Tisna and the River

Tisna sanjaya in one of his performance art
photo courtesy: lemahputih.com

Tentang Tisna Sanjaya dan Sungai Citarum

Tisna Sanjaya adalah Doktor lulusan  ISI ( Institut Seni Indonesia) Yogja dan perupa “paling unik” saat ini di tanah air. Melukis, mengajar/ menjadi dosen di FSRD ITB, aktivis untuk limbah/sampah dan bintang program TV lokal Bandung ini memang patut ditauladani. 

NUS Museum Singapura pada 2011 lalu "terpaksa" harus menerima lebih dari 1 ton sampah dari sungai Citarum, Bandung, sebagai karya seni dari Tisna yang sedang berpameran solo di galeri museum tersebut. 

Tisna adalah prototipe perupa cum aktivis tulen. Berkolaborasi dengan masyarakat yang hidup di bantaran kali Citarum, kecamatan Cigondewah, ia berhasil mentransformasi sampah plastik menjadi kegiatan seni, membuat mesin daur-ulang mesin sampah bersama warga.

About Tisna Sanjaya and Citarum River

Tisna Sanjaya is a doctor graduate from ISI ( Indonesian Institute of the Arts) Jogja and currently regarded as the “most unique artist” in the country. 

Working as a painter, a lecturer at Institut Teknologi Bandung’s Faculty of Visual Art and Design, a garbage/waste prevention activist and a local Bandung TV star, this man is an outstanding model for art activism. 

In 2011, NUS Museum Singapore had to take more than 1 ton of wastes from Citarum river, Bandung, as an “artwork” from Tisna who was having his solo exhibition at the museum gallery. Tisna is a prototype of a true artist-cum-activist. Collaborating with people who live by Citarum riverbank, he managed to transform plastic junks into art and create a waste recycling machine with the local people.

Artist Tisna Sanjaya (using hat) with volunteers and children painting with mud medium on canvas by the River Citarum in Kampoong Mekarsari, Sub Baleendah, Bandung regency, West Java, Indonesia (21.03.12). Surrounding communities were invited to care about conserving water on World Water Day.
photo courtesy:  www.pikiran-rakyat.com

Tisna sanjaya art installation on display at the National Gallery of Indonesia. The exhibition with the theme of "Sin City" in 2011 explores how art related to environmental issues, politics and humanity.
photo courtesy: Imam Muhtarom

Residents of kampoong to see ‘ Tisna mud painting’ with a number of art enthusiasts and activists of Indonesia Greenpeace commemorating the  World Water Day in polluted Citarum river in Cigebar, Bandung regency, West Java, Indonesia. 70 percent of approximately 600 industries located in the upper reaches of Citarum river and only 10 percent have a standard installation of wastewater treatment. 80 percent of the river water Citarumi is a source of raw water for drinking water company in Jakarta. 

photo courtesy:  tempo.co

activists at the riverbank
photo courtesy: tempo.co

Cigondewah: An Art Project by Tisna Sanjaya, NUS Museum, Singapore,  2011
photo courtesy: NUS Museum gallery

Murals Painted in Rio’s most notorious Slum

Jeroen Koolhas and Dre Urhahn in the front of murals which were painted in Vila Cruzeiro,
photo courtesy:  http://www.archdaily.com

Haas & Hahn dan Proyek Favela Painting

Duo perupa Belanda Jeroen Koolhaas dan Dre Urhahn ini menyelesaikan setidaknya dua proyek lukisan komunitas di Vila Cruzeiro— wilayah paling kumuh di Rio de Janeiro—juga sepanjang sesi awal daerah O Morro,  dalam upayanya memural sluruh sisi bukit distrik miskin tersebut. 

Sebanyak 34 rumah dan 7. 000 meter persegi distrik Praça Cantão di  Santa Marta telah juga telah bertransformasi lewat lukisan mural.

Pada tiap proyek Favela selalu merekrut warga lokal untuk mengerjakan lukisan, termasuk melatih dan membayar mereka. Ada juga pelatihan khusus keamanan tatkala  bekerja dengan menggunakan scaffolding. 

Duo perupa ini telah mencipta karya seni yang mampu membuat warna yang berbeda dalam kehidupan individual, kebersamaan, dan tentu saja bagi kota Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro slum (right) on hill, contrasted with a more affluent neighbourhood, as viewed from a tram in Santa Teresa; Cristo Redentor (christ statue) is in the left background
photo courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org

About Haas & Hahn and Favela Painting Project

Dutch artist duo Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn completed at least two community painting projects in Vila Cruzeiro—the worst slum in Rio de Janeiro—and O Morro area, in their effort to paint murals on the entire hillside of the poor districts.

 photo courtesy: http://www.thecoolist.com

photo courtesy:  http://www.thecoolist.com

Thirty four houses and 7, 000 meter² of Praça Cantão district in Santa Marta have also been transformed through mural paintings. In each of their project, Favela always recruits locals to work on the paintings, trains and pays them. 

