Lawatan Empat Kota di Asia

Baru-baru ini saya mendapat kesempatan melakukan lawatan ke empat kota di wilayah Asia Tenggara untuk mengunjungi beberapa ruang seni dan bertemu dengan para seniman yang tinggal di sana. Adapun tujuan dari lawatan ini salah satunya adalah untuk membangun jaringan kerjasama diantara para seniman muda yang berdomisili dan bekerja beberapa kota Asia, selain untuk melakukan perbandingan perkembangan seni rupa yang ada di masing-masing kota.

Kota pertama yang saya kunjungi adalah Singapura. Ketika saya disana, kebetulan ada pembukaan ruang seni yang bernama 72-13 (website: www.72-13.com). Bertempat di sebuah bekas gudang beras tua yang bersebelahan dengan Singapore River, tempat ini kabarnya menjadi markas baru bagi kelompok TheatreWorks, sebuah kelompok teater yang sudah berdiri sejak tahun 1985. Selain memiliki ruang untuk seni pertunjukan yang dapat menampung sekitar 250 penonton, 72-13 rencananya juga akan berfungsi sebagai ruang galeri yang dapat digunakan sebagai tempat pameran dan residensi bagi seniman manca negara yang berasal dari berbagai latar belakang disiplin.

Di Singapura tampaknya pemerintah setempat memiliki kebijakan untuk merevitalisasi gedung-gedung tua yang bersejarah menjadi ruang untuk kegiatan seni semisal gedung pertunjukan, galeri, museum, dsb. Di kota Bandung kita juga memiliki beberapa gedung tua yang kini sering digunakan untuk kegiatan seni, yaitu Gedung Indonesia Menggugat di Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan, Galeri Kita yang bertempat di Jalan Riau, Gedung AACC di Jalan Braga, dsb. Bedanya mungkin hanya sedikit, ruang-ruang seni di Singapura sepertinya didukung dengan perencanaan & sumber dana yang lebih memadai sehingga dapat dikelola dengan profesional dan dapat melayani kebutuhan warga kota Singapura dengan maksimal.

Lepas dari Singapura, saya kemudian melakukan kunjungan singkat ke Kuala Lumpur. Di kota ini ada beberapa galeri yang dikelola oleh pemerintah, perusahaan swasta, maupun perorangan. National Art Gallery (Balai Seni Lukis Negara) adalah salah satu contoh galeri yang dikelola oleh negara. Galeri yang telah berdiri sejak tahun 1958 ini sepenuhnya dibiayai oleh pemerintah untuk dapat menjalankan kegiatannya. Galeri Petronas adalah salah satu contoh galeri yang dimiliki oleh perusahaan komersial. Terletak di KLCC Tower, galeri ini didirikan pada tahun 1993 oleh Petronas, sebuah perusahaan minyak terbesar yang dimiliki oleh pemerintah Malaysia. Sementara itu, galeri yang dikelola oleh perorangan contohnya adalah Galeri Seni Maya & Valentine Willie Fine Art yang terletak di daerah Bangsar Baru. Selain sering memamerkan karya seniman Malaysia, galeri ini juga rajin memamerkan karya seniman dari luar Malaysia. Agus Suwage dan Rahmaiani adalah seniman Indonesia yang tercatat pernah berpameran di galeri Valentine Willie Fine Art.

Dari Kuala Lumpur, saya kemudian melanjutkan perjalanan ke Ipoh, sebuah kota kecil yang berjarak kurang lebih 200 km dari Kuala Lumpur. Di kota ini saya diundang untuk menghadiri diskusi yang diselenggarakan oleh Yayasan Kesenian Perak, sebuah organisasi budaya yang berdiri pada tahun 1996 (website: http://www.rumahykp.org.my). Dalam diskusi tersebut kami membicarakan banyak hal, terutama beberapa perbandingan perkembangan seni rupa di masing-masing negara paska 1998. Selain itu, kami juga mendiskusikan berbagai aspek narasi mikro yang terkait dengan perkembangan seni rupa, terutama berbagai peristiwa sejarah kecil yang selama ini biasanya “tersembunyikan” oleh alur sejarah formal yang kebanyakan diproduksi oleh berbagai institusi yang memiliki kepentingan politik tertentu.

