The city of Denpasar, which is famously overcrowded, overdeveloped, and deficient of a proper waste management system, is finally seeing some much-needed eco-action at the grassroots level: In addition to the many public awareness campaigns organized by Denpasar-based Walhi (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia, the provincial branch of the Indonesian Environmental Forum), Akarumput, in partnership with the Bali International School and Pemuda Pakisaji (the youth coalition of the neighborhood of Pakisaji), took to the streets with buckets of paint and a single objective: To provoke community pride and environmental awareness in the heart of the urban jungle.

For three days Akarumput, supported by a team of artists, mostly from the Indonesian Institute for the Arts, Denpasar campus (Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar) and young painters from the Bali International School gathered along bustling Jalan Pakisaji off Jalan Hayam Wuruk in southern Denpasar. Together, they brightened an otherwise dingy urban street with a decidedly eco message. They created an Eco Mural spanning more than 55 meters along one of the most highly trafficked roads in southern Denpasar. Jalan Pakisaji is the main artery for a broad network of neighborhood alleys that make up Perumahan Pakisaji.

Some mural highlights included a painting depicting a clear-cut wasteland and a devilish snail toting a water hose accompanied by the words, “The Government is Late, Our Forests are Wasted (Pemerintah Lambat, Hutan Tamat).” Another featured a modern take on mother earth, crowned with soaring skyscrapers choking the last straggling trees and flanked by two children in gas masks. Despite the gravity of its message, the mural wasn’t devoid of comic wit: One artist depicted young boys urinating on blossoming plants, capped with the slogan, “Save Water.”

Bali International School of Sanur donated the majority of the funds needed to purchase the rooftop paint used for the mural. “It’s so funny; I’ve never seen the students show such dedication during any of my lessons,” BIS instructor Kayti Denham explained, laughing. “They’re really getting the point of community action.”

Made Bayak, a Tampak Siring native, guitarist for hard rock band Geekssmile, and art instructor for Sanggar Anak Tangguh in Sukawati painted his portion of the mural with his five-year-old son, Damar. Bayak just wrapped a mural project with S.O.S., the Sumatran Orangutan Society, based in Ubud, Bali.

Pemuda Pakisaji were instrumental in the completion of the mural. Not only did they help provide production support, traffic control, and food and drinks for the artists; they also spent the three days before the artists arrived picking up all of the rubbish along the road to make it clean and ready for refurbishing.

“The main goal of an event like this,” explains Gede Robi Supriyanto, event coordinator for Akarumput and contributing artist for the mural, “is to make our neighors proud of where they live so that they’ll want to take care of it.” Robi also hopes that the mural, which has drawn a lot of attention from passersby commuting from work on their motorbikes, will slow down traffic around a dangerous blind curve on the road.

Farabi Music School, which is located on Jalan Pakisaji, also lent its support by providing equipment and performance space for an evening of live performances on the final day of activities.

While artists returned to Jalan Pakisaji over the next few days to add final touches to their work, the main program concluded Sunday night with plenty of arak, delicious fresh fish and plecing kangkung provided by Ibu Ngurah’s warung, and music performances by bands organized by Farabi, as well as hard rock bands Navicula and Geekssmile. Guna Qupitt of Nosstress, who is preparing for the launch of the band’s first album on 14 October at Serambi Arts Antida, also made a guest appearance.

All photos by Rudi Waisnawa.

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I was blown away the first time I held the book Taring Padi: Seni Membongkar Tirani (Fangs of Rice: Art Dismantles Tyranny), just after it arrived from Jogjakarta. From first glance, the book is visually striking, designed with the bold colors red, black, and white with a cover made of cloth and pages printed on recycled paper.

The book cover is printed using a wood cut design, the signature style of the posters and banners produced by Taring Padi, an art collective based in Jogja that has been active since the Suharto era. By using this wood cut technique, Taring Padi demonstrates they have inherited the same community-based passion for grassroots organizing as the artist collective Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat (Lekra) or Institute of People’s Culture. Wood cut printing is an easy method of reproducing artwork, which makes it effective for achieving the propaganda goal of wide distribution.

In a twist of irony, however, the book is too expensive for the average Indonesian to purchase: Seni Membongkar Tirani is sold for over Rp. 200,000, a price that seems to undermine Taring Padi’s commitments to populism, anarchy, and art for change. However, the cultural and political action of Taring Padi continues, and manages to find alternative, less expensive means to spread the ideas expressed in this book.

