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Project Tobong - Indonesia - Arts Council - British Council - 2012

A collaboration between British artist Helen Marshall and Indonesian artist Risang Yuwono, hosted by Indonesia Contemporary Art Network (iCAN), Yogyakarta, Java.This project is supported by Arts Council England and the British Council.

A research and development arts project with the Ketoprak Tobong Kelana Bakti Budaya, one of the last remaining theatre troupe in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. Ketoprak is a traditional Javanese theater, with dialogue, monologue and music. The Tobong is a mobile-temporary bamboo building. It often is a stage, a group of dwellings and a place for the audience. Traditional performing arts such as the ketoprak tobong is increasingly marginalised in the contemporary culture of Indonesia. Lack of government support and the invasion of modern urban culture makes their way of life evermore at risk.

The project will document the lives of this community and where they live on the outskirts of the city of Yogyakarta, spending a period of intensive residency with them. They will develop a community archive, organise a program of interactions and interventions that bring about a new audience. They will also carry out a repair program and build a photo booth called 'Pendapa' on site. The artists will also devise, with their cooperation, a series of staged photographs or ‘tableau vivant’ (living pictures) that will be exhibited at the end of the project.

Visit the website

http://ketopraktobong.com

Project Tobong adalah kolaborasi antara seniman Inggris Helen Marshall dan seniman Indonesia Risang Yuwono yang diorganisir oleh Indonesia Contemporary Art Network (iCAN), Yogyakarta. Ini adalah proyek seni berbasis penelitian bersama Ketoprak Tobong Kelana Bakti Budaya, salah satu kelompok ketoprak tobong terakhir yang tersisa di Yogyakarta, Jawa, Indonesia. Ketoprak adalah teater tradisional Jawa, dengan dialog, monolog dan musik. Tobong adalah bangunan bambu, biasanya terdiri dari panggung, tempat tinggal dan tempat untuk penonton. Seni pertunjukan tradisional seperti ketoprak tobong semakin terpinggirkan dalam budaya kontemporer Indonesia. Kurangnya dukungan pemerintah dan serbuan budaya kota modern membuat cara hidup mereka semakin terancam.

Melalui residensi intensif, proyek ini akan mendokumentasikan kehidupan komunitas Ketoprak Tobong Kelana Bakti Budaya, di tempat mereka tinggal di pinggiran kota Yogyakarta. Proyek ini akan membangun arsip komunitas, menyelenggarakan program interaksi dan intervensi dengan membawa penonton baru. Proyek ini juga akan melakukan perbaikan dan membangun ruang serbaguna (pendapa) di lokasi tobong, dan juga akan merancang serangkaian foto tableau vivant (gambar hidup) yang akan dipamerkan pada akhir proyek. Proyek ini didukung oleh Arts Council England dan British Council.

Working with ICan Indonesia Contemporary Art Network based in Jogyakarta, Java and ArtiUK in the UK, the project will develop into a residency and exhibition. They will spend a period of intensive residency with the Ketoprak Tobong, gaining valuable insights into their way of life, and devise with their cooperation a series of staged photographs or ‘tableau vivant’ meaning ‘living pictures’. This term historically describes a group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. These images will be staged in the city, in it's commercial, touristic and rapidly expanding fringes. The images opposite are some location shots taken in Yogyakarta.

ICan will host the residency and will work in collaboration with them to develop an important dialogue, publication and exhibition that will address current cultural policy. In October 2102 Helen Marshall presented the proposal in London at The Indonesia Kontemporer 2012, organised by ArtiUK, a non-profit organisation aiming at promoting Indonesian arts and culture within the UK’s cultural diversity.