Wardiman opens Art Summit Indonesia
Wardiman opens Art Summit Indonesia
JAKARTA (JP): Art Summit Indonesia 1995 opened at Taman Ismail
Marzuki (TIM) in Central Jakarta yesterday in what is billed as
one of the largest performing art festivals ever held in the
country.
The event, opened by Minister of Education and Culture
Wardiman Djojonegoro, features 15 world-renowned participants
from nine countries: Nucleodanza of Argentina, Urban Sax of
France, Weimarer Tanztheater and Banjar Gruppe Berlin of Germany,
Ghana Dance Ensemble of Ghana, Chandralekha of India, Slamet
Abdul Syukur, Sardono W.Kusumo, Rahayu Supanggah and Bagong
Kussudiardja of Indonesia, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Sankai
Juku, Kazuo Ohno of Japan, Richard Alston Dance Company of the
United Kingdom and the Paul Dresher Ensemble of the U.S.. They
will perform either in TIM's three theaters or in Gedung Kesenian
Jakarta, both in Central Jakarta. Each group is allocated two
evenings of performances.
The event is organized by the Directorate General of Culture
of the Ministry of Education and Culture as part of the
government's ongoing commemoration of Indonesia's 50th
Anniversary of Independence.
Urban Sax
The festival's opening yesterday morning, joined in by 329
performers, was nicely marked by a spectacular show by France's
Urban Sax.
Some 50 members of the group, 48 of whom play the saxophone,
presented a first taste of contemporary music, which also
combined the arts of theater and dance, to the guests which
included government senior officers, ambassadors, artists and
journalists under a perfect lighting system.
Clad in silver colored costumes resembling toxic waste
protection apparel, the group presented sounds and images which,
according to the group's director and founder Gilbert Artmann,
can be freely interpreted by spectators.
"In a television interview, a child who has just watched our
show said that it was a music played by surgeons," Artmann told
The Jakarta Post after yesterday morning's show.
The performance was not only musical entertainment but also
visual enjoyment. The set included a saxophonist suspended from
the ceiling of Graha Bhakti theater by a rope. Somehow he looked
like he was swimming. Plastic balloons adorning the theater made
it resemble a big aquarium. Later, the atmosphere turned into
that of a Paris' sewer with sounds suggesting water running in
pipes filling the air.
Artmann said that his music was inspired by the architecture
of urban spaces. It is the architecture which usually controls
the kind of music that the group will perform. Therefore,
observing the venue of a performance is important, he added.
Urban Sax's distinct costumes are not just any costumes,
Artmann said.
"They are also very useful because inside the costumes,
members of the group put many kinds of items which are important
to support their performances, such as bottles of water to
produce the aquatic sound or the small lamps to decorate their
garments too."
"It is useful but not really practical, and in Jakarta, it's
hot," commented Artmann.
Indonesian musician Ireng Maulana said he gave the thumbs up
to the group's unique performance.
"It is not only the performance, their music is perfect too
and very unified, although one person blows only one note, the
tonality of the blow is excellent," he said.
Urban Sax will give another show tonight at 8 p.m. at TIM.
(als)