Volume 9 Nomor 1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 p 1 – 12 Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy in Developing the Actualization of Street Artists in Kota Tua, Jakarta Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo Universitas Matana, Matana University Tower Jl. CBD Barat Kav, RW.1, Curug Sangereng, Kelapa Dua, Tangerang Regency, Banten 15810 E-mail: rahardjo.fransisca@gmail.com Abstract This study will describe the method used by the initiators of the Lingkar Rupa Community as a basis for a strategy to develop the quality of the work of street artists in Kota Tua, as well as a description that archives the movement of a new art community in Jakarta. Lingkar Rupa in an effort to protect and actualize themselves and the work of street artists in Kota Tua. The community, which was initiated by an art and culture teacher, Ferry Kurniawan, is a social activity that arose from the founder's personal anxiety about art life at the grassroots level. This research will discuss the background, art activities and exhibitions, art strategies and the impact that Lingkar Rupa has carried out. With a qualitative method, namely using in-depth interview techniques from several founders and members of Lingkar Rupa's own informants. The theory of participatory art will be a surgical tool that examines the direction of this community's journey. It should be noted that the 'street art' that the author describes here is an art that is different from the terminology of 'street art' in the West which often emerges from elite academic circles and tries to present works of protest against the social situation around them in a very 'educated' manner. This research is also important to identify the 'underground' movement which is often not recognized because it is less popular and dapper. Keywords: strategy, art community, street art, grassroots, identification Strategi Komunitas Lingkar Rupa dalam Mengembangkan Aktualisasi Seniman Jalanan di Kota Tua, Jakarta Abstrak Penelitian ini akan mengurai metode apa yang dipakai oleh penggagas Komunitas Lingkar Rupa sebagai dasar strategi mengembangkan kualitas berkarya para seniman jalanan di Kota Tua, selain sebagai deskripsi yang mengarsipkan gerakan sebuah komunitas seni baru di Jakarta. Lingkar Rupa dalam upaya mengayomi dan mengaktualisasi diri dan kekaryaan para seniman jalanan di Kota Tua. Komunitas yang digagas oleh seorang guru seni dan budaya, Ferry Kurniawan, merupakan aktivitas sosial yang muncul dari kegelisahan personal pendirinya mengenai kehidupan seni di kalangan akar rumput. Dalam penelitian ini akan dibahas mengenai latar belakang, kegiatan seni dan pameran, strategi kesenian, serta dampak yang telah Lingkar Rupa kerjakan, dengan metode kualitatif yaitu menggunakan teknik wawancara yang mendalam dari beberapa informan pendiri dan anggota Lingkar Rupa itu sendiri. Teori seni partisipatoris akan menjadi alat bedah yang mengkaji arah perjalanan komunitas ini. Perlu diketahui bahwa ‘seni jalanan’ yang penulis jabarkan di sini adalah seni yang berbeda dari terminologi ‘street art’ di IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 Barat yang kerap kali muncul dari kalangan akademi elit dan mencoba menghadirkan karya protes terhadap situasi sosial di sekitarnya dengan sangat ‘terdidik’. Penelitian ini juga penting untuk mengidentifikasi gerakan ‘bawah tanah’ yang sering kali tidak terekognisi karena kurang populer dan necis. Kata kunci: strategi, komunitas seni, seni jalanan, akar rumput, identifikasi INTRODUCTION Street artists in Kota Tua are a collection of professional painters who work along street pavements and are recognized by the DKI Provincial Government as being who contribute to beautify historical tourist destinations in DKI Jakarta. They have been operating in the area since the early 90s. Generally, the painters or artists in this location draw photos of faces and caricatures of various sizes according to customer orders. The number of street painters who are actively making a living in the Kota Tua area ranges from more than 50 people with the age of 40 and over for now. However, this number continues to change every year. Prior to the existence of the Lingkar Rupa Community, the works of street artists that they produced were only limited to the need for souvenirs or souvenirs, there was no awareness of other interesting art concepts or subject matter to be processed. The skills they have are limited to practical skills and have not yet reached the stage of issue awareness or sense intelligence. However, since its presence, Lingkar Rupa has tried to break it all down by holding many activities that move in the area of thought such as discussions, workshops, street art murals, 'happening art' actions and joint exhibitions which gradually foster a critical spirit and a sense of wanting to actualize the artist's self. the street artist. In the next few years, solidarity between them was formed so that it became a community that has a base camp spot. The Lingkar Rupa Community also received recognition that it was registered with the Ministry of Education and Culture so that they could ask for financial assistance if they wanted to activate art. THE PARADIGM OF STREET ART So far, there may not be a single definition that can explain 'Street Art' or Street Art, but the general definition is a visual object (two-dimensional, three- dimensional, or performance) that contains artistic value and is made in a public location. Because there are rules that prohibit the act of doodling on public spaces in many countries, including Indonesia, the