or four months starting Oct. 2017, countries in Europe will be treated to the beauty of Indonesia’s cultural diversity in a biannual event dubbed Europalia Arts Festival 2017.
Up to 460 artists from different parts of Indonesia are set to entertain guests from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, France and Austria at the festival's 228 cultural events, including 69 dance and theater shows, 71 music performances, 36 literature works, 38 movie works and 14 exhibitions.
Read also: Artist Tintin's struggle to uncover the truth
The festival will also host an architecture program dubbed Specific – Generic – Tribe with heritage, contemporary, creation and exchange as the main theme.
The culture director general at the Culture and Education Ministry Hilmar Farid said the Europalia event is a platform to present both contemporary and traditional arts and cultures of Indonesia.
"We have done around 90 percent of preparation; there will be around 480 artists not including technical personnel and staff who will be in charge for 220 events,” said Hilmar.
Additionally, an Indonesian comic books exhibition is also set to be held in Brussels, Belgium, the comic book capital of the world.
Read also: Bumi Langit [R]evolusi: Bringing back local superheroes
“We will bring tons of museum artifacts and art objects to be shown [at the exhibition] along with 400 people who will be there for 104 days; it is a truly huge art mission,” told Hilmar.
Indonesia is said to be the fourth Asian country and the first in Southeast Asia to be the guest of honor of Europalia Arts Festival that was first established in 1969.
“As the guest of honor, Indonesia is expected to showcase the many varieties of Indonesian arts and cultures that are tolerant, democratic and modern,” said Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani.
Puan said the art and cultural works presented at the festival were previously curated by Europalia Indonesia and Europalia International curators.
As part of promotion, the ad for Europalia Arts Festival 2017 has been broadcasted on several TV channels such as the BBC and Bloomberg, as well as on the internet such as TripAdvisor, Google, YouTube and social media.
In France, around 16 buses will be plastered with the advertisement as well as black cabs in London and several places in Belgium.
According to the ministry's data, UK contributed the most in tourist arrival among countries in Europe. The ministry has set a target to attract at least 400,000 British tourists to Indonesia this year. (kes)
Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.