Perbedaan yang terasa sangat mencolok adalah kebanyakan institusi seni di Malaysia didukung penuh keberadaannya oleh pemerintah setempat. Namun dukungan ini biasanya disertai dengan kontrol yang ketat dari pemerintah Malaysia, sehingga seniman di sana tidak dapat terlampau bebas mengekspresikan aspirasi artistiknya. Situasi semacam ini tampaknya berbanding terbalik dengan kondisi di Indonesia. Walaupun perkembangan seni di Indonesia terasa lebih semarak, dukungan pemerintah terhadap aktifitas seni terasa sangat minim. Oleh karena itu kebanyakan institusi seni di Indonesia dikelola secara mandiri oleh para seniman maupun masyarakat umum. Ambil contoh misalnya Galeri Nadi dan ruangrupa di Jakarta, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space dan Nyoman Nuarta Sculpture Park di Bandung, ataupun Rumah Seni Cemeti di Yogyakarta.

Perjalanan saya kemudian diakhiri dengan mengunjungi kota Bangkok di Thailand. Di kota ini saya berkesempatan untuk menghadiri pembukaan pameran yang menampilkan karya 3 seniman lokal, yaitu Vasan Sitthiket, Adulphan ls-sarangul-an-ayutdhaya dan “Bobby” Suphasit Vong-rom-ngen. Seri karya Vasan Sitthiket yang diberi judul “Sex Bomb: 24 Hours” sempat mencuri perhatian saya melalui ungkapan yang banal terhadap berbagai peristiwa politik global, yang dibumbui dengan humor & lelucon yang konyol. Sebuah kumpulan ekspresi satir yang mengingatkan saya akan karya Isa Perkasa & Tisna Sanjaya. Sementara itu Adulphan dan Bobby menampilkan seri lukisan pemandangan yang lebih tenang dan terasa sederhana.

Selain itu, saya juga sempat mengunjungi The Rajata Art House, sebuah ruang inisiatif yang dikelola oleh seniman muda Thailand yang memiliki latar belakang yang beragam. Di tempat ini, berbagai kegiatan seni yang melibatkan publik banyak dilakukan. Aktifitas mereka hampir mirip dengan kegiatan Jendela Ide yang berdomisili di kota Bandung dan Rumah Dunia di kota Serang. Salah seorang dari mereka sempat menceritakan kalau sebenarnya gagasan membuka tempat ini berawal dari diktat penelitian mereka mengenai managemen budaya. Dibantu oleh dosen (Pracamkrong Pongpaiboon) & beberapa teman dekat, akhirnya gagasan yang mereka tuliskan di dalam tugas kuliah berhasil direalisasikan dan mendapatkan sambutan yang baik di sebagian kalangan warga kota Bangkok.

Kyai Gede Utama, 11 Oktober 2005

Keterangan foto:
Berfoto bareng bersama teman-teman di Yayasan Kesenian Perak

Sedikit Catatan dari Pelaksanaan The Third Asia Europe Art Camp 2005

Kira-kira pada pertengahan bulan yang lalu, saya dan beberapa teman yang tergabung di dalam organisasi Bandung Center for New Media Arts baru saja menyelesaikan penyelenggaraan The Third Asia Europe Art Camp 2005 yang dilaksanakan di Bandung sejak tanggal 4 s/d 12 Agustus 2005. Program yang diselenggarakan secara bersama dengan The Asia-Europe Foundation ini merupakan penyelenggaraan yang ketiga setelah sebelumnya diselenggarakan di Paris (2003) dan Tokyo (2004), masing-masing diselenggarakan dengan tema dan fokus pembahasan yang berbeda. Untuk pelaksanaan program di Kota Bandung, kegiatan yang diikuti oleh 20 mahasiswa seni rupa yang berasal dari 20 negara Asia & Eropa ini secara khusus membahas keberadaan ruang inisiatif dan kaitannya dengan praktik seni media baru.

Dalam kegiatan ini juga diundang beberapa narasumber yang berasal dari wilayah Asia & Eropa seperti misalnya DR. I. Bambang Sugiharto (Univ. Parahyangan, Bandung – Indonesia), Pracamkrong Pongpaiboon (Art Connection, Bangkok – Thailand), Agung Hujatnikajenong (Kurator Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung – Indonesia), Kentaro Taki (Video Art Center Tokyo – Jepang), Rob van Kranenburg (Virtueel Platform, Amsterdam – Belanda), Ade Darmawan (ruangrupa, Jakarta – Indonesia), Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Sarai/ Raqs Media Collective, New Delhi – India), dan Akos Maroy (Nextlab, Budapest – Hungaria). Selama kurang lebih satu minggu lamanya, para peserta kegiatan ini mengikuti serangkaian kegiatan diskusi, workshop, dan kunjungan ke beberapa komunitas kreatif di Kota Bandung, yang diantaranya adalah Jendela Ide, 347/EAT – Room No. 1, If, Monik Shophouse, dsb. Selain itu para peserta juga melakukan kegiatan presentasi publik yang diselenggarakan pada tanggal 6 s/d 7 Agustus 2005 di Pusat Kebudayaan Perancis. Dalam kegiatan ini setiap peserta diminta untuk mempresentasikan karya masing-masing, yang kemudian diikuti dengan kegiatan diskusi yang melibatkan publik secara terbuka.