making of Street Art is usually illegal or can be categorized as vandalism. However, on several occasions, it is possible that local governments ask for the help of artists to beautify public spaces in certain moments, such as national and international sports weeks. In Indonesia, street art is Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo, Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy In Developing The Actualization … synonymous with flat art products in the form of graffiti and murals, even though performing arts displayed in public spaces are also legitimately called street art. For example, street performers at red lights and mime artists on the sidewalks of historic city buildings who work to survive on the streets. In the manufacture of street art, the mural and graffiti parts, the tools used are usually spray, wall paint or wood paint and other supporting media such as chalk, masking tape or malls, and many others that can produce an image. Street Art or street art is indeed a term that comes from culture in the West and the history of the school started from there. According to Wikipedia in Manhattan, New York's "post-graffiti" street art became popular in the 1970s and 1980s from the SoHo and Lower East Side areas which were still quiet neighborhoods at that time. Starting from an activity that merely carves his name on property belonging to the general public to show someone's existence, then it develops into a space for showing works of art. If in America the development of modern street art had begun in the 1970s, it was different in Indonesia. Historically, we can trace the appearance of street art products since the colonial era before independence, but they come with a different paradigm from what we understand today. During the independence period in 1945, street art was widely used by the fighters to spread and inflame the people's fighting spirit and ideas of struggle into persuasive texts. Street Art or street art in Indonesia has again found a new context with the birth of many communities such as Taring Padi and Apotik Komik in the 1990s which were popular in the 1998 reform era which served as a means for artists to voice their aspirations related to political themes such as opposition to the New Order. , anti-corruption and other popular issues that were hot at the time. A few years later, in the 2000s, Street Art communities sprang up in big cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Jogjakarta from art and design students. Bomber is the name for Street Art makers on the streets they are more active at night to avoid security officers. In its development in the past few years this movement has finally received support from the government, those who previously played "cat and mouse" with the security forces are now able to freely channel their creations. There are many special tourist spots and certain corners of the city, for example under the flyover which is specially provided for Bombers to be creative as well as to entertain visitors so that they can enjoy the Street Art art scenery along the walls that looks neat and attractive. Even for certain events the government deliberately invites them to do art commission projects in order to celebrate the National and international Olympic Week for example. Even so, there are still bomber artists who prefer to draw freely on the walls of the streets. The street artist community in this group are those who come from the bourgeoisie or upper middle social class. Usually they get to know street art starting with an interest in graffiti art from American Pop Art Culture. The average age IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 when they first join is late teens to early adults, namely high school to early grade students, so it's clear their motive is for self-existence. Therefore, it is natural for graffiti to be a bridge for the first introduction to wider street art because of its 'tagging' nature or signifying that someone has been present in a certain place. Teenagers and early adults who are colored by delinquency make graffiti vandalism more popular because it is in accordance with the stage of their age turmoil. However, in subsequent developments, their needs are increasingly supported by the recognition of the general public and the arts community for works that are considered successful and aesthetic. For example, names such as Darbots, Bujangan Urban, Robowobo, The Popo and others have succeeded in transforming their vandal activity and expertise into a visual icon and turning it into an art commodity. Just like what happened to the Hip Hop subculture in America, their consistent existence makes their works get a fairly high economic value addition, some of them are even appreciated as international artists. Darbotz, Bujangan Urban, The Popo and others are pseudonyms or stage names made up consciously. There is a reason they created the stage name due to their own strategy and safety when working so that their identity will not be seen when doing a mural that is considered vandal. There are two names of Jakarta street artists whose real names are finally revealed, namely Darbots (Darma Aditya) and Bujangan Urban (Rizky Aditya Nugroho). This may be due to the skyrocketing popularity of their own after more than a decade of being in the street art scene, so there are also many gaps for news seekers to find answers to the mystery of their name. Figure 1. Jakarta young men in mural activity Source: https://www.hipwee.com/narasi/street-art-di-indonesia-sejarah-dan-perkembangan Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo, Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy