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Weekly 5: Five cultural and arts spaces in Jakarta
JP/Jerry AdigunaJakarta is notorious for its horrendous traffic, which many of its residents have now accepted as a fact of life
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JP/Jerry Adiguna
Jakarta is notorious for its horrendous traffic, which many of its residents have now accepted as a fact of life. But despite everything, the city has a lot to offer residents and visitors. In order to accommodate a hunger for art and culture, government and private entities have established various cultural centers where people could forget for a while the pain of living in the Big Durian. Here are five of them.
Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center
Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center (TIM) was opened in 1968 by then governor Ali Sadikin, who also initiated the center. It is located in a former private zoo owned by the renowned painter Raden Saleh in Cikini, Central Jakarta.
TIM is a center for cultural development in Jakarta. There is space here for artists to express themselves and exhibit their work.
TIM, also situated next to the Jakarta Art Institute (IKJ), has various facilities for art exhibitions, including theaters, exhibition halls, a plaza for open air performances and cinemas.
One of the center’s most important spaces, Graha Bhakti Budaya, has an 800-seat capacity. The space can be used for music concerts, traditional and modern theater, dance and film.
The current building of TIM is now equipped with libraries. In the complex, there is also a planetarium and the Hans Bague Jassin Literature Documentation Center. For more information, visit tamanismailmarzuki.co.id.
Komunitas Salihara
Komunitas Salihara is a cultural center established in 2008 by renowned cultural critic Goenawan Mohamad, who was also the former chief editor of Tempo.
The community, headquartered in Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta, regularly holds art performances and lterary events.
Festival Salihara, one of its regular programs, is conducted every two years.
Meanwhile, Bienal Sastra Salihara (Bienal Salihara Literature) is an international literary festival that includes book discussions and literary workshops.
Other programs include the Salihara Theater Forum, Salihara Jazz Buzz and the Salihara General Lecture Series. For further information, visit komunitassalihara.org.
National Gallery of Indonesia
Galeri Nasional Indonesia (National Gallery of Indonesia), established in the 1960s, is aimed at building a national art hall and art development center.
The gallery collects, acquires and exhibits artworks such as paintings, sketches, graphics, sculpture, ceramics, photography, crafts and art installations.
It collects artwork from national painters such as Raden Saleh, Hendra Gunawan, Affandi, Basoeki Abdullah as well as foreign artists like Wassily Kadinsky, Hans Hartung and Zao Owouki.
One of the gallery’s famous exhibitions was the exhibition showcasing the State Palace collections during the Independence month of August in Indonesia.
It exhibited 28 works from 20 distinguished painters, including the work of president Sukarno, who was known for his good taste in art.
The collection is divided into three themes — important figures in Indonesia’s Independence, the social conditions during revolution and the history of the struggle from the Dutch era to the 1950s.
Bentara Budaya Jakarta
Bentara Budaya Jakarta is a cultural institution funded by media giant Kompas Gramedia. It opened in 1986.
Kompas has several cultural centers in Indonesia. The one in Jakarta is located within the complex of the Kompas offices on Jl. Palmerah Selatan in West Jakarta.
The building collects many paintings by renowned painters like S. Sudjojono, Hendra Gunawan, Affandi, Basoeki Abdullah and Affandi. It also has a vast collection of artworks like ceramics and puppets.
The cultural center has monthly programs including film screenings, discussions, musical performances and theater.
This week, Bentara Budaya is holding the Flores Coffee Festival from Friday to Sunday. The programs include a talkshow on coffee culture, a performance from Gugun Blues Shelter, coffee painting and coffee workshops. Schedules can be accessed through www.bentarabudaya.com.
Galeri Indonesia Kaya
Galeri Indonesia Kaya, initiated and funded by the Djarum Foundation, is a cultural “edutainment” space located in the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta.
The space attempts to provide information on Indonesia’s cultural heritage via digital technology.
The gallery is equipped with an auditorium with a 150-seat capacity that presents cultural performances. The schedule can be accessed through indonesiakaya.com.