Untuk kegiatan workshop, Bandung Center for New Media Arts mengajak para peserta Art Camp untuk terlibat dalam proyek 36 Frames, yang dalam program ini secara khusus dirancang untuk membongkar kompleksitas persoalan ruang urban di Kota Bandung berdasarkan pandangan personal masing-masing peserta melalui medium fotografi. Proyek ini sebelumnya sudah pernah dilaksanakan di Bandung pada tahun 2004 dengan tema “Self” (Common Room, Bandung – Indonesia) dan Helsinki pada acara International Symposium for Electronic Arts 2004 (Bandung – Helsinki: City Surgery Project, Helsinki – Finlandia). Hasil dari workshop ini kemudian dipamerkan di Selasar Sunaryo Art Space mulai tanggal 11 s/d 21 Agustus 2005, yang dibuka dengan penampilan Biosampler (Bandung – Indonesia), Party Maker Inc. (Bandung – Indonesia), dan Heti Kohta (Helsinki – Finlandia). Dalam acara ini, juga dipamerkan sejumlah karya seni video yang dihasilkan oleh para seniman muda yang tergabung dalam beberapa ruang inisiatif dan organisasi seni di Bandung & Jakarta dalam kurun waktu 3 tahun terakhir. Semuanya dirangkum oleh kelompok VideoBabes dalam program pameran seni video yang diberi tajuk Video/Hits/Art.

Bagi mereka yang sudah akrab dengan dunia seni rupa, bisa jadi keberadaan istilah ruang inisiatif (artist initiatives space) dan seni media baru (new media arts) bukanlah sebuah istilah yang asing lagi. Dalam kurun waktu 5 tahun terakhir misalnya, penggunaan istilah ruang inisiatif memang banyak dipakai untuk menjabarkan keberadaan ruang-ruang seni yang dikelola secara mandiri oleh para seniman. Melalui ruang-ruang semacam ini, berbagai kegiatan seni yang melibatkan publik secara terbuka banyak dilakukan sehingga memperkaya pemahaman dan pengalaman masyarakat luas tentang wacana ataupun perkembangan seni rupa jaman sekarang, baik di tingkat lokal maupun internasional. Tidak hanya melalui pameran, tetapi juga melalui berbagai aktifitas lain semisal workshop, diskusi, dan berbagai kegiatan yang memanfaatkan instrumen teknologi baru seperti internet.

Sementara itu, keberadaan istilah seni media baru setidaknya juga ikut mewarnai perbincangan seni rupa di Indonesia selama beberapa tahun terakhir ini. Sederhananya, seni media baru sebetulnya merupakan cabang perkembangan seni yang terintegrasi dengan perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan & teknologi. Beberapa contoh yang bisa dikategorikan sebagai karya seni media baru mungkin diantaranya adalah karya para seniman yang memanfaatkan medium fotografi, video, internet, dsb. Namun jangan salah, dalam perbincangan mengenai wacana seni media baru, keberadaan teknologi sebetulnya tidak muncul secara dominan. Rob van Kranenburg, salah seorang narasumber dalam kegiatan ini menyatakan bahwa sebetulnya yang terlihat sangat spesifik dalam praktik seni media baru adalah aktifitas komunikasi dan diseminasi informasi, selain juga cara melihat persoalan dengan perspektif yang berbeda & multidisiplin. Shuddhabrata Sengupta, seorang narasumber dari India malah lebih jauh lagi menyatakan bahwa sebetulnya tidak ada yang baru dalam seni media baru, karena sebetulnya yang dominan dalam praktik seni media baru adalah cara memandang persoalan sehari-hari dengan cara yang berbeda.

