Can our art industry, a sector that relies heavily on live performances, survive the pandemic? 

In show business, "the show must go on" is a deep-ingrained philosophy endorsed by its workers. But that was before the pandemic came and upended life as we knew it, forcing the industry players to part ways with the typical, tried-and-tested methods. 

The art performance scene has been hardest hit with physical distancing measures, alongside the tourism, music, film and fashion industries, as well as various others in the creative sectors. Data gathered by the Indonesian Arts Coalition (KSI) show that within just the first month of the lockdown (from March 16 to April 21, 2020), 234 art events around the country were either postponed or canceled.

With stage lights being turned off and curtains closed, a link was missing in the soul of the performance. "The audiences are not guests, not a part of a show. They are participants," said Putu Wijaya, a literary figure and founder of Teater Mandiri (“Self-sufficient” theater) in 1971. Throughout their shows, Teater Mandiri aims to present "mental terror" so that the audience goes home from a show with a heightened awareness of their surroundings. 

For this very reason, a year and a half in, Teater Mandiri has not once held an online viewing. Putu added that Teater Mandiri was still learning the know-how. "We are a collective that leans into Bali's local wisdom of desa, kala and patra (place, time and situation)." In the pandemic, how can art collectives adjust in accordance with their own time, situation and place? 

Alongside theater, the group has been busy with book launching events, monologues and poetry competitions since 2016, and those activities quickly became their prioritized programs with the absence of in-person theater performances.

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