Will fine arts shine in Year of Art and Culture?

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): On New Year's Day, President Soeharto designated 1998 as the Year of Art and Culture, placing it in the context of the Visit Indonesia Decade begun in 1993.

The arts community was taken unaware as there had been no forewarning. As a result, no major events have been planned by either the public or private sector.

Artist Nunung WS expressed the surprise of many. "I am still wondering what it actually means, and what to do. It came as a great surprise to us!"

Art critic Jim Supangkat, who was recently honored with the Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands, said the move should have been expected in line with the nation's development.

"If we refer to the second stage of the nation's Long Term Development Plan, we should be entering the stage of progress which places emphasis on art and culture."

Despite the financial crisis, the government consistently adhered to this plan, he said.

In Kompas daily, Sardono W. Kusumo, another Indonesian artist who won the award, emphasized the need to develop an adequate infrastructure for the development of the performing arts in Indonesia.

Jim admitted the available fine art facilities may also fall short of requirements to host international standard art shows, such as the Rembrandt exhibition in Singapore last year.

In terms of fine arts, however, he believed there were sufficient venues, especially for the contemporary arts.

"The international curators of contemporary art who have seen the Ministry of Education and Culture's Exhibition Hall in Gambir, Central Jakarta, considered the venue ideal for contemporary shows.

"We are in more crucial need of organizational bodies and professionals who can manage the arts."

While he considered hardware for development of fine arts to be sufficient for the time being, he judged the software -- the human resources required for the management of the arts -- to be lacking and in need of upgrading.

Jim said there were plans to send two fine arts scholars to Japan and Australia for training in art institutions.

Jim also believed the designation of the Year of Art and Culture would set the stage for the official announcement of the National Gallery project, discussed since the late 1950s.

He said the National Gallery would be an important facility as a forum for international relations, providing a heightened focus on regional arts.

"The focus will be more comprehensive than the previous attention directed merely towards contemporary arts," he added.

Jim pointed out that the Fukuoka Art Museum will establish the Asian Art Gallery this year, while the Queensland Art Gallery and the Australian National University, with the support of the Australian Art Council, will prepare the Reviewing Modernism for 2000.

If realized, Jim said, the National Gallery would become an important center and complementary facility for other Asia- Pacific museums.

Jim did not mention any plans to hold exhibitions this year, and indeed not many have been planned. There are a few routine events that are scheduled, including the Art Summit focused on dance, and the Jakarta Biennial concentrated on painting and other forms of fine art.

Other than those events, the Ministry of Education and Culture will celebrate the 11th anniversary of its space praised by Jim, the Gedung Pameran Seni Rupa at Gambir.

Whatever the actual intentions behind the designation are, art and culture can undoubtedly play an important role in tourism.

The government has made tremendous efforts in supporting international promotion of Indonesian art, including contemporary art.

The Ministry of Education and Culture continued to support the participation of the country's artists and their works in international exhibitions, even though the works often contain material critical of the government's policies.

Ironically, these same pieces appear to have brought greater attention to the nation.

Last year, the government's sincerity in promoting Indonesia was further confirmed when the Ministry of Education and Culture endorsed a painting exhibition, The Mutation: Painstaking Realism in Contemporary Indonesian Painting, in Tokyo as part of the Japan-Indonesia Friendship Festival.

Although the event was intended to increase common understanding between the countries, it was also meant to promote Indonesian tourism.

The designation also came as a reminder that, despite the financial crisis, prices of Indonesian fine art have once again returned to a competitive level on the international market.

President Soeharto also mentioned the potential of art to accommodate "greater understanding between nations". ASEAN Masterworks, an exhibition to be staged in Kuala Lumpur later this month, will indeed serve that purpose and, as Jim said, will probably be the forerunners of others in the future.

On the local level, the designation is generally perceived as an encouraging and challenging gesture.

"For years, we have slowly seen a gradual awakening in the field of fine arts, and suddenly there is this designation," said Nunung WS.

"It is like a fresh morning breeze!"