Apabila dalam praktik seni yang selama ini dianggap lazim unsur-unsur estetika selalu menjadi tolak ukur yang utama, dalam praktik seni media baru masalah estetika mungkin hanya menjadi elemen penunjang saja. Yang utama sebetulnya adalah mekanisme produksi dan distribusi informasi, termasuk di dalamnya berbagai praktik yang mengaburkan batasan-batasan disiplin pengetahuan yang selama ini dianggap sudah terlampau mapan. Oleh karena itu, tidaklah mengherankan apabila dalam praktik seni media baru, batasan antara yang seni dan bukan seni, ataupun batasan antara yang seni dan yang sehari-hari merupakan wilayah yang sering dipermainkan atau malah diintervensi. Dari sini tampaknya kita bisa melihat praktik seni media baru sebagai sebuah wilayah irisan yang mempertautkan seni dengan wacana ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi, yang juga dapat terkait dengan persoalan keseharian kita. Dalam presentasinya, Akos Maroy (narasumber dari Hungaria) menyarankan kepada para peserta mahasiswa yang notabene memiliki latar belakang pendidikan seni, untuk bekerjasama dengan orang-orang yang memiliki latar pengetahuan yang berbeda, seperti misalnya ilmuwan dan ahli teknik. Menurutnya, “banyak seniman yang tidak memiliki pengetahuan yang cukup di bidang teknik sehingga memandang teknisi hanya sebagai tukang saja, padahal banyak juga yang bisa dipelajari dari seorang teknisi, dan demikian juga sebaliknya”.

Hal ini senada dengan uraian yang disampaikan oleh DR. I. Bambang Sugiharto dalam tulisannya yang berjudul “Nomadic Aesthetics: The Aftermath of the End of Art”. Menurutnya, berbagai ekspansi yang terjadi di ranah seni visual, mulai dari seni lukis sampai seni patung, ataupun melalui berbagai materi hybrid yang sebelumnya tidak pernah terfikirkan seperti misalnya penggunaan tubuh manusia dalam performance art, penggunaan benda tak terlihat semisal gas, energi (telepati), dan berbagai proyek seni di wilayah tak bertuan ataupun di ruang-ruang urban, sampai pada intervensi terhadap institusi sosial & politik, termasuk penggunaan komputer, barang-barang elektronik, postcard, video, dsb; setidaknya mendorong pemahaman yang baru mengenai seni. Seni kemudian harusnya dapat dilihat sebagai istilah yang dinamis, yang dapat berpindah dari satu makna ke maknanya yang lain. Bergerak dari satu habitat ke habitatnya yang lain. Mungkin lebih jauhnya lagi, seni kemudian tidak harus hanya menjadi milik para seniman, tetapi juga bisa menjadi milik semua orang.


Kyai Gede Utama, 19 Agustus 2005

Keterangan foto:
Berdiri dari kanan: Nadia Rizky Yuliani (ID), Monica Ary K. (ID), Kathrin Oberrauch (IT/DE), Annabele Aw (SG), Alice Miceli (IT/BR), Gustaff H. Iskandar (ID), Rob van Kranenburg (NL), Yogie Achmad Ginanjar (ID), Kevin Dooley (UK/AT), Juraj Sukop (SK), Akos Maroy (HU), Nanna Debois Buhl (DK), Emma Lewis (UK), Charissa Delima a.k.a Nyonyo (ID), Dimas Arif Nugroho (ID).

Duduk dari kanan: Naw San (MM), Gu Jinhui (CN), Valentine de Priester (FR), Suddhabrata Sengupta (IN), Ida Blekeli (FI), Lotte Meijer (NL), Manuelle Ouelet de Abreu Freire (PT), Sophie Fenyuezi (HU), Rael Artel (EE), Marie le Sourd (FR), Clarissa "Lisa" Chikiamco (PH), Park Sohyeon a.k.a Sonny (KR), Rani Ravenina (ID), Nareerat Sompong a.k.a Chompoo (TH), Eric Pauhrizi (ID), Goh Sze Ying (MY), Pracamkong Pongpaiboon a.k.a Kiao (TH).

Fuck You! We're From Bandung! - MK II (1)

The title of this article is deliberately takes from the backside of my friend’s t-shirt. As information, this text is actually take from an official t-shirt’s merchandise produce by Puppen; a legendary local hardcore band which is officially discharge on 2001. Actually, offensive’s text like this is already being use by plenty of people before Puppen. As example, “Fuck You! We’re From Texas!” or “Fuck You! We’re Motley Crue!”, both come from the USA. How does this text is delivered into Bandung by an underground’s local band, can be a material to be discussed which is also can represent our current’s daily life. Mimicry process, text saturation, and rapid dissemination of the latest global information are indeed an ordinary thing among the uprising of globalization’s process (I prefer to call it the creolization’s process). It includes also the swiftness of data & information’s circulation pattern, which is being accommodated by the rapid development of information technology.

