Yogyakarta Arts Festival: Yogyakarta, Central Java

By Barrie | July 31st, 2007 | No Comments

The 19th installment of the Yogyakarta Arts Festival, or FKY XIX 2007, is a platform of dialogue and collaboration between traditional and contemporary arts, as well as a meeting of local and international artists.

“Traditional and contemporary arts, which have apparently been dichotomized and even negated each other so far, are now put on an equal footing in various forms of collaborative performances,” said Aji Warsono, director of FKY XIX 2007.

The amalgamation of the two artistic categories can be witnessed in the different shows presented during the FKY, which opened June 7 and will run through the end of August. Themed Youths and Diversity, the festival will also feature typical Yogyakartan arts.

The local community’s rooted traditions, according to Aji, can serve as a solid foundation to preserve equilibrium in social and cultural development. Meanwhile, she said, arts as a cultural element are capable of adapting to and interacting with values of modernism.

Mass or pop culture — with all its variants — should therefore be approached wisely and viewed with an open perspective, she continued. It should not be treated as a major problem in the (traditional) social and cultural context, as it has been widely debated thus far.

“Traditions also undergo changes in the course of time. An open outlook is the key to the conception of coexistence amid creative diversity,” Aji underlined.

In line with this awareness, this year’s FKY focuses on the younger generation as a gesture of appreciation for the values inherent in the traditional arts that are still relevant to the growth of young people.

As a major asset of Yogyakarta, long dubbed the City of Students, local youths are thus expected to utilize every moment of this climate of openness, and be capable of building their new identity without losing their fundamental basis.

“Their knowledge of traditions will greatly help them interpret and adapt to foreign cultures, besides comprehending social phenomena and their present and future progress,” said FKY artistic director Agung Kurniawan.

One of the traditional and contemporary art fusions in this festival is Pixel Wayang, based on the traditional leather puppet show of Indonesia already recognized as part of the world’s cultural heritage. Performed on July 18, the one-hour show presented the Rama-Shinta romance of the Hindu epic Ramayana in an attractive and entertaining way with a touch of technology.

Subtitled in Indonesian, the wording used the pattern Javanese literary works. The stage was designed to resemble a temple and urban buildings, and framed with a blend of digitally recorded traditional music and pop tunes. The puppets’ movements were visually rendered in video imagery through animation.

Yogyakartan and foreign artists have the opportunity to meet in various events under the International Program of FKY XIX 2007.artists are eager to collaborate with local counterparts. We hope the festival will serve as a forum of traditional and contemporary art brews,” Agung added.

The first local-international art collaboration in the FKY 2007 started with a road show of the People’s Puppet Project arranged by Australia’s Snuff Puppet Theater. In cooperation with the Bagong Kussudiardjo Foundation and the Indonesia-France Institute, the group prepared the show during a two-week workshop.

Based on the wayang orang (classical Javanese opera), the 3-meter-tall puppets presented a satirical comedy about rulers displaying their arrogance to their people in an episode called Kreteg (bridge).

“It’s an arena where Indonesians and Australians gathered after two weeks’ hard work to prepare it. This performance involved local and Australian players,” said Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer, who watched the show.

Agung made it clear that the substance of such international events was derived from traditional themes despite the use of contemporary media. He added that the presence of artists from different countries would meant Yogyakarta and its traditions would automatically be introduced to the international community.

“This is a turning point in the growth of cultural collaboration, with a positive impact on Yogyakarta in a global setting,” he said.

Slamet Susanto