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Arts summit expects to remap Indonesia’s position in performing arts world
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The arts summit wishes to remap Indonesia's position in the current performing arts world, one curator said. (Shutterstock/-)
An international festival of performing arts, Art Summit Indonesia, returns for the eighth time starting this August.
Art Summit Indonesia 8 (ASI 8), which is held every three years, will be held this year in a two-leg format at various locations in Indonesia.
Following its objective to remap Indonesia’s position in the growing performing arts world, the activities include workshops for selected potential Indonesian artists, public speeches by local and international performing arts practitioners and exchange and residency programs. These activities will be part of the first leg of the program, which already started earlier this month and will continue until November 2016.
The second leg of the program will start in October 2017 with Indonesian contemporary art performances. The selection process for the second leg of the program is still ongoing.
“This time, the characteristic (of this art summit) is like adapting one’s body temperature after it has cooled down for so long,” said culture director general Hilmar Farid in a press conference at the Culture and Education Ministry in South Jakarta on Thursday.
(Read also: Art Summit Indonesia: Reclaiming the top)
Organizers decided to conduct the event at eight locations in Indonesia after an early remap by the event’s board of curators, the head of the board, Yudi Ahmad Tajudin, said. “We found out that there are communities in these places that fit well with the themes that we believe are the most relevant themes in the performing arts world nowadays,” he said. Yudi also mentioned Makassar, Bandung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Padang, Padang Panjang, Solo and Bali as being the locations of the event.
Included in the workshops and speeches’ themes are body and language work in directing, dramaturgy and contemporary music, among many. The workshops will be conducted by renowned local and international people, including Ugoran Prasad, Melati Suryodarmo, F.X. Widaryanto, Toshiki Okada, Chong Kee Yon, Michio Arimitsu, Jonas Baes and several other speakers. “[These speakers] were selected after a thorough consideration of who can transfer the knowledge the best,” Yudi stated.
The Art Summit curators invited international artists to share their knowledge with Indonesian artists. The visits also aim to provide an alternative way of thinking and influence regarding the art making process. A member of ASI 8’s board of curators, Otto Sidharta, stated: “Right now it’s leaning very much toward the West," he said in regards to the creative process of the performing arts.
Art Summit Indonesia has been conducted since 1995. The event is expected to serve as a medium for performing arts practitioners throughout the world to share ideas, thoughts and experiences, as well as to facilitate collaboration through artistic concepts. (asw)
