Sutanto preserves rural arts

Sutanto preserves rural arts

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post/Magelang, Central Java

Journalists and fellow artists often call him a village provocateur. "I'm part of the villagers and I admire them for their wisdom, art and culture. I have learned a lot from them," says artist Sutanto Mendut, who lives near Mendut Temple in Magelang, Central Java.

On Aug. 15, the 51-year-old artist will again be a "provocateur" as he will organize the 3rd Festival of the Five Mountains at Gejayan village, Pakis district, Magelang, Central Java, a daylong cultural event intended to channel the cultural and artistic creativity of communities living around the five mountains in the area, a group he says the government usually pays little attention to.

"This festival will be a means through which orgasm in art activities will be attained. Rural and mountain communities posses, actually, a huge potential and like a volcano, this potential, unchanneled, may explode at any time," said Sutanto.

Married to Japanese citizen Mami Kato, Sutanto, who organized the 1st All-Java Mountain Festival in June 2004, will receive an art award from the Central Java Arts Council in mid-August this year.

"I have not responded to them yet. I have told the committee that I will accept the award if they allow me to make a speech during the ceremony. I work with the people, not alone," he told The Jakarta Post.

Sutanto earned the nickname Adol Cangkem because he is very good at convincing other people to agree with him. He has successfully invited people from around the world to come to events held at his studio or in the villages nestled on the slopes of Mount Merapi, Mount Merbabu and Mount Sumbing.

Relying only on his cangkem (mouth), he organized, for example, the 1st and 2nd World Cultural Congresses at his Mendut Studio in 1993 and 1995. The second congress was divided into two programs: World Artists Day and a speech festival.

"We only invited about 40 famous figures from Indonesia and abroad to the event but, in fact, 56 people attended it all together," he said, showing collection of newspaper and magazine clippings about the event.

The six-day event, he said, only cost about Rp 1.3 million to organize. "Most of the money was spent on telephone calls. I directly contacted these famous figures by phone and this proved to be a very effective means of communication to persuade great figures in art and culture such as Gunawan Mohammmad, the late Bagong Kussudiardjo and Tony Prabowo to come to the event."

Recently, Sutanto successfully persuaded and encouraged local people to organize art and cultural events in the villages on the slopes of Mount Merapi, Mount Merbabu and Mount Sumbing. Last year, for example, he organized the Merapi Cultural Festival, the Prayer from Five Mountains and many other events.

Sutanto agrees that sometimes, as his friends often say, he seems to be just blurting out a barrage of words. Basically, however, the way he speaks comes from his experience speaking with virtually all layers of the community.

"I know a lot of people because I'm also a trader of antique goods. I'm acquainted with people from all social classes. That's why I can talk about things that you may not get from school. Take for example, this Lasem batik. Is there any book about its history?" he said, adding that this ancient batik was first made by a lonely Chinese woman on the northern coast of Central Java.

His knowledge is mainly focused in cultural studies, a subject that is now being promoted among academic circles. In fact, he said, for the past decade he has been promoting the significance of cultural studies. To pursue cultural studies, he added, you only have to get along with the people that live in villages or on the fringes of towns and cities to tap their precious but hidden potential.

"If you wish to be more serious in these studies, you can study the reliefs carved on Borobodur Temple. There are thousands of reliefs and, put together, they may stretch about four kilometers. These reliefs feature various dances and about 500 musical instruments. Imagine what a wealth of knowledge you would get if you seriously studied all of these," said Sutanto, who studied at the Indonesian Music Academy in Yogyakarta and the School of Philosophy at Gadjah Mada University.

"When I study all these objects, I often imagine their makers. Those involved in the construction of the Borobudur Temple must have been extraordinary and multidimensional people. Those carving the reliefs must have had an excellent background in dance.

"Just look at the relief depicting a person playing a drum. He is playing his instrument not only to accompany a dance piece, but he himself is dancing with the beautiful movement of his body. You will learn quite a lot if you carefully study the reliefs at Borobodur Temple. This is part of the cultural studies that few tourists visiting the temple are ready to undertake," said Sutanto, who sometimes serves as a tour guide for close friends who want to learn more about the temple.

Sutanto has said that he wants to study from and imitate the multidimensional artists in charge of building Borobodur Temple. With his music background, Sutanto can get along with artists and cultural activists from various fields. He is very close with both contemporary and traditional artists.

During the day, for example, he might have a discussion with artists from Jakarta, but at night he will be involved in an exciting dialog with the people of Tutup Ngisor village on the slopes of Mount Merapi.

One day he may sleep in a church and have an intense dialog with a priest, but the next day he will have an intimate talk with a Muslim cleric from an Islamic boarding school in Magelang.

Sutanto's artistic life has been shaped by adventures he has had in life that are not confined to places or social classes.

Sometimes he is a musician and at other times he may be a poet, a dancer, a craftsman, an actor, a seller of antique goods, a politician, a writer or just a "provocateur". He can leave people spellbound just with his fascinating way of speaking.

Artist Sujiwo Tejo wrote in Sutanto's book Cosmology of Gendhing Gendheng that "people want to attend events held in Mendut, Central Java, because of Sutanto".

With the power of his words Sutanto can encourage art activities from one village to another. He has tirelessly fought alongside people living around Borobudur Temple and the rural people on the fringes of local towns to maintain the cultural and artistic values that many other people have begun to abandon.

If allowed by the Central Java provincial administration, he will make a speech during the ceremony marking the conferring of the art award to him, as well as to Hajar Satoto (painter) and Ahmad Tohari (novelist).

But if he cannot speak at the ceremony, Sutanto says, "Nek ora oleh yo ora opo-opo, ora patheken." (That's all right if they don't allow me, I won't have a skin disease.)