In the city of Bandung – for some of its citizen – the existence of many kind of t-shirt in the form as above is a common thing. As also the existence of many club and community as antique motorcycle, BMX bicycle, hip-hop music, electronic music, break dance, hardcore, grindcore, all the way through the community of punk music’s fans that is exist in almost every corner of the city. With their specific looks, these communities sometimes can be found within the area of Dago street, Gasibu park, BIP shopping mall, Cihampelas street, Braga’s street, etc. For some reason, most of the people in Bandung are still have time to spend in the details of their everyday life. These details lead to the diversity of lifestyle, gestures and various micro-ideologies.

Dadan Ketu, that is what he called. Born in Bandung on 1973, he is a well-known figure in Bandung’s underground scene in the mid 90’s. In 1996, together with eight of his fellows, he forms a collective what nowadays known as Riotic. Through the same interest of ideology, this community starts to produce their own music label, which leads into a small store selling cassettes, band’s merchandise, t-shirt, and so forth. Dede is another thing, together with four friends of her, she create a distro(2) called Anonim back on 1999. Driven by their interest in music and film, this group starts to sell t-shirt that ordered online by the internet. Nowadays, aside from selling imported objects, they are also trade underground’s record, and clothing from local labels, which says exist over 100 labels–come and go. She says that the trading of local labels is increase dramatically in the time of economics’ crisis on 1996, for the cause of the expensiveness of imported stuff, as well as it’s unobtainable.

Riotic and Anonim are just exemplar from a series of other names such as, Reverse Clothing Company, Harder, Monik Clothing, 347 Boardrider & Co., No Label Stuff, Airplane Apparel System, Ouval Research, and so on. Since mid 90’s, there is an emerging of community who produces and consumes from several small stores –call it distro– who sell stuffs that does not exist in any other stores, shopping mall, and factory outlet, that recently flourishing in Bandung. They start with a minimum investment, with an addition of companionship and the average ability of making and vending their own products. The uprising of this tendency is not only indicating the growth of youth scene of Bandung, but also in others city like Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and so forth.

Reverse: Small Base-Camp in Sukasenang
It is Reverse, a small music recordings studio in Sukasenang area, that can be say as the important milestone of young communities development in Bandung on the 90’s. At the beginning, in the year of 1994, Richard Mutter, Helvi, and Dj Dxxxt (the initial founder of Reverse) is only marketing specific products to serve the fancy of rock fans and skateboard societies. It can be say that this community is the first thread of the growing of community and subculture’s group at the time. Reverse then becomes a distro, and selling CD, audiocassette, poster, artwork, accessories, includes also others local and imported stuff.

After that, emerge other communities with more specific interest. Initially attend by rock fans and skateboard societies, Reverse start to pay a visit by others crowd scenes, such as pop music fanatic, metal, punk, hardcore, includes also skater, BMX, surf, and so on. Recently, Reverse being altered into Reverse Clothing Company, a label manages by Dj Dxxxt. As Richard say, asides from rock music and skateboard, the emerging of those variable communities is also being endorse by the images created by the film, such as The Warrior (Walter Hill/1979), BMX Bandit (Brian Trenchard-Smith/1983), Thrashin (David Winters/1986), Gleaming The Cube (Graeme Clifford/1989), and others film that picturing different youth communities in the west (Western Europe and USA)(3).

“There was time, I was looking everywhere for Frank Zappa’s poster. Whenever it was impossible to find, I certainly found it in Reverse!”, state Edi Khemod; drummer for a metal rock band call Seringai, whom also a writer, producer of Cerahati production house, and a member of Biosampler; a multimedia group of artists who often appear in front of Bandung and Jakarta club’s scene. The urgency to serve special needs is the thing that passes into later generation of distro. According to Richard, those who come to Reverse are mostly try to find stuff that does not exist in the store, shopping’s mall, or department store. This is also admitting by Dadan and Dede. They say that most of the people who come to the distro is having specific needs that differ from ordinary people. ”That is why they are looking for the unusual thing which is hard to find in more establish environment”, says Richard in an interview. I found it natural, as the young people tend to find a new and different experience.
Seems that, from this particular condition, the lively development of music industry as well as the fashion trends of young people in Bandung, always in change and find its novelty. It starts from the era of jeans outlet in Cihampelas street, Jayagiri’s backpack, C-59’s t-shirt, local clothing, underground bands, distro, and so on until today.