They also give special security training to work with scaffolding. This duo has created artworks that give different colors in individual, communal and the city of Rio de Janeiro’s lives.

Haas and Hahn
photo courtesy: favelapainting.com

photo courtesy: http://www.thecoolist.com

Son Bata: Hope for Colombia Slum

Members of the Colombian music group Son Bata, including founder John Jaime Sanches (bottom right). 
photo courtesy: http://www.npr.org

Tentang Son Bata dan Proyek Seninya di "Kampoong Kumuh" 

Son Bata tumbuh di wilayah kumuh di kota Medellin, Colombia  dan rentan kekerasan yang berakibat kematian rata-rata  9 orang perhari pada 2009. Hari ini wilayah Medellin telah berubah. Ada sebuah harapan dari mimpi seorang anak muda yang mendirikan komunitas Son Bata, John Jaime Sanchez“keamanan tidak akan dibangun oleh polisi, tapi lewat proyek komunitas”. 

Komunitas ini berhasil menginisiasi organizer yang menyelenggarakan Petronio Alvarez Festival, selain mendapatkan pengghargaan dengan memenangkan Premio Shock (Shock Awards) pada festival hip hop nasional. Musiknya percampuran AfroColombian Chirimia dengan hip hop.

Di komunitasnya mereka membuat studio musik, workshop tari dan sekolah musikal, presentasi khusus untuk para donatur dan membuat event-event lain dengan identitas komunitas budaya Afro-Colombian. Mereka memiliki kantor dan pusat budaya yang terhubung dengan bantuan sponsor dari seluruh dunia. 

Dedikasi mereka yang tinggi terhadap musik, selain mendapatkan penghargaan nasional dan internasional,  juga menggiringnya tampil bersama dengan kelompok terkenal hip hop dunia: Red Hot Chilli Pepper.

About Son Bata and Their Art Project

Son Bata grew in a slum in Medellin, Colombia, an area so prone to violence that it’s estimated that there are 9 people killed per day. The young man who founded Son Bata community, John Jaime Sanchez, has an aspiration: “security is not going to be built by the police, but through community projects.” 

This community succeeded in winning over the organizer who holds Petronio Alvarez Festival, as well as winning Premio Shock (Shock Awards) at the national hip hop festival. Their music is a mix of Afro-Colombian Chirimia with hip hop. Within the community, they built a music studio, dance workshop and music school. They perform special presentations for the donators and hold other events to promote the community identity of Afro-Colombian culture. 

They have an interconnected office and cultural centre with the help of sponsors from all over the world. They are highly dedicated to music. Besides gaining national and international awards, they have also performed with a world famous rock/hip hop band, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

the most dangerous and violent slums of Medellin for more than a decade. photo courtesy: ronalddehommel.photoshelter.com

the view of Slum in Medellin
photo courtesy: picasaweb.google.com

Inverted Pyramid, New Vertical Manggarai Kampoong in Jakarta by Budi Pradono Architects

Piramida terbalik atau Inverted Pyramid, adalah sebuah konsep arsitektural tentang kompleks hunian terpadu di Kampoong Manggarai di masa depan.  Konsep ini mengadopsi akar pengertian wilayah kampoong yang telah ada hari ini, yakni: sebuah desa tradisional yang berlokasi di perkotaan Jakarta, yang cenderung informal dan tidak teratur.

Konsep ini menawarkan perumahan sosial yang unik dengan mengedepankan konsep ruang sosial informal yang didistribusikan secara acak di antara rongga dan hunian vertikal dan meningkatkan kepadatan di satu lokasi. Keenam blok perumahan sosial dengan satu bangunan blok dari fasilitas umum seperti masjid, gereja, ruang olahraga serta parkir vertikal.

Piramida Terbalik bukanlah menyediakan ruang publik informal yang berstruktur  vertikal saja, namun membawa juga kultur dan gaya hidup serupa dengan yang sudah ada selama ini. Dengan demikian sitem berkelanjutan menjadi dasar pertimbangan  struktur luarnya yang mampu menghasilkan energi, sembari menawarkan taman kota yang luas panorama Cityscapenya.