In Developing The Actualization … Figure 2. Robowobo in front of his artwork Source: https://visualjalanan.org/web/gerakan-gerakan-sosial-dan-street-art-dalam-perbincangan- dengan-robowobo/ Figure 3. Darbotz in front of his artwork Source: http://creamcreativemagazine.blogspot.com/2009/09/artcoholic.html MAKING ARTS IN SIDEWALK From the description above, it can be seen that the definition of street art or street art is dominated by references from the academic world. The perpetrators also come from the middle to upper middle class who can afford to go to college like the art and design students. They are the urban generation who are restless with the state of their city but still see it through binoculars which are quite far away. The main motivation that arises besides wanting to convey public opinion is to self- actualize as a productive art worker. This is good as a sign that there has been a https://visualjalanan.org/web/gerakan-gerakan-sosial-dan-street-art-dalam-perbincangan-dengan-robowobo/ https://visualjalanan.org/web/gerakan-gerakan-sosial-dan-street-art-dalam-perbincangan-dengan-robowobo/ http://creamcreativemagazine.blogspot.com/2009/09/artcoholic.html IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 progressive development of the art scene, but the author feels it is unfair if the discourse on street art fails to cover the proletarian movement of art which is the subject of the problems of the city itself. It is the art of sidewalk streets in Blok-M and Kota Tua Jakarta, for example, that has existed since the 1980s. The art media that are present here are usually paintings, drawings and illustrations. The performers of their art work are often called pavement face painters and most of them work by self-taught or self-study, not from academics. Many were initially unable to paint at all, but due to economic pressures, they became interested in learning from friends who had existed before. For sidewalk painters, the motivation to create art is, of course, different from urban artists who call themselves street artists, they initially work solely because of economic needs and some even feel that they have no talent, but because they see an opportunity on the street, they muster the courage to learn and work. self- sufficient as an artist. As for the young street artists, their main need is self- existence, although then greater financial well-being will follow because of their popularity on the contemporary (contemporary) art scene. This artistic activity then becomes a lifestyle. The author himself found that there is another art stage that lives in a community, namely the actual street art stage where the actors are art workers who are still at the stage of working to survive. There are those whose previous professions were unemployment due to unplanned urbanization, buskers, street children, massage therapists, to mobile cigarette vendors. They are the real street artists who come from the 'grassroots' socio-economic circles. By writing about them, the writer hopes that Indonesian art discourses can develop more proportionally, dynamically and not one-sidedly. Figure 4. Street art before independence day Source: nationalgeographic.grid.id Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo, Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy In Developing The Actualization … LINGKAR RUPA AS AN ART ACTUALIZATION TOOL FOR STREET ARTISTS As in other aspects of the world, in the world of art there are also classes. In the West we know High art and Low art which means high art and low art. High art is synonymous with exclusive art and can be collected by capital owners for personal satisfaction motivation, historical interest, or future investment and is very easy to find in galleries, art markets, and auction halls. Meanwhile, low art is always associated with industrial products that are popular and quite large in quantity. In the East the concept of high art may be similar to the understanding of the noble arts and the arts of handicrafts. In this contemporary era where everything is equal and free, maybe this is no longer relevant, but in reality there are still barriers that are quite high in attention and appreciation for these various types of media. Street artists in the context of artists who struggle to survive on the streets are a class that has not been mapped by the social field of art for various reasons. Street artists, according to the author, are a separate class that can be categorized as marginalized artists. It is not without reason that the author analyzes one of the reasons why their motives are considered too simple, namely art only to fulfill the primary needs of life that day, there is no awareness of the issues that are elaborated or social narrative discourse which is actually their own problematic which is very close to their daily experience. days but is not employed due to a lack of education and insight into the arts. They are the losers in the system but still fight as best they can even with the consequences mentioned above. They are the subject matter of art itself. Figure 5. High art vs Low art by John Fisher Source: therapidian.org IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 Since the presence of the Lingkar Rupa Community, which was initiated by Ferry Kurniawan, the situation has been dismantled. Ferry himself is an academic who graduated from Taman Siswa Graphic Arts who was very inspired by the national education ideals of Ki Hajar Dewantoro. Like art according to Ki