“The constant encounter with the same thing/people/object, tends to build the boredom/feed-up feelings; and if it became unbearable, it will leads the person to get out/liberate themselves from the situation: the need to be different.” explain Yuswadi Saliya, an architect who live in Bandung, to respond my inquisition of this matter through e-mail. I suppose that’s what it is, the city of Bandung is indeed have millions of routine that induce its citizen to be always in the move of finding a new and different things. Nowadays, various young people communities are continuing to flourish in all over Bandung. It is not only in Sukasenang’s region, but also in other parts of Bandung. From Setiabudi street (Monik/Ffwd Records/Reverse Clothing Company), Citarum (347/EAT – Room No. 1), Moch. Ramdan (IF), City Hall (Barudak Balkot), Sultan Agung (Omuniuum), Saninten (Cerahati/Biosampler), Kyai Gede Utama (Common Room/ tobucil/Bandung Center for New Media Arts and Jendela Ide), Hegarmanah (Rumah Buku and VideoBabes), all the way through Ujung Berung (Ujung Berung Rebel/Homeless Crew), and so on.

City Biography: from the Colonial’s Era, Aktuil’s Period, Motorcycle Gang, through Barudak Punk
Since its inauguration as an open city by the Governor General J.B. van Heutz on February 21st 1906, the city of Bandung has always been a touristic, trade, and education city. This has an impact to its development on the upcoming era. Bandung use to be call as 'Parijs van Java', and being suggest as the center for European colony that came to visit the equatorial region by a scientist call Ir. R. van Hoevell. As a major city that has been growing since the colonial era, it is natural that nowadays Bandung is known as a city that receive various influence from many nations of the world, and not being isolated from its evolutions. In the Dutch’s colonialization era, the uprising of numerous cities’ infrastructure – especially transportation, trading, and education – became the main entrance of economic growth, variety of knowledge, and information into this city.

One of the strongest influences that can be seen nowadays, for instance, is the style of architecture. We can still find various forms of European heritage left as distinctively deco-styled buildings, convention and entertainment halls. The most prominent ones, perhaps, are the Concordia Building (now Gedung Merdeka), and few other buildings on Braga and Asia Afrika Street. In some history records, noted that, in the colonial era, these buildings also used as venues for parties and shows to entertain the European community who then lived in Bandung. The late Haryoto Kunto even noted that Charlie Chaplin was once stopped by in Bandung and stayed at Savoy Homan hotel, on Asia Afrika Street. During those times, the majority of Bandung’s populations are European, who, further along the way would give significant influence for urban culture, not only to Indonesia, but also to almost all of the Asian Cities.

During the post-colonial era, the developments of transportation, communication facilities and information technology could only confirm Bandung’s position in the global world network. As the speed of information current accelerates, insurgent other forms of individual awareness, openness, freedom of expression and tolerance among communities, including youth communities in Bandung. The spirit to face the difference with their unique ways (nyeleneh/mbeling, kumaha aing!’= anti-establishment, up to me!) in few Bandung youth communities seemed to support the birth of resistance pattern; which you could recognize as a counter-cultural model. The habit to make counter-cultures, as responds to the more established culture, at the very least support the development of urban culture in Bandung’s urban population to be more dynamic. This matter also shows Bandung’s urban communities’ attitude that always have thirst for change and difference.

Most of Indonesian community was surely aware of the era of Aktuil Magazine, which established in Bandung circa 1970, with the founders; Sonny Suriaatmadja, Denny Sabri Gandanegara, and Remy Sylado. From 1973 – 1974 the magazine even broke the record of sale 126 thousand copies and became a significant youth trendsetter. They even organized for Deep Purple band to play in Indonesia in 1975(4). In one record Remy Sylado noted that Aktuil Magazine was voicing the spirit of counter-culture to the established culture at that time. Furthermore, some of you might be aware of the most popular motorcycle gang in the city that existed from the 70’s to mid 80’s dominated by the fans of vintage motorcycle such as Harley Davidson, Ariel, BMW, etc. At that time, there were at least 2 respected vintage motorcycle gangs that being considered as rebellious: Black Angel and The Motor. These gangs also catalyze the forming of other vintage motorcycle gangs that are still exist until these days such as Biker’s Brotherhood(5).

In the 80s era, other than vintage motor community, the development of a small skate park at Traffic Garden (Ade Irma Suryani Garden) in mid 80’s also support the conceive of skateboard community that someday would be the seed of BMX, punk and hardcore groups that would be popular in the 90’s. Through these communities, the Do It Yourself (DIY) discourse was popularized. This discourse was a way of thinking that put individual initiative of forming counter-cultures to the place of high importance. Through this discourse, other than the development of local distro, clothing, record label, there were also names that would be household names for the city such as Pure Saturday, Puppen (disbanded on 2001), Pas, Koil, Jeruji, Full of Hate, Forgotten, Burger Kill, Jasad and many more. These bands were the bands that put on their acts in the underground music scenes in the venues such as GOR Saparua, Concordia, Bumi Sangkuriang, as well as local clubs, universities, high schools, etc., where the youth communities gathered with their own specific looks and attitude.