Tipologi baru ini memungkinkan pengguna untuk merenovasi dan membangun kembali rumah tinggal mereka sendiri sendiri sesuai kebutuhan seperti bentuk pintu, jendela partisi, dan, tentu saja membawa "ruh" karakter kampoong. 

Dalam tiap masyarakat Piramida diberikan keleluasaan untuk mengembangkan bisnis rumahan, sebagai contoh: menjahit pakaian, memperbaiki barang elektronik yang rusak, dan sebagainya, dalam konteks hidup di perkotaan. Komunitas sektor informal mendukung keseimbangan kota sebagai kontributor kegiatan ekonomi di daerah sekitarnya.




The Inverted Pyramid adopts the concept of the existing kampoong, a traditional urban village in Jakarta, which tends to be informal and irregular. It offers a unique social housing by bringing forward the concept of informal social spaces that are randomly distributed among the voids and vertical dwelling and increasing the density at one location.

The six blocks of social housing with one block of public facilities such as mosques, church, sport hall as well as vertical parking. The inverted pyramid is instead of gaining informal vertical public space, it also bring the culture and lifestyle similar to that already present, this is also sustainable considering its outer structure can produce energy, and while providing extensive urban park in the cityscape. 

This new typology also allowed user to renovate and rebuild of their - own dwelling according to various door, window, and partition, which bring the color of kampoong. spirit. In each Pyramid communities is given the discretion to develop home-based businesses such as sewing clothes, fixing damaged electronic goods, and so forth, since their life in the urban context, this informal sector community is supporting the balance of the city as a contributor to economic activities in the surrounding area.

All images courtesy by coba-cobagonzo.blogspot.com-Budi Pradono Architect

City of the soul

Jakarta Cityscape
"We do not look in our great cities for our best morality" - Jane Austen
photo courtesy: http://jakartalives.files.wordpress.com

Jakarta Slum
"For the first time the urban population of the earth will outnumber the rural. Indeed, given the imprecisions of Third World censuses, this epochal transition may already have occurred" - Planet of Slum, Mike Davis.
photo courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jakarta_slumhome_2.jpg

The Jakarta City Gap

 " Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed" - Mahatma Gandhi
photo courtesy: http://imo.thejakartapost.com/hendrapage/2010/11/06/letter-to-the-editor-on-jakartans-responsibility/

Jakarta Black and white
 "On the road from the City of Skepticism, I had to pass through the Valley of Ambiguity" - Adam Smith

Kampoong Art Attack Project by Jakarta Art Movement (JAM)

Design Courtesy by JAM

Proyek seni  Kampoong Art Attack  dengan fokus seni aktivisme dari Jakarta Art Movement (JAM) beritikad untuk setidaknya meredusir problem sosial yang menghimpit. Dengan membuka kesempatan, mencipta ruang mediasi dan semangat saling ajar-mengajar lewat kerja seni di kampung-kampung Jakarta. 

Mengembalikan kebanggaan atas identitas wilayah dan individu dengan saling dukung, mempercayai antar warga. Aktifitas artistik dipercaya sebagai sebuah media untuk berbagi dan peduli, serta yang paling penting: membantu mengembalikan harga diri,  memprovokasi kemandirian dan kesetaraan dengan menimbang potensi yang ada dalam masyarakat kampung.

 JAM menghadirkan komunitas-komunitas seni yang berinteraksi langsung, tumbuh/ berakar di wilayahnya atau dari luar, dengan melakukan riset mendalam dan beraktifitas bersama-sama warga kampung.  

Mereka bekerjasama dengan berbagai pihak seperti LSM, organisasi kepemudaan, lembaga pendidikan seni, ahli tata kota, arsitek, sosiolog dan psikolog, individu-individu yang konsern dengan nasib kampung bahkan ulama serta komunitas partisipan dari luar negeri ditantang untuk terjun bersama dalam sebuah jadwal dan agenda kegiatan yang saling berkesinambungan. 

Kampoong Art Attack project, which focuses on art activism by Jakarta Art Movement (JAM), intends to at least reduce pressing social problems by opening opportunities, creating a room for mediation and enlivening the spirit ‘to teach each other’ through artworks. 

It also aims to revitalize the pride for communal and individual identity by sharing and caring, and most importantly: to help bring back self esteem, to provoke independence and equality by assessing the potentials within the people of the kampoongs.

JAM introduces art communities that directly interact with, grow and root in their own territories or from the outside, by conducting in-depth researches and activities with the kampoong people. They work independently or by coalition with non-governmental organizations, youth organizations, art educational institutions, urban planning experts, architects, sociologists, psychologists, even religious figures and foreign communities. All of them are challenged to participate in a schedule and agenda of activities that sustain each other.


