Rudy Ardianto & Vanessa Hyde, Indonesia
27 May 2010
The Future is You(th). Jan Cornall provides an inspiring
overview of Festival Mata Air, 2009. AVI volunteers Rudy Ardianto
and Vanessa Hyde began the festival in 2006, setting up a local
NGO, Komunitas TUK which runs environment focused community
programs throughout the year.
Festival Mata Air 2009 - Indonesia
In the pretty tree lined town of Salatiga in Central Java, it's
that time of year again. A band of young people dressed in wild and
wonderful costumes has taken over the streets bringing a message of
hope for the future. A police car, blue lights flashing, siren
blaring, leads the way as shop keepers and shoppers pour out onto
the street to see what the commotion is all about. A drum and
xylophone band beats out a compelling rhythm on large blue plastic
recycled barrels. Four young girls walking tall in feathered
witches hats and gold lame boots twirl long batons and prance and
dance with such confidence and charm you know you will buy anything
they have to sell. A band of cardboard box boys like versions of
the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, follow. There's an assortment of
tree people, young men in fabulous recycle drag and children
adorned in Soto Mie packet dresses to die for. A fat cat developer
with a hoop stomach tries to get passers-by to sell their trees,
their land, even the clothes they are standing in. Bringing
up the rear is a contingent of BMX and Ontel cyclists as a team of
leafleteers and rubbish pickers work the crowd.
The message these kids are selling is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,
and the public are buying it, reaching out for leaflets, holding
their babies high to watch -, even drivers stuck in the traffic jam
are snapping away with cameras and calls of encouragement.
Onlookers stack the median strip, banks of motor-cyclists wait
patiently to get through. An old lady joins in, selling her
colender hat for 2,000 rupiah. Over two hours the procession
weaves its way through Salatiga's busy streets, stopping, starting,
resting but never for a moment losing its spirit of youthful
celebration. On the down hill leg it starts to rain but no- one is
bothered, they are high on the message of change and wear their
creations proudly to the last minute, breaking out into a whooping
drumming frenzy when they arrive back in the park they started
from.
This parade is the advance party - the result of months of
workshops leading up to Festival Mata Air, an annual environmental
arts festival now in its fourth year. The festival brings together
art, music, community, ecology and environmental awareness around
Salatiga's natural water springs- this year in the village of
Senjoyo. AVI volunteers Rudy Ardianto and Vanessa Hyde began the
festival in 2006, setting up a local NGO, Komunitas TUK which runs
environment focused community programs throughout the year.
This year's festival is bigger than ever, drawing crowds in the
thousands over two days and three nights from local and
neighbouring towns - Solo, Yogyakarta, Semarang and as far away as
Bali and Jakarta. A crew of Australian artists, musicians and
volunteers are involved, some arriving a month early for arts
residencies and helping out in the lead up. The scale of the event
is impressive - two music stages, an electro tent, workshops,
installations and art areas, warungs, information stalls, camping
and plenty of room for Indonesian 'spontan'. The water stage in
front of the blue pool hosts up to fifty punk/ noise /metal bands.
The main stage in the shady uphill area hosts thirty Indie, rock,
blues, percussion and performance groups, while the electro tent
has the same number of sound/DJ artists chilling the crowd until
the dawn hours.
And amazingly it all runs on time with MC's giving up-beat eco-
themed patter and commentary in between acts. As well there are
workshops through out the day - yoga, mosaic, mural painting,
recycled handicrafts, lantern making, community radio, social media
marketing, sculptural crochet, hula hoop and circus skills, guitar
and more. A market place has stalls selling eco-craft and giving
out information from environmental and community groups. There is a
gallery space; eco installations built around trees or floating in
the lake; muralists and mosaic artists busy on walls and pylons;
roving performance artists; a flying fox across the lake and
adventure ropes and activities. Warungs (food stalls) lining the
site are busy day and night. A huge clean up day in the weeks
before has netted a ton of trash which organizers have left as an
installation next to the spring for all to see, with the slogan on
a wall, "Bawa Pulang Sampahmu" - 'Take Your Trash Home.'
The bands draw an audience of young people, but families wander
through especially when the trance dance and the kids workshops are
on. And they are all there as the lantern parade on the final
evening threads its way through the woods to the lake. There, a
giant reclining lantern is launched on the water along with all the
smaller lanterns children have made. Fire twirlers dancing to a
percussion beat add to the wonder of this celebration of fire and
water reminding all of the sacred origins of the natural water
spring we have come to celebrate.
You might be thinking, yes, well, what's so new about this idea,
but this is Indonesia where government support for the arts and
environment is minimal and environmental awareness is hampered by
lack of facilities and entrenched conservatism.
If I told you how much the budget for this festival is you
wouldn't believe me (try $10,000AUD), but lack of funding never
prevents Indonesian artists from making their art. This is a
community effort. Everyone gives their time and art for free, local
businesses, community groups and individuals (Australia also) give
donations and a few major sponsors chip in.
Australian Volunteers International have supported Rudy and
Vanessa in volunteer positions for the past two years and as they
get ready to return to Oz they leave a solid legacy for the
incoming volunteers to work with. Titi Permata, an environmental
consultant and indispensable TUK volunteer, along with the
remaining TUK team plan to start work on a book documenting the
history of the festival thus far.
The TUK Secretariat (office) with its screen printing studio and
workshop space continues to be a meeting place and magnet for young
people. They are the ones who, with the support of TUK and Festival
Mata Air, have a picked up the baton to carry this message to the
community. They recognise what older generations perhaps forget -
that the future is theirs. With their vibrant creativity nurtured
by TUK, Salatiga youth now have the confidence to find solutions to
the environmental challenges their communities face.
Festival Mata Air 2009 was sponsored by AusAID, Australian
Volunteers International (AVI), Ford Foundation, Mandiri Bank, PT
Pertamina, PT Bapak Djenggot and The Institute of Good Governance
& Regional Development (IGGRD).
by Jan Cornall
For more information about Festival Mata Air, check out the
Tanam Untuk Kehidupan (TUK) website.