporary performing arts, it is apparent that there are strong collaborative works among artists of multicultural backgrounds, Murgiyanto noted.

"Working with artists from different cultures is not an easy task, but in the festival we saw multicultural groups performing harmoniously," Murgiyanto said.

A sense of solidarity and modesty are the most important requirements for any artist if she/he wants to work on cross- cultural projects.

"People, especially artists, often tend to be reluctant to receive other cultural values especially in an art work," he said.

In the recent Art Summit, several groups including Alvin Lucier and the Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble, Jin Hi Kim and No world Improvisations, Toshi Tsuchitori and musicians of Surakarta Arts Institute, and the Bremer Tanztheater were the best examples of cross-cultural projects.

"It is (Bremer Tanztheater leader) Susanne Linke's open- mindedness that allows her to appreciate Indonesian dancer Ditta Miranda Yasfi's achievement to join the prestigious group," he said.

Music composer Rahayu Supanggah, rector of the Surakarta Arts Institute, also commented that Indonesian artists could learn many valuable things from their foreign counterparts.

"Musicians like Toshi, Jin Hi Kim and Alvien Lucier are very modest and tolerant despite their international reputation," said Rahayu, who collaborated with Toshi and the Spiral Arms at the Art Summit.

They are very serious and sincere in their music and they are not easily satisfied with what they have achieved, something that Indonesian musicians lack, he said.

"It is unfortunate that not many Indonesian musicians, the younger generation in particular, came to see the performances of these international artists," she complained.

Unlike concerts of pop or other mainstream music, which are always packed by enthusiastic audiences, only some of the performances at the Art Summit were full-housed. They attracted few local artists and celebrities, let alone commoners who could not afford the tickets.

Playwright Putu Wijaya, who presented Ngeh at the festival, admitted that holding Art Summit Indonesia in this critical time might upset many people.

To convince people of the importance of the Art Summit Indonesia, the organizer must be open-minded to all criticism and cynical views lodged both by artists and media, he said.

To better manage the event, it is important to involve as many artists and professionals in the organizing committee's members. With the current management system, which is dominated by bureaucrats, it is doubtful that the organizer will be able to successfully hold the next Art Summit Indonesia in the year 2001.