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JakArt@2008
Festival Outline

From August 1 – 31, JakArt@2008 International Arts Cultural & Educational Festival will transform Jakarta into the ‘cultural city’ of the world featuring real imaginary, real, and imaginary real events, exhibitions, world premiers, interdisciplinary collaborations, etc., and will include the Annual General Meeting of AAPAF (Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals) coinciding with the opening of the festival. This year’s festival theme is: Forbidden, Forgotten, Forsaken and our motto is “Reality begins where Fantasy ends”.

JakArt@2008 ’s programming is arranged
in three major categories:
1
IF,
(Imaginary Festival)
A conceptual festival where imaginary events take place.

3
A combination of
the conceptual and the real.

Forbidden, Forgotten, Forsaken

Today we live in a society where those who wish to promote their products whether these are consumer goods, services, information, the news, the Arts, political and religious beliefs and opinions, wars, or entertainment use intrigue and deceit, packaged for mass consumption, with the ultimate aim of creating a global docile consumer society that subscribes to their views. Restrictions are ever increasingly disguised and sold as beneficial for our safe existence. Moreover we are actively encouraged to forget and forsake our culture and traditions. We exist in a world of blurred distinctions where everything has been turned upside down. Our theme this year is meant to draw attention to these very real and serious issues.

“Reality begins where Fantasy ends”

The Imaginary Festival  (If) is a mix of Reality and fantasy
where the real imaginary and imaginary real artists are
performing at real or imaginary locations, times and/or dates.

If is an art work in itself
but also a concept
and a format for a festival
originally conceived in 2005.

If is designed

1
to explore and question
our perceptions and their limitations;

2
to expose and promote
the power of imagination;

3
to unveil and discover
alternative realities while
critically examining our society
and the realities currently available;

4
to inspire and foster a collective fantasy
that if subscribed to and
sustained for long enough
can in itself becomea new collective realty.
 

(If many people share a fantasy it will become real.)

IF is a collaboration of many real imaginary, real, and imaginary real artists (from all the disciplines of the Arts) intellectuals, critics, promoters, sponsors, volunteers, audiences ………… and the mass media (radio, television, printed media, and internet) 

AAPAF

From August 1- 3 JakArt will host The Annual General Meeting of AAPAF.

Organizers, artistic directors, producers and promoters from International acclaimed festivals and organizations will attend this important event.

As the meeting takes place during JakArt@2008 participants will be invited to events of the festival, including the opening ceremony and a special show case of performing Arts from Indonesia will be organized for their benefit. The 3 day meeting will also include several panel discussions. Some very familiar speakers are invited to talk about the future of culture, the state of the cultural landscape and our cultural environment.

The Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals (AAPAF) aims to recognize the growth of arts festivals in the Asian region. The Founding Festival Members are the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, the Singapore Arts Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and the Jakarta International Arts Cultural & Educational Festival (JakArt). Presently AAPAF counts 31 members.

Hosting the AAPAF AGM  will open up bilateral relations between members of the AAPAF and Indonesia through cultural exchange and cultural diplomacy.

Cultural City of the World                                   

We are aware that the dream of turning Jakarta into a cultural city is far from reality because not only do we lack the appropriate infrastructure but also the funding and political will required to achieve this goal any time in the near future. That is why we have taken a decision of building this year’s festival around IF

JakArt@2008  will include:
a) Advertising & promotion of major performances by well renowned orchestras, dance, music and theatre companies, etc; exhibitions of famous contemporary artists as well as major historical exhibitions from museums around the world. This could include a performance by the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bolshoi Ballet and Opera theatre, the National Theatre of Greece, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, the Royal Ballet, Yo-Yo Ma string quartet, the Juilliard String Quartet, the Keith Jarrett trio, Etta James & The Roots Band, Bobby McFerrin & Guests, the Royal Shakespeare Company, La Scala Opera (Teatro alla Scala) or exhibitions of the works by Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent Van Gogh and others. There will be discussions, interviews, commentaries, write-ups, critiques etc of these events on the radio, television and in the printed and electronic media.

b) events where the real artists perform at real locations on set times and dates, not only in most of the existing venues in the city, such as concert halls and theatres, but also unconventional venues in the city, such as schools and universities, community centers, community theaters, parks, the streets, mosques, churches, cafes,.... and more will used. The local community will be involved to the maximum extend possible, by taking the festival to them and creating hands-on experiences and events.  JakArt@ 2008 is a celebration of human culture involving more then 500 artists at more then 100 locations. JakArt@ 2008 will be the result of the combined efforts of an impressive number of individual artists and concerned citizens who are collectively coming to the realization that some action is called for imminently and who then will create a monumental event that will reach a wide audience and draw attention to a number of important issues. We hope that this will start an on-going dialogue that will develop into a deeper level of understanding.
 

c) Audiences invited to watch performances, for example the World Premiere of the Shoestring orchestra. (An orchestra set up only with, shoes and strings, 1 Conductor, 1 violin, 1 cellist, an incomplete choir performing the 9th of Beethoven); to attend seminars where Soekarno and Leonardo Davinci participate in a discussion about the cultural environment of the 21^st century; or attend exhibitions where only the frames are on display.
 

The JakArt Festivals
In 1999 JakArt was established as a grass-roots organization to demonstrate, expose, share, encourage and promote:
 

For more information please contact us at:

JakArt secretariat: Jln. Lebak Bulus II / 20 A, Cilandak – Jakarta 12430, INDONESIA
Tel/ fax: + 62-21-75907687, Tel: + 62-21-70830742, email: proseni@indosat.net.id