Words Sebastian Partogi Photos Arief Suhardiman

AN ART INSTALLATION SEEKS TO REIMAGINE BATIK’S POSSIBILITIES

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Indonesian Fashion Designers Association (IPMI) as well as the 10th anniversary of the Senayan City shopping center in Senayan, South Jakarta, the two organizations have teamed up to hold a batik installation exhibition called The Spectrum of Batik at the ground floor of the shopping mall.

The exhibition, which will run until Oct. 23, features the works of 23 prominent Indonesian designers with the likes of Denny Wirjawan, Carmanita, Era Soekamto and many more.

If you picture a conventional batik exhibition with fabrics strewn over mannequins, stay tuned: this installation seeks to combine that with a unique lighting design that changes colors throughout the exhibition, in line with the theme of spectrum. To accomplish this, the organizer is cooperating with lighting design consultant Trilite Wesia Geni.

“We want to leverage batik to the next level, where it can be enjoyed visually like paintings,” Iwan Tirta Private Collection creative director Era Soekamto, also a member of IPMI and an organizer of the event, briefed the press at the opening of the exhibition on Oct. 5. “We also would like to explore other methods of presenting batik that are in line with the most recent development in contemporary arts, including white box space performances, for instance.”

“I use fiber optics to project lights that gradually change from monochromatic to show different spectrums,” Robby Permana, lighting designer from Trilite Wesia Geni explained.

True to the concepts of batik and light, the exhibition specializes itself in showcasing fabrics with a truntung motif. The motifs are commonly used during wedding ceremonies and symbolize the brilliant light that each human being embodies.

“We decided to pick this motif because we find this to be the most suitable in depicting the entire spectrum of batik,” Era explained.

The exhibition is just one part of IPMI’s array of celebrations. In November, at least two events – the Trend Show 2017 as well as a photography exhibition – will take place, also in Senayan City.

LESSONS LEARNED

IPMI chairwoman Syamsidar Isa, meanwhile, explained a number of lessons that the organization had learned in its 30-year career.

“We need to get more batik craftspeople with prominent designers, because it will help them to establish their reputation,” she said during the press conference.

Mutual learning between craftspeople and fashion designers is also very important.

“Craftspeople need to understand that fashion shows aren’t easy to organize. They need to learn to understand the desire of designers as well as the most recent developments in terms of taste, whether it’s the current trendiest color or the quality that designers demand,” she explained.

She added that designers also had to learn from craftspeople to understand the characteristics of the fabric so that they could tailor their demands to the materials available from the craftspeople.

Rare batik cloths on display at Bentara Budaya Jakarta

Are you curious to see what a 160-year-old batik cloth looks like?

The rare batik cloth is currently on display at Bentara Budaya Jakarta. The cloth with kembang setaman (Clusters of Flowers) motif is only one of the old batik cloths on display. Themed “Selisik Batik Pesisir”, the exhibition opened in Oct.4 and will run through Oct.9. The exhibition is jointly organized by Kompas and Bentra Budaya Jakarta.

The exhibition is highlighting the batik of three regions: Madura, Tuban and Bengkulu. The collection from Madura is comprised of 40 batik cloths belonging to East Java Batik Community (Kibas) head Lintu Tulistyantoro. Lintu has been collecting old batiks from Madura that are rarely produced by batik artisans on the island nowadays.

The exhibition also displays lurup batik, a rare batik variety from Pamekasan regency, which is usually used to cover dead bodies.

Apart from old batik cloths belonging to the Bengkulu province’s state museum, batik from Bengkulu on display includes new motifs. One of these is the work of Dudung Alie Syahbana: a 5-meter black-and-white batik cloth, adorned with the full text of the famed historical poem Gurindam XII in Arabic letters.

The batik exhibition also displays several batik cloths from the 18 regions covered by the Kompas Selisik Batik team.

“Selisik Batik Pesisir” exhibition also features discussions, film screenings and batik market.

(Courtesy of Plaza Indonesia)Batik Fashion Week at Plaza Indonesia

To celebrate National Batik Day, Plaza Indonesia held Batik Fashion Week (BFS) 2016 with the latest batik fashion designs displayed at the plaza’s Warehouse.

BFS 2016, organized jointly by Yayasan Batik Indonesia and T&Co, opened on Sept. 30 and ran through to Oct. 2.

Initiated by young people, BFS constitutes a social movement to conserve and develop this important cultural legacy.

The craft of batik needs to be maintained, and “that’s the reason behind holding Batik Fashion Week. We want to raise awareness among Indonesian people, especially the young, about the importance of preserving batik,” said Nita Kenzo from Yayasan Batik Indonesia, who also chaired National Batik Day.

She made the remarks during a conference before of the fashion show. Batik designs by NES, Populo Batik, Galeri Batik Jawa, Parang Kencana, Danar Hadi and Kulo were launched during the press conference.

Themed “Imagining the Past through the Eyes of the Future”, BFS 2016 saw several top fashion designers display their latest batik fashion designs. They included BIN House, Danar Hadi, Parang Kencana, Jeffry Tan, Rama Dauhan, Kulo Project, Sejauh Mata Memandang, Era Soekamto for Iwan Tirta Private Collection, Sapto Djojokartiko, Galeri Batik Jawa and NES.