A new phenomenon then emerged in the late 90’s. After the organizing of underground music events become more of a hassle from the point of view of permit and budget, in some period of times we could find almost every weekend some of the Bandung population paraded on the main streets such as Dago Street in the north area of the city. Many of the communities gathered while partying, continuing their habit that has shown its symptom since the beginning of the 90’s. Nowadays, there are more underground events; such as Contamination, Flower Pop, Bandung Berisik, One Blood, etc. Those events are mostly sponsored by local clothing companies, which currently already have more economic powers. There are also other scenes commenced by local clubs such as TRL Bar on Braga Street, Laga Pub in Asia Afrika Street, McPhisto Bar at Cihideung area, etc. In these bars, other than rock shows, there are also events for pop, jazz, electronic music fans; even experimental music fans are welcomed.

Public Space Expansion: From the Streets to the Recycled Fashion Market
Along with the impeachment of Soeharto regime in 1998, Bandung urban population also showed their new behavioral patterns. At least from 1996, people started to get used to communicate their aspiration as free as they liked in public space. This phenomenon showed in the intense interaction in the public spaces such as main streets, buildings, shopping malls, etc. In this era, some of the group from various communities from the college students, automotive fans, high school fans, street artists, unemployed, hobbyist, merchant etc. started to show their appearance on some of the main streets in Bandung.

On the street, every city resident then meet to watch each other and being watched. Many forms of celebration in public areas then showed their different faces from time to time. From the events such as music concert, or those such as ITB Art Festival (Pasar Seni ITB), Dago Festival to the political demonstration or motorcycle races that emerged in the past 10 years in Bandung’s main streets. These things became special blessings for the development of music, also of Bandung’s street fashion, which later also accelerate the growth of existing distros.

Other than those, some of the citizens then have recycled fashion facility in the Tegalega area that said once had 3000 tenants of imported used clothing. Different than distro, the used clothing business had moved from place to place such as, Cibadak, Kebun Kelapa until located at more underrated Tegalega since 1995. Even when the activity in Tegalega had been moved to other places, this place still has its specific influence in Bandung’s fashion development tendency. In this kind of recycled fashion places, the pieces of clothing that imported went straight to steam iron in the location then to be sold with very low prices by the vendors; who mostly are immigrants from Padang, West Sumatra. This place is the place where people could find used pieces of clothing in various style from t-shirt, sweater, party dress, leather jacket, various kinds of accessories to the vintage-styled clothing that looks old and once considered as old fashioned, yet now has became the inspiration of their everyday fashion.

Urban situation with specific characteristic like this surely would be very influential for the emerging of new phenomena that would continually gave colors to the growth of Bandung’s population. In addition, geographically, Bandung is located in the area that could be easily accessed. “Because Bandung isn’t a very big a city, I could easily do anything… the people are also friendly, very liquid, we’re all friends and equal,” said Dede on one occasion. Dadan Ketu also spoke in confirmation. According to him, they – who do business on local clothing – didn’t really find difficulties when they had to produce. “If you want to look for fabrics, it’s very easy, you could just go to Otista street, Tamim, Cigondewah, Cimahi, Majalaya and there are plenty of stencil artists here, so it wouldn’t be a problem”, he explained.

Post 1990: Global Village, GMR and MTV
Not only in the 90’s era – when we see previous notes – we have to admit that young generation in Bandung was and still is influenced by the west (Western Europe and United States). Although, on its next phase it could not be denied that there were also other important influence for the youth scene growth in Bandung: media culture. As an example in the music scene, through the brilliance of the late Samuel Marudut, in 1992 a radio called GMR are established. This radio station is the only radio that would play demos of the new bands in the city, so it would trigger the music scene growth at that time. In addition to that, the radio also introduced bands from cities other than Bandung.

On the other hand, the development in the areas of media technology and information also radically pushed the growth of Bandung urban culture even further. One of the examples is the development of recording technology that made possible for new bands to record their music with the use of computer so they wouldn’t have to rely on mainstream industry and imported products. Nowadays, music in Bandung could be produced from small studios, home, even in a boarding room. Furthermore the growth in the information technology also made it easy for every community to be in contact and got the information they needed. Through the internet that has developed since 1995, Bandung nowadays is a part of virtual network that opens doors to global network.