Hajar Dewantara's understanding is all human actions that arise from feelings and beautiful nature, so that it moves the soul of human feelings. Therefore, the idea of the Lingkar Rupa Community movement is based on empathy and a sense of humanity. The profiles of the street artists or painters who hang out on the sidewalks of Pintu Besar Selatan are very diverse, but most of them are ordinary people who do not understand art and design at all. The existence of an opportunity in the form of a large enough consumer opportunity and solidarity to share knowledge free of charge among themselves are one of the reasons that make this sidewalk painter profession still exist today. So the technical ability that is obtained self-taught is a result that is sure to be obtained for those who are diligent and consistent. Among them painting, many feel that painting is an unintentional profession because their initial profession was unsuccessful or lost in the 'market'. Examples of early professions in this street painter group include selling fried rice, buskers, massage therapists, and even unemployment due to layoffs. Even though we come from an odd background, we often get unexpected conclusions because such people are able to transform after some time into painters who are able to produce very good image quality and are not inferior to the results of graduates from art and design students and even realist artists (or hyperrealism) though. Figure 6. Stratification social class of Sanento Yuliman Source: ‘Kurasi and Kuasa’ Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo, Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy In Developing The Actualization … Apart from the determination that produces miracles without relying on talent or talent alone, it turns out that there is still an empty space that is difficult to work on if there is no intervention from other parties. Although technically, the expertise of these street painters is unquestionable, there is a lack of knowledge that makes according to the author their existence is stagnant in perspective, which also affects economic stability. The author himself is of the opinion that a broader scientific perspective is a sharper bullet for those who want to work in the art market. For example, there is a misunderstanding when they get an order for caricature works that are supposed to highlight the distinctive character of a person's face in a hyperbole but they actually display the size of the head which is enlarged from the body on an ordinary naive scale. It is very rare for them to have personal ideas other than custom works, if any, only dwell in the area of material experimentation. Then Lingkar Rupa in 2011 came to present discourses, insight into art history, enrichment of social and political issues through routine activities. The traces of this new awareness are then recorded in the works of walls and pillars that support the old buildings where they stand. With the existence of Lingkar Rupa, art is no longer merely "flea market art" but a medium of expression of real experience or realism. Figure 7. Logo Lingkar Rupa Community Source: Privat Documentation Figure 8. Founding father of Komunitas Lingkar Rupa Source: Privat Documentation Figure 9. Recognition from the government Source: Privat Documentation IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 DISCUSSION : PARTISIPATORY ARTS IN LINGKAR RUPA Indonesia is thick with the culture of 'gotong royong' which is a common thing and has been practiced for generations. It is even stated in the proverb "light is the same as carried, heavy is the same as carried." Although along the way these values began to fade with the times and modernism, especially in big metropolitan cities like Jakarta, in reality there are still many residents of Jakarta who care about the concerned situation around them. Usually those who apply these values are overseas residents who experience the romance of 'ngguyub' life in their hometown. In contrast to what is happening in Western society, this communal practice is seen as something new if it is applied in a 'new abandoned space', observers will identify it as a specific 'new' art method. Figure 10. Poster event activation with Bank Indonesia Source: Privat Documentation Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo, Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy In Developing The Actualization … There is a curator and art critic from England named Nicolas Bourriard (1965) who is very well known in Europe. He revealed that the phenomenon or practice of 'gotong royong' in the art world is known as participatory art. According to Bourriad, the works of art that are studied have a 'relational aesthetic' content or are aesthetically related and are participatory works of art. And Bourriard also formulated what conditions a participatory work of art must have to be judged successful or qualified, namely: 1. Aesthetic relational works are not as simple as interactive works, meaning they have to work in contextual contemporary location spaces and involve 'cultural' aspects on a large scale. 2. Performance art works can be categorized as a premium medium to accommodate this artistic activity. 