Blog from Indonesia 9 - 15 March

by Caroline_Norbury on 17-Mar-10 11:06

The British Council invited myself and the lovely Derrick Price (Chairman of the Watershed Council of Management) to present at two workshops in Indonesia focussing on the role of creative organisations in creating and developing public spaces and places.  Our first port of call was Bandung, Indonesia’s fourth largest city and the capital of West Java. After twenty four hours of travelling and four hours sleep, Derrick and I made it to our first meeting:  a 7am breakfast meeting with a young architect in Bandung who has established the Bandung Creative City Forum to campaign for joined-up thinking on the creative future of his home city.  What really stands out about the businesses and citizens of Bandung is the passion they all have for their city. They are immensely proud of Bandung’s heritage, its potential and importantly their ability to do good simply by volunteering their time and energy collectively.  One of their plans is to take on the running and maintenance of the city’s small parks.  Bandung is a lush garden city. Established by the Dutch, it still has shades of its colonial past but many of its public spaces have either been built upon or faded into dereliction.  The Bandung Creative City Forum aims to change that with an ingenious scheme under which local businesses buy land as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility budgets and allow local communities to use it. In return, the communities maintain the land and also commit send their children (usually from some of Bandung’s poorest slum areas) to school and other educational or cultural projects.  It’s a win win situation for everyone resulting in a regenerated park for public use.

Check out the British Council’s website in Indonesia www.britishcouncil.or.id

Our next stop was Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, which is quite unlike any city I’ve ever been to before.  What I couldn’t reconcile was the amount of traffic, (reminiscent of the scene in 'Falling Down' when  Michael Douglas has a hissy fit in the middle of a traffic jam!) with the absence of any road accidents and absolutely pristine cars.  I quickly worked out it was because traffic moves at the speed of a snail with a limp!
  
Jakarta City Government is keen to get people back using some of its grand public buildings in the centre of the city.  The British Council has been working closely with local community groups, artists, producers and creatives in both Indonesia and the UK to put together a programme in which creative people and businesses explore different approaches to regenerating public spaces through film and moving image.  After a meeting with the Deputy Governor for Culture and Tourism we took part in a day of workshops, culminating in an amazing video installation – ‘video mapping’ – in  Fatahillah Square in Jakarta’s Old City area. 

You can see a short segment of the video here and further information on the project here.

It is always inspiring to see how creative projects are embraced by communities around the world. It is sometimes easy to lose sight of our goals when we get bogged down or sidetracked by bureaucracy and negativity. But here in Indonesia we were able to see with fresh eyes the benefits that creative people and ideas can bring to people’s everyday lives. The video installation was just the final touch to a campaign that is successfully restoring  a sense of pride and ownership in the environment, which can only have a positive impact in the future.

South West Screen hopes to be doing more work with Indonesian producers and content creators so if you’re interested then please let us know by emailing info@swscreen.co.uk

Tagged:Caroline Norbury, Indonesia, British Council, Derrick Price, Bandung

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