[ James Morgan ]

Cigondewah: A portrait of cultural shift from agrarian to industrial

Cigondewah is a small village in the west of Bandung City, sharing borders with Cimahi City. This area was seen as problematic in terms of its living environment, particularly the problem of plastic waste and water pollution, as a result of overflowing industrial waste around this village, and the dumping of various waste originating from the north of Bandung City. The sight of garbage is an everyday situation there. Plastic garbage is everywhere.The environment full of garbage becomes the living environment of its residents, it even becomes the main livelihood of many. There, industries of collecting depots, processing plants, and sale of plastic waste develop. There are small and large enterprises. Many households make use of part of their space for plastic waste. For entrepreneurs with large capital, they have a specific, spacious place for the collection and processing of this plastic waste. In the village, there is almost no vacant land left that is not overflowing with plastic waste. 

The spacious rice-fields of Cigondewah in yesteryears has made way for factories and plastic waste processing plants. The agrarian culture which is kind towards nature has shifted towards an industrial culture which alienates and pollutes nature. The residents’ customary habits to be friendly to each other has shifted to economically-oriented behaviour.
Aside from the issue of waste, this area also encounters problems with clean water. The Cikondang river, clean and clear, used to run across the Cigondewah area, irrigating the rice-fileds and benefiting the villagers. Now, it has become a river polluted with chemicals, dangerous to the health of the village’s residents and its surrounding environments. The river water appears colourful as a result of syntethic dye waste from factories. 

Cigondewah now becomes the centre of the garbage industry, with all its negative consequences, for the people, for society and for the surrounding environment. The housing density of residents increases, the roads busier with various types of vehicles which emit loud noises and exhaust fumes which pollute the air, thus completing the list of negative conditions in this village’s environment, which was once known to be beautiful. Waste, water, and air pollution are part of the living environment issue, not just encompassing the village of Cigondewah, but also Bandung City as a whole. 
The problems in Cigondewah are thus raised by Tisna Sanjaya to become the main focus of his art project for his doctoral programme at the Postgraduate Programme of the Indonesian Institute of Art (ISI) Yogyakarta.

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Doctoral study achievement: Cum Laude

Tisna Sanjaya began his doctoral study in the year 2008. Subject by subject, semester by semester, every procedure and academic process went smoothly without any significant obstacle. He proposed an art project entitled “Pusat Kebudayaan Cigondewah: Revitalisasi Budaya dan Pemberdayaan Masyarakat” or, “Cigondewah Cultural Centre: Cultural Revitalisation and Community Empowerment”. He received support in this process from Prof. Dr. Setiawan Sabana, MFA, as promoter, and Prof. Drs. M. Dwi Marianto, MFA, PhD, and Prof. Drs. SP Gusttami, SU, as copromoters.

Tisna worked through a range of different procedures and methods of study to realise his ideal art project. This includes literature review, field survey, dialogues with a number of sources, exploring art forms, and sharing the process and development with the public in various forms, such as talks, workshops, and exhibitions whether in Indonesia or abroad.In addition, as part of his promotion to the wider public, the issue of Cigondewah was broadcasted through a local television studio (STV Kompas) in the series “Kabayan Nyintreuk”. Tisna himself acted as Kabayan, the main character in this show. Kabayan is a mythological figure in the Sundanese community and culture, who is humorous, clever and critical. The word “nyintreuk” in Sundanese can be understood to mean “sharply criticising an issue”. In “Kabayan Nyintreuk”, Tisna criticised various issues in Bandung City, West Java, in the national or even international context.

Tisna undertook several steps in the planning and construction of the Cigondewah Cultural Centre. First, socialisation in the local community regarding the plan to construct this cultural centre. Second, constructing the Cigondewah Cultural Centre in several stages using his own architectural design. Third, arranging various artistic activities by collaborating with local artists or craftsmen. Fourth, inviting several government officials including the mayor of Bandung to the opening of the centre. Fifth, growing plants in the centre’s yard to create greenery. Sixth, preparing several local, national and international exhibitions using Cigondewah as a theme. 

Tisna successfully completed these six stages. Various art and culture activities were held periodically within and outside the building of the cultural centre, in collaboration with a range of artists and craftsmen. One of the results include a mural painting which encompassed the perimeter of the cultural centre. Tisna held a national-scale solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Indonesia in Jakarta entitled “Idiocrazy” (2008). Thereafter, he showed an international-scale exhibition and led a workshop at the National University of Singapore Museum (2011).

