T

he three-week-long Jogja ArtWeeks (JAW) 2015, which starts on Tuesday and runs until June 27, is to exhibit the artworks of not just artists but also of ordinary people of different professional backgrounds.

Bramantya, a member of the organizing committee, said that the committee had selected 45 artworks to be exhibited for the event to be held at the Koesnadi Harjosoemantri Cultural Center (PKHH) in the compound of the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) campus, Yogyakarta.

Among the works are the creations of ordinary people, who are not artists, but produced the art to show their respective perceptions on particular things.

'€œThe creation process, starting from the birth of a concept and going until the artwork is created, becomes a priority in JAW 2015,'€ Bramantya said, Monday, adding that the works on exhibit comprised visual, musical and fine art.

For the event, according to Bramantya, the selected participants were asked to join a two-month workshop from April to May 2015 to interpret the concepts of their respective planned artworks and then realize them into works of arts.

All these processes, he said, were documented and the public could access the records at jogjartjournal.net.

'€œThis is what makes JAW 2015 different from other art exhibitions,'€ Bramantya said.

He added that if in other exhibitions visitors'€™ visits ended when they finished seeing the works exhibited in the exhibition room, in JAW 2015 visitors were welcome to see the process of interpreting the concepts into works of art.

Neutrality in the selection process had also been an important matter, said Bramantya. As such, members of the selection committee were banned from knowing the names of the applicants.

'€œThe applicants were only required to submit a telephone number without a name when submitting their concepts,'€ he said.

From the process, 47 concepts were selected from 235 applicants to join the workshop. Two of them later withdrew themselves from the workshop because of some technical reasons.

Another member of the organizing committee, Risky Summerbe, said the committee found some surprises with the remaining 45 participants. Among the surprises was a participant from the Afghan Hazara tribe who happened to be in Yogyakarta.

'€œHazara is a tribe of Mongolian descent. Hazara people look Asian and are currently facing various cultural conflicts, so they are not easy to find,'€ Risky said.

Among the surprising works is a piece of visual art by a young participant who created a flash mob for an exercise renowned during the New Order Regime, SKJ, with a touch of today'€™s latest music. SKJ stands for Senam Kesegaran Jasmani (body fitness exercises).

Risky said this particular work was considered surprising because it was created by a young participant who was born in the late 1990s, the last years of the New Order.

He said the participant was moved by curiosity over a sticker depicting former president Soeharto saying, '€œPiye le, enakan jamanku to?'€ (Hi kid. My time was better, right?)

'€œAfter seeking for something considered interesting during the New Order era, the participant found SKJ, which is no longer found or heard today,'€ Risky said.