The city of Yogyakarta is cloudy. The drizzle that started to fall did not stop people from doing their activities. It’s the same at the Jogja National Museum. The Biennale Forum, which was scheduled for today (Friday, 08/10), is still taking place at the Ajiyasa Pendopo. Although there was a slight change in time, the event still went according to plan.
This discussion presented Mella Jaarsma and Rully Shabara as speakers and Hafiz Rancajale as the moderator. The discussion, which lasted for approximately two hours, raised the theme “Representing Culture: Artistic Adaptation and Interpretation.” Tradition and contemporary art are the subjects of study in this discussion. The idea is how to build knowledge from both.
The panelists and moderators went to the stage. Before opening the discussion, Hafiz Rancajale started with a quote from Sudjojono. “You throw away thoughts of the past, look to the West. That’s art that has been established for hundreds of years,” he quoted.
For contemporary artists, creating something new is important. This is not the same as traditional artists, because what is important for them is preserving the old. Mella conveyed this thought when she started her project with Agus Ongge, an artist from Sentani, Papua.
“What is the importance of painting for Agus and his friends? How is their interest in preserving motifs? It’s interesting,” said Mella.
Mella focuses on looking at clothes as a living tradition that has been around for a very long time. She focuses on how in Papua, together with Agus Ongge, they make tradition as a way to care for clothes.
As for contemporary art, she reinterprets what already exists, such as bark painting, reinterpreted, rearranged into clothes again.
Rully Shabara from the Gema Cluster documented sounds from across the archipelago. Gema Cluster, whose background in contemporary music focuses on preserving and archiving traditional music. According to Gema Cluster, every traditional art has its own problems.
“We need expedition coverage. Sharpening our focus. Is it that important to explore traditional music? So far, we feel the focus may not be here. How does this awareness arise from local artists in their exploration of traditional music? Their urgency? If it’s not urgent, what’s the point?” said Rully.
Tradition is part of the reality of life. Because tradition comes from what we call part of everyday life, morals, and judgment. All of it is a part of thousands of years of historical tradition. The exploitation of tradition from researchers also has a positive side.
“Researchers have written a book in the 50s about the traditions of the Sentani people. So, the book became an inspiration to paint again. That’s part of preservation,” said Mella.
What matters in an artwork is knowledge, not product. Quoting Hafiz’s opinion, art is still about knowledge, not products. Not about the visible, but also the abstract.
