On the last day of August, Agung and I visited Pesta Literasi (lit. trans. Literacy Party) at Taman Ismail Marzuki. It is a literary-based event held by Gramedia, a major publishing house in Indonesia, filled with a book bazaar, discussion panels, workshops, exhibitions and theatre performances. The event actually started in 2021 as a series of literary webinars with the name Ruang Tengah #bersama, but in 2023 transformed into a bigger on-ground shindig and changed its name to Pesta Literasi. When I found out about it last year, I was really intrigued to go, although didn’t make it in the end — and that got me determined to pay the event a visit this time. Now…we’ve got some mixed feelings about it, here’s why.
On the last day of August, Agung and I visited Pesta Literasi (lit. trans. Literacy Party) at Taman Ismail Marzuki. It is a literary-based event held by Gramedia, a major publishing house in Indonesia, filled with a book bazaar, discussion panels, workshops, exhibitions and theatre performances. The event actually started in 2021 as a series of literary webinars with the name Ruang Tengah #bersama, but in 2023 transformed into a bigger on-ground shindig and changed its name to Pesta Literasi. When I found out about it last year, I was really intrigued to go, although didn’t make it in the end — and that got me determined to pay the event a visit this time. Now…we’ve got some mixed feelings about it, here’s why.
📷 Fujifilm X-T100 with Fujinon Aspherical Superb EBC XC 15-45mm lens + ASUS ZenFone 10 50 MP f/1.9, 23.8 mm
From Chapter to Chapter
Pesta Literasi 2024 was held on 30 August to 1 September at Taman Ismail Marzuki. Its activities range from book bazaars and exhibitions, to discussion panels and theatre performances. Personally for me, the most interesting activities are simply the book bazaar and art exhibitions. The rest feels like they would take too much time, given the short span of the event itself—also, as I understand it, they are not free. And, once I got there, I was even less motivated to stay for long.
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty straight away, shall we? The most unfortunate thing about this event is that it’s held simultaneously with Festival Tjikini on TIM’s façade. Not only does it give rise to the traffic out front, it also adds more crowd that may discourage people from visiting the event. Also, while TIM’s area is admittedly massive, the space used for the book bazaar is relatively small, resulting in crazy long lines just to get in—and, apparently, it’s super crowded inside as well. So not ideal!
Pesta Literasi 2024 was held on 30 August to 1 September at Taman Ismail Marzuki. Its activities range from book bazaars and exhibitions, to discussion panels and theatre performances. Personally for me, the most interesting activities are simply the book bazaar and art exhibitions. The rest feels like they would take too much time, given the short span of the event itself—also, as I understand it, they are not free. And, once I got there, I was even less motivated to stay for long.
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty straight away, shall we? The most unfortunate thing about this event is that it’s held simultaneously with Festival Tjikini on TIM’s façade. Not only does it give rise to the traffic out front, it also adds more crowd that may discourage people from visiting the event. Also, while TIM’s area is admittedly massive, the space used for the book bazaar is relatively small, resulting in crazy long lines just to get in—and, apparently, it’s super crowded inside as well. So not ideal!
As soon as we arrived on location, despite being initially discouraged (me) by the overflowing crowd on the façade—most of whom parked right there on the pavement and even the street—the inside was actually pretty sparse. The first wayfinding signage we saw directed us towards the Sampul Manusia book cover exhibition—an excerpt from an earlier event by the same publishing house—I’ll tell you about it below. I was so excited to show Agung the exhibition, because it was so well displayed and insightful the first time I saw it…but, honestly, I was a little disappointed. I don’t know if you could see it from some of the photos we took, but essentially, the exhibition was placed at the lobby of the Graha Bhakti Budaya building and its portion was awfully small. Some of the displays were even, sadly, a little damaged, although I suppose you could still enjoy the whole thing.
Personally, for me—as someone who has seen the exhibition in its full glory before—it didn’t feel as engaging and educational as I found it to be previously. It felt a lot like an after thought. There was no real show of transformation of any kind, everything was just displayed without much of a narrative to bind them together. Nobody was even manning the area, any of the available staff was by the ticket counter to the stage performance main event. It was, honestly, pretty heartbreaking to see, since I love its original display and narrative in the previous event.
But I suppose Agung learnt something new from it, so there’s that I guess. At least it was way better than the crazy long line—my guess is about 50 metres long—to the book bazaar we saw afterwards. That turned us completely off.
Thrifted shirt // hand-me-down dress + socks // old shoes + tie // Toko Eneng tote bag //
photos of me by Agung
As soon as we arrived on location, despite being initially discouraged (me) by the overflowing crowd on the façade—most of whom parked right there on the pavement and even the street—the inside was actually pretty sparse. The first wayfinding signage we saw directed us towards the Sampul Manusia book cover exhibition—an excerpt from an earlier event by the same publishing house—I’ll tell you about it below. I was so excited to show Agung the exhibition, because it was so well displayed and insightful the first time I saw it…but, honestly, I was a little disappointed. I don’t know if you could see it from some of the photos we took, but essentially, the exhibition was placed at the lobby of the Graha Bhakti Budaya building and its portion was awfully small. Some of the displays were even, sadly, a little damaged, although I suppose you could still enjoy the whole thing.
Personally, for me—as someone who has seen the exhibition in its full glory before—it didn’t feel as engaging and educational as I found it to be previously. It felt a lot like an after thought. There was no real show of transformation of any kind, everything was just displayed without much of a narrative to bind them together. Nobody was even manning the area, any of the available staff was by the ticket counter to the stage performance main event. It was, honestly, pretty heartbreaking to see, since I love its original display and narrