History and Culture Museums dominate Batavia Festival

Jakarta, Indonesia - Historical artifacts and antiquities dominated this year’s Batavia Art Festival, an annual event that is part of the capital’s celebrations of its 483rd anniversary.

Inside dozens of tents erected in the courtyard in front of the Jakarta History Museum in Kota, West Jakarta, historians explained the ins and outs of Jakarta’s historical sites and spoke about the history of the artifacts on display.

Vendors had also set up stalls where they sold old cameras, posters and army uniforms from the colonial era.

“We want to let the public know that museums can also be fun and entertaining,” chief of the Jakarta culture and tourism agency Arie Budiman said Saturday after opening the event.

This year’s festival showcased 73 exhibitors, which was more that the 60 that set up shop last year.

Most of the exhibits were organized museums in Jakarta, including the Puppet Museum and the Art and Ceramics Museum.

This year’s event runs from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. for two days until Sunday.

Claiming to have received more visitors than in previous years, the head of the organizing committee of the festival said he would extend the event for an extra day.

However, the claim of high visitor numbers was refuted by Asep Kambali, an exbihitor, who wondered aloud if a lack of marketing led to the relatively small number of visitors.

The same complaint was conveyed by sophomore Putri Wijaya Ningsih from vocational school SMK Taman Harapan in Bekasi.

“This event should be more festive, have more dances and live music,” said Putri, who came to the event with a gang of her girlfriends.

The Batavia Art Festival was first held in 2002. Aside from the exhibition, the festival also showcases a number of attractions and performances for the public this year.

A number of local communities have also taken part in the festival, including Historia (a community for museum enthusiasts) and Cruise Culture Community.

The city administration has spent around Rp 250 million (US$ 27,500) on the event.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com
Picture: http://ariesaksono.wordpress.com

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