Skepticism lingers over benefit of Art Summit

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.