MTV’s presence at least gave pretty big role, for through this TV station, few of Bandung’s underground bands had their opportunity to be heard publicly wider. In addition, MTV presenters in the national broadcast also wear products from local clothing from Bandung, so their products became even more popular. The impact was not insignificant. For the last few years, Bandung citizen were forced to get used to the traffic jams almost in every weekends. Besides swarming the factory outlet, the visitors of Bandung’s also visit the distros, so they were also triggered an important growth in the local economic sector.

Through the existence of some youth communities that always procure their independently produced merchandises, at least we could see different groups of signs that were different than the previous era. When the previous young generation in Bandung were dependent on established industry and imported products, at this time few existing communities could produce their own necessities independently. In more than few occasions, counter culture discourse also gave colors to the community. Among the attitude of the communities, we could see it in a micro political point of view, which develop a specific character. To some of Bandung youth communities, music and fashion aren’t just a trend. They are forms of expression of their political independence, which could accommodate various personal aspirations. In this particular context, in the discussion of Bandung’s subculture groups development, music and fashion could also be considered as instruments that may explain various point of views and differences which followed the existence of the existing communities.

The rapid growth also greatly supported by the existence of media such as TV station, radio, magazines, fanzines and mostly internet. Other than that, the media were making it more possible for communities to exist by expanding their networks to other cities than Bandung, even abroad. When Richard Mutter started to release albums under the 40124 labels in mid 90’s, he admitted to get purchases from underground fans from Japan, who bought the album via the internet. Through the 40124 labels in 1996, Richard also released a legendary compilation album titled “masaindahbangetsekalipisan”, consisted of songs from local bands such as Full of Hate, Rotten to the Core, Sendal Jepit, Cherry Bombshell, Puppen, Balcony, etc. Meanwhile, Dadan Ketu stated that nowadays, it’s common if a visitor from abroad such as Malaysia or Singapore comes to the distro. “They usually come and buy off 100 cassettes to be sold on their countries, some of them pay in full and some of them pay by credit,” he said.

The realization of the forming of this wide network actually being more developed in 1997. On August 1997, a punk record label from France named Tian An Men 89 Records released a compilation album titled “Injak Balik! A Bandung HC/Punk comp”. This compilation supported by a number of Bandung bands such as Puppen, Closeminded, Savor of Filth, Deadly Ground, Piece of Cake, Runtah, Jeruji, Turtles Jr, and All Stupid. Most of the subject matters from the music of this album consisted of various political statements conveyed straightly by the bands involved in the project. They did not stop here; in 1999, local label, FastForward Records released few albums from bands from abroad such as The Chinkees (USA), Cherry Orchard (France), 800 Cheries (Japan), etc. According to Marin, one of the founders of FastForward Records, communication media such as internet, fax machine and telephone network has at least great roles in the album production process of these bands. These days, it is quite common when a local label releases music that comes from abroad. Even few of the Bandung bands had the opportunity of their album being released by labels of other countries. Few of them are Homicide, Domestik Doktrin, Jasad, etc.

The expansion of network which connect the music, fashion growth and the development of media and information technology; at the very least fabricated a new arrangement of culture from the view of ideology to its manifestation on the everyday living pattern in some of Bandung’s youth communities. These showed how the growth in Bandung urban situation could not be separated with the global stream. Along with the development, up to these days, the youth scenes of Bandung keep on growing to complete its arrangements with new faces and versions. Don’t be surprised if you face a group of youth with the style that similar to the youngsters from the other different hemisphere. This city had been part of other cities all around the world from it’s very beginning. Salute! Welcome to Bandung!

Kyai Gede Utama, 16 January 2003


End Notes:
(1) Some of this article has been translate into English under the title “Bandung Underground on Parade” for the Latitudes Magazine, March/April 2003 edition. In addition, some point of this article has been presented in the 7th Cultural Congress in Bukittinggi–Indonesia (20-22 October 2003), under the session of “Industrial Culture and Identity’s Struggle”.
(2) An abbreviation refers to distribution outlet. This term became popular in mid 90’s to describe small store that sells variety of products such as records, t-shirt, local and import merchandise; usually run by group of people.
(3) Based on interview with Richard Mutter.
(4) From www.pantau.or.id, last download 1 March 2003.
(5) Interview with Tommy Dwi Sudjatmiko.

Photography:
"Jeruji at Alkateri Street" by Gustaff H. Iskandar
Taken during national election day on April 2004