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Europalia Indonesia 'one of the best ever': Ambassador
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Nani Losari Topeng dance was among the opening acts at Europalia Arts Festival Indonesia 2017. (Feri Latief/File)
T
he Europalia Arts Festival Indonesia held from Oct. 10, 2017, to Jan. 21, which showcased the varied arts and cultural richness of the archipelago across Europe, is said to be one of the best ever for the biannual arts festival, which was established in Brussels in 1969.
"I was reading a Belgian newspaper this week and the artistic director of Europalia from Belgium said he thought that [the Europalia Arts Festival Indonesia] was one of the best ever. When we look at the [visitor] numbers, 600,000, it's huge at a time when people don't go much to exhibitions," Belgian Ambassador to Indonesia Patrick Herman told The Jakarta Post during a reception at his residence in Central Jakarta on Thursday.
He said the event was a wonderful setting to showcase the variety and richness of Indonesian culture and arts in Europe.
"I think a lot of [the exhibits] were something that [European visitors] had expected; and they loved them. But there were also a lot of artistic expressions that they did not expect at all to see from Indonesia," said Herman.
"Because people were expecting [art performances] from Bali and Yogyakarta; and they [also] got [the cultural richness of] Aceh, Papua, Kalimantan, Maluku. It was an incredible introduction to Indonesian arts."
Regarding the accomplishment, the cultural director general at the Culture and Education Ministry, Hilmar Farid, told the Post that the event exceeded the target that it had set despite rather limited preparation time.
Read also: Indonesian contemporary works, sacred dances enrich Europalia
"The result is good considering the preparation and resources that we had. But the important thing is how it will affect Indonesian artists, as we hope that [the event] will be able to provide them with new opportunities," he said, adding that he had heard that some of the artists had indeed made commitments to new projects this year and in 2019. "Though it's still too early to say that [these artists] felt the impact [of Europalia] but it is pointing that way."
Other than an opportunity to promote Indonesian arts and culture abroad, Europalia also provided the ministry with a valuable lesson, especially on how to organize a series of a quite complex arts and cultural activities across different places and involving a large number of people.
"It's an important experience since we're creating a [cultural activity] platform for Indonesia this year, named Indonesiana, where we work across eight regions," said Hilmar, adding that it would be organized similarly to Europalia. "The venues will be responsible for the execution, while the government will act as a national committee that will distribute the resources and the people. [We will also] invite guests from abroad who will come using their own budgets," he said.
Indonesiana is set to highlight a particular form of art expression and art figures in each region. West Sumatra, for example, will host all things related to silat (traditional martial arts), including dance, comic books and films. Surakarta will become the center of gamelan; while Blora, the hometown of one of Indonesia's most acclaimed writers, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, will highlight the country's literature.
"We're going to try run Indonesiana this year. Hopefully next year the event will be bigger and we will be more prepared," said Hilmar.