This book is meant to mark the 10-year anniversary of Lembaga Budaya Kerakyatan Taring Padi, however it was released 13 years after the group was formed. The extra three years were required for compiling and reproducing the collective art in this book, including posters, banners, and murals.

Seni Membongkar Tirani is more than a medium for showing appreciation for Taring Padi’s community art or romanticizing their community-based movements; there are 12 articles in this book, a selection of which provide constructive critiques of the motivations and meanings behind Taring Padi’s artwork. Critical analysis gives the book more depth and creates a balance between the text and the strong visual appeal of Taring Padi’s art. For example, in his article, Wulan Dergantoro suggests that Taring Padi’s portrayals of women seems to favor a traditional housewife stereotype, particularly in how they illustrate women wearing kebaya, the traditional lace blouse worn throughout Java and elsewhere in Indonesia for formal occasions. He charges that Taring Padi fails expand beyond the patriarchal ideologies used during the New Order to keep tyrants in power. Without being aware of it, Taring Padi has reproduced conventions popular with the old regime to which they are opposed.

Antimilitarism, also a theme Taring Padi often explores is also critiqued in the book. Taring Padi focuses specifically on the state military, but doesn’t necessarily address true militarism. In fact, since the New Order’s collapse and the dual function of TNI (the Indonesian Armed Forces), there have actually been more militant civilian groups, especially sub-groups of political parties and mass organizations.

Another interesting controversy raised in the book is Taring Padi’s use of stereotypic slogans about horizontal conflict. Conflicts stemming from issues related to ethnic groups, religion, and race increased following the New Order collapse, which shows a failure to plant the seed of unity within the people. There are Taring Padi posters which display stale national slogans such as “Build unity in diversity” or “Together in our differences.” Unity is a hollow ideal overused for generations, despite the fact that many studies show that horizontal conflict more often stems from economic inequality.

The slogan “Build this nation without a drop of blood” also bears striking resemblance to New Order ideologies. This is actually iconic of one of the Five Cultural Demons which Taring Padi fights against, as stated in their manifesto when formed on December 12^th, 1998. The Five Cultural Demons are individuals or organizations which value art for art’s sake, socialize misguided doctrines to maintain their status quo, legitimize of art, or attack artistic morality because they have forgotten the value of the art of the people. New Order politics have caused economic value to dominate art.

Muhidin M Dahlan, the research head of Gelaran Almanak Seni Rupa Jogja from 1999-2009 notes how the populist values of Taring Padi are compromised when the members work with commercial galleries. In December of 2008, Surya Wirawan held a solo exhibit at the Kedai Kebun Forum Jogjakarta (a sister company to the Cemeti Art House, which Taring Padi strongly criticized as being one the five cultural demons). Arya Pandjalu not only held exhibits at commercial galleries, but from November 2006 to January 2007 he joined a residential arts program called Landing Soon #1 which took place in the Netherlands and was organized by the Cemeti Art House in partner with Heden, Den Haag.

Taring Padi’s first president, Yustoni Volunteero, held an exhibit of 17 art pieces at Biasa Gallery in June 2008. According to Muhidin, this Gallery in Jogjakarta has no history of financing farmer’s movements against global imperialism through art, a previous theme of Taring Padi’s activism.

These criticisms expose some of the biggest challenge for Taring Padi as an art collective fighting the capitalist systems and glorification of individuality on which the art industry is based. What remains to be seen is if Taring Padi can use the income from gallery exhibits to fund their collective movements. But perhaps they would benefit from regarding art as a commodity and creating works of art on gallery walls or collectors homes—especially since “leftist art” is more than ever sexy and sellable.

Taring Padi, Akarumput.com and Taman 65 are working together to hold the launching event and discussion for the book “Taring Padi, Seni Membongkar Tirani.” In addition there will be wood cut workshop with Taring Padi and Komunitas Pojok, followed by acoustic performances by Geekssmile and Navicula.

Location: Taman 65 Jl WR Supratman, Kesiman Denpasar
Date/Time: Saturday, October 8^th, 2011 at 3:30pm.

Workshop participants are encouraged to bring blank t-shirts in light colors on which they can have wood cut prints created during the event. Taring Padi’s book will also be available for purchase during the event.