After all the stages are complete as part of the acade    mic criteria, Tisna was required to participate in closed and open sessions as finalisation to receive his doctorate in Art-creation from ISI Yogyakarta. He was examined by several internal examiners (closed session), which took place at the Cigondewah Cultural Centre. Subsequently he was examined externally in front of open public (promotion session) at the campus of ISI Yogyakarta.

Tisna Sanjaya completed all these stages without significant issue, and graduated with honours, or with the title “cum laude”. He is the third graduate of the Postgraduate Doctoral Programme ISI Yogyakarta in the field of fine art. Now, Tisna Sanjaya is an artist with a doctoral qualification, or a doctor with an artistic vision. He achieved both status with his creativity and persistent effort. 
Through his ideas, his hard work and his intensity during the process of his doctoral study, Tisna Sanjaya succeeded in making the issue of the living environment in the Cigondewah area a cause for concern in the local community, in Bandung city, in West Java, even on a national and international scale. In particular, the Cigondewah art project which is proposed as part of his doctoral academic programme presents an ideal example of the outcome from a doctoral study in Art-creationat ISI Yogyakarta, for other higher education fine art institutions which may be interested in developing a similar doctoral programme. 

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Various powers: Knowledge, Self, and Art for life. 

In my view, Tisna Sanjaya’s art is strongly influenced by his engagement as an academic in a higher education institution. He is not just a lecturer in the Faculty of Fine Art and Design at ITB who motivates students to learn, he also diligently motivates himself to continue learning. He ascended the ladder of academic qualifications while at the same time practising his artistic creativity professionally.

As an academic individual, Tisna has been awarded a Bachelor’s Degree (FSRD ITB, 1986), Diplom  Art (HBK Braunschweig Jerman, 1994), Meister Schuler (HBK Braunschweig Jerman, 1998), and finally a Doctorate ( ISI Yogyakarta, 2012). Tisna is the thirdDoctor in Art-creationwho graduated from the Postgraduate Programme at ISI Yogyakarta, after Dr Narsen Arafara (UNS) and Dr Dicky Chandra (UNM Makassar), who is then followed by the fourth graduate, Dr Edi Sunaryo (ISI Yogyakarta). At this time, these are the first four Doctors in Art-creation in the field of fine art in Indonesia, because other higher education fine art institutions have yet to create a Doctor in Art-creation Postgraduate Programme such as ISI Yogyakarta. Postgraduate doctoral programmes in the field of fine art in Indonesia are generally in the form of theoretical research. Tisna Sanjaya is someone who has managed to combine successful academic achievement with his professional status as an artist who has won various awards and accolades. In my knowledge, there is as yet no other contemporary Indonesian artist who has such a complete breadth of qualifications. 

It seems Tisna wishes to show, through his formal studies, how important it is to be an academic who is motivated and has the zeal to increase his knowledge to the highest level. Such formality is part of the life aspirations and way of life while one is engaged in the campus community. Life and the way of life is a learning process, such is his philosophy. Tisna Sanjaya’s art has given inspiration or enlightenment for both the world of academia and the professional world alike. 

Upon closer examination, there is a significantpath of development to Tisna’s art from the beginning until his last project, that is, the struggle between continuing (learning) aesthetics and thematics, and involvement or empowerment of  the community (social, cultural, political, living environment) in his artworks. Tisna’s artworks often do not take the forms of conventional fine art which are easily recognised . Instead, he creates refreshing new creativities which at the same time invites controversy. Creativity in Tisna’s art often brings about polemic, between the artistic value and non-artistic value, that is, social value, cultural value, political value, and the value of the living environment. His art cannot be understood in terms of any one of these values, instead itdemands a more comprehensive reading. Tisna Sanjaya’s version of art is art with a complex dimension, a form of art which is not just nuanced and powered by art alone. It is located in the realm of life in general and is comprehensive, encompassing various powers. 

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Epilogue

Tisna Sanjaya’s art discusses the phenomena of a subjective internal self, but also the phenomena outside his self, which is external-objective within the domain of the public. His art becomes a kind of energy and synergy with varied  powers, becoming the power of life which intends to awaken  society, to become more cultured and more empowered in their lives. The Cigondewah Cultural Centre becomes the monumental proof or symbol of Tisna Sanjaya’s engagement in art and in life, with the deepest possible meaning. 

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Bandung, May 2012

 

Sources:

Sabana Setiawan,” Spiritualitas dalam Seni Rupa Kontemporer Asia Tenggara: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, dan Filipina”, disertasi, ITB, 2002.

 

Sanjaya, Tisna, “Pusat Kebudayaan Cigondewah: Revitalisasi Budaya dan Pemberdayaan Masyarakat”, disertasi, ISI Yogyakarta, 2008.

 

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