Being confronted by radical Muslim groups

Audience’s Question: Do you try to avoid political works?

No. That is the good thing about being an independent place. We care about artistic expression and the content, but we maintain the freedom of expression. There are some radical Muslim groups in Indonesia and so often worry about being attacked.

We were actually attacked by people from a radical Muslim group when we held a discussion of a book Allah, Liberty and Love by a Canadian writer Irshad Manji who happened to be a lesbian. They came to the event and attacked us, asking us to stop the discussion. When we didn’t stop they broke into the place.

Pembubaran Paksa Diskusi Irshad Manji Komunitas Salihara

Later that year we held the Salihara International Performing Arts Festival with Daniel Leveille Danse, a dance group from Canada who are known to do naked performances. Nudity can be considered pornography in Indonesia. They could only perform once because we were worried that people would spread the news about the nude dance and it would attract the radical groups. It was a pity because they came all the way from Canada. Even though they only performed for one night it was very successful. We also worried about the audience because some people can be offended by nudity, but it went smoothly and was very successful.

Audience’s Question: Do you set a theme for the festival?

This has been discussed when programming the festival. If we work with a specific theme it can be too difficult. Until last year our festival didn’t have a theme. Our festival is only held at Salihara and although 40 days seems long, we only present about 14 performances. In one week we can only present two or three performances. If you prepare for two or three days and perform for two or three then it takes up a whole week. We always think about setting a theme.

Audience’s Question: Who is the audience for the festival?

Our audiences are mostly Indonesian, among of them are students and young people. We sometimes invite presenters from other countries but not very often. People can only see two or three performances in a week so it can be a bit of a waste to just come for the festival. Sometimes they really want to see the program and we have some people come from the Netherlands just to see one performance.

Producing festivals for literature and dance

Audience’s Question: Maybe this was a few years ago, but do you still have a literature festival and a music festival?

Since this is a performing arts event I haven’t spoken about them, but every year we have a festival at Salihara. This year it will be Salihara International Performing Arts Festival and next year it will be the Salihara Literary Biennale. We always have a theme and last time it was literary cirque – everything related to circus or mystery. We also had two performances including Hiroshi Koike’s The Restaurant of Many Orders.

This biennial international literary festival showcases contemporary Indonesian and world literature, as well as highlighting a wealth of classical and traditional works. This month-long festival features author readings, book discussions, reading and writing workshops, lectures, and school/ campus visits designed to expand literary knowledge amongst students. The festival also features commissioned works in the form of musical compositions or visual art pieces (artifacts), which are created with reference to poetry selected by the curatorial board. These commissioned pieces are performed or exhibited throughout the Literary Biennale.

We have small-scale performances each month. For example, we held Jazz Buzz (the theme of this year is Jazz Sans Frontieres) over several weekends - it wasn’t the usual jazz but it’s jazz mixed with progressive rock, and four to six groups played. We also held Hela Tari (Dance Festival), which ran every day for two weeks only.

Last year there was a world music forum and a theater forum. This all happens in the years that we don’t have a performing arts festival. We basically never stop.

Audience’s Question: What collaborations do you have planned for this year’s festival?

This year we will hold the premiere of Eko Supriyanto’s new production as I mentioned before. We will have Theater Company ARICA from Japan and the Human Zoo from England. We will have some music programs from Australia and Malaysia.

The theme for the music program is contemporary works from Indonesia. Three groups will perform every day and will come from Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Bandung and other regions of Indonesia.

Thank you very much for joining me today.