Photos below is examples of artworks and art activities made by independent art community in Jakarta and they will be make a joint cooperation with JAM on the art project of Kampoong Art Attack 2012-2013:

Atap Alis art community celebrating their 6th anniversary with the mural kampoong painting
photo courtesy: Atap Alis community

Kids workshop by Begoendal Art Community in Kampoong - Gang Festival, Jagakarsa, South Jakarta
photo courtesy: geedoor.com

Artworks by Jakarta’s art community Atap Alis who made their creative works in a slum, Kampung Rambutan, Ciracas, East Jakarta.Photos above show the community’s works, such as dolls made of recycled non-organic wastes, exhibited at National Gallery of Indonesia in 2011
photo courtesy: Atap Alis community 

WPAP art community take action on the event of Jakarta Biennale #14, 2011
photo courtesy: WPAP community

WPAP art community held a workshop at Ayodya park, South Jakarta
photo courtesy: WPAP community 

Serrum art community participated on human right awareness movement at the end of 2011 in Jakarta ( photo above shows some of the artists who joined in Serrum art community is working on a large painting portrait of one of the famous figures of Indonesian human rights fighters, Munir )
photo courtesy: serrum.org

Serrum art community with their street artworks on wall in 2011
photo courtesy: serrum.org

Transformation of Kampoong People

Tawuran di kampoong - Kampoong brawls
photo courtesy: http://www.wartanews.com/monaspolitan/0f3924c5-ba81-9889-29d1-198d905cbcde/warga-johar-baru-tawuran-lagi

Pada era modern, dan mungkin hanya satu-satunya di dunia, kota Jakartalah yang memiliki keniscayaan kampung-kampung yang  majemuk. Sebagian bertransformasi menjadi modern dan sebagian lainnya memilih tetap bertahan, memegang teguh nilai-nilai tradisi.

Masyarakat kampung mengalami benturan keras dengan proses modernisasi. Yang dulunya bersifat kekeluargaan- gemeinschaft berubah mengental menjadi individualis- gesellschaft setahap demi setahap. Cenderung menaggalkan karakter masyarakat batih yang guyub.

Sikap primordial masyarakat kampung mungkin telah luluh-lantak, tidak siap medapati diri mereka mengalami gegar-budaya. Saat ini lebih kuat lagi tantangannya dengan dampak destruktif makin hebat. Lokasi kampung menjadi lebih kumuh, miskin dan tertinggal karena perubahan yang makin cepat dan mendadak. Kampung-kampung tua telah tergeser, menempati wilayah lama tetapi dirasa makin asing dan terisolir bagi warganya sendiri.

Kota modern Megapolitan seperti Jakarta sebagai induk, tumbuh pesat bahkan tak terkontrol. Pada waktu yang sama menanggalkan masyarakat kampung dengan kultur lama yang samar-samar masih dipegang . Akhirnya, masyarakat kampung benar-benar tersisih. Sebagian dari mereka tetap survival di lokasi pusat kota, bantaran kali, gang-gang atau daerah pinggiran berdekatan dengan wilayah industri dan pabrik. 

Kampoong peoples in East Jakarta
photo courtesy: timur.jakarta.go.id

One of cluster houses in Jakarta
photo courtesy: grandwisataku.wordpress.com

Floods at Kampoong Melayu, East Jakarta
photo courtesy: http://metro.news.viva.co.id

One of houses in Jakarta Slum area

In this modern era, Jakarta maybe the only city in the world where the pluralistic kampoongs survive time after time. Some transform and become more modern, some others choose to stay true to traditional values.

The kampong people experience a hard clash with modernization process. Little by little, the familial nature (gemeinschaft) has been turning more and more individualistic (gesellschaft). These days kampoongs tend to abandon their tight-knit ties and communal characteristics.

Their primordial attitude may have begun to fall apart, due to their unpreparedness in dealing with cultural clashes. Now the challenges are even stronger with greater destructive impacts. The neighborhoods get dirtier, poorer and even more left behind – unable to keep up with the swift and sudden changes.

Old kampongs are marginalized, alienated and isolated from their own inhabitants when they still remain in the same old locations. Meanwhile, the patron, the modern megapolitan Jakarta, keeps on growing rapidly, up to the point where the development gets uncontrollable. This process abandons the kampoong people who still faintly hold on to old cultures. Eventually, the kampoong people become totally marginalized. Some of them still survive in central locations such as river banks and alleys, while the others are pushed to peripheral locations near industrial areas.