3. The success of relational art depends entirely on the possibilities of the environment and its audience. Moreover, this audience is depicted as a participant in a community rather than a one-on-one relationship between the artwork and the audience. Relational art sets up a situation in which the viewer is not only addressed as a collective social entity but is actually given the means to create community. In the initiative held by Ferry Kurniawan as the founder of the Lingkar Rupa community, we can see the quality of aesthetically related art as in the theory expressed by Nicholas Bourriard. Although not in the context of conceptual awareness of performance art, which is quite complicated, the approach that incorporates itself as an existential artist has demonstrated this relational aesthetic quality. In interviews at every opportunity, Ferry Kurniawan always tries to encourage his fostered artists to come forward and get to the stage of art exploration, while he himself works more behind the scenes, namely as a drafter, proposal maker, and negotiator if there is an obstacle or need for an agreement. In the end, the attitude shown by Ferry Kurniawan formed a new habitus pattern among proletarian street artists, namely the habit of discussing, supporting each other, and eradicating prejudice and feelings of inferiority as the 'losing' group in the system because many practitioners, both professionals and academics, participated. join this supportive community regardless of social and economic status. IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 Figure 11. Learning how to draw a model in live Source: Privat Documentation Figure 12. Organizing cross-medium art association event Source: Privat Documentation Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo, Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy In Developing The Actualization … Figure 13. Performance art with paints Source: Privat Documentation CONCLUSION If you read from the perspective of high art and low art from John Fisher and Sanento Yuliman's chart, you will find a discrepancy due to a shift in values. The discrepancy in the shift in value is the claim that low art tends to be of lower value because it does not pay more attention to aesthetics and prioritizes function. In the actualization activity carried out by Ferry Kurniawan and his friends, the proletarian circle of visuals is on the contrary because the nobility of the cultural vision and mission is more prominently celebrated than accommodating the need for daily survival, so in this context the chart is not very accurate for the street artists fostered by Lingkar. appearance. As a comparison, the street artist subculture community with a more bourgeois background can be seen that there is an element of need to express the functional beauty of a site as well as a marker of their existence as artists who still need a 'stage' for contemporary visual artists. (Look at Figure 14) The fact that the flow of production and consumption of functional aesthetics by the street art subculture artists was eventually absorbed by the owners of capital and the elite also breaks the premise that the followers of Low Art are low-employed, small-scale traders, unskilled laborers and unemployed. In the context of Indonesia, the segmentation of street art subculture players, which is IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 usually classified as low art in the West, actually gets a place in commercial galleries, young collectors, and educated art connoisseurs from the middle to upper social classes. They are willing to buy the work as an investment at a fantastic price. Meanwhile, street painting artists continue to wallow in poverty and fall into the category of low art which is actually in the social arena of Indonesian art. Reading from this comprehensive contemporary phenomenon, the author makes a new conclusion that can summarize the position and actualization of street artists in Kota Tua today, especially the Lingkar Rupa Community in the social arena of Indonesian art. (Look at Figure 15 & 16) Here we can see that the trend and visual style displayed by street artists on the sidewalks of Pintu Besar Selatan Jakarta is more of a social realism style typical of modern Indonesian art, namely art that emerged before the post-independence era, as promoted by the maestro Sudjojono, Basuki Abdulah, Affandi and many more. In addition, there are also several images containing elements of environmental campaigns and side by side with content that voices campaigns about education, reminders of history and the rich culture of the archipelago. Although most of their works are 'only' imitating the works of the existing maestro, it can be said that this group of proletarian artists shows more of a nationalist attitude than only being oriented towards the existence and goals of elite commodification of art. Figure 14. Writer’s version of Indonesian stratification social class Fransisca Retno Setyowati Rahardjo, Lingkar Rupa Community Strategy In Developing The Actualization … Figure 15. Mural of “Mooi Indie” image appropriation Source: Privat Documentation Figure 16. Imitation image of Raden Saleh painting and orang utan campaign Source: Privat Documentation IJCAS-Vol.9 No.1, June 2022 p-ISSN 2339-191X | e-ISSN 2406-9760 REFERENCES Achmad Fedyani Saifuddin. (2006). Antropologi Kontemporer, Suatu Pengantar Kritis Mengenai Paradigma. Jakarta: Kencana. Anindita, Gisela. (2020). Art and Artist Movement in Banten Edi Bonetski X PengPeng. IJCAS (International Journal of Creative and Arts Studies), Vol.7 No.2, pp. 137-143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24821/ijcas.v7i2.4656 Arifin, Moch. Zainal, Sri Sadewo, FX. (2017). Analisis Fenomenologi Tentang Motif-motif Sosial Penggiat Seni Jalanan Grafiti di Surabaya. Paradigma Vol.5 No.1. Bishop, Claire. (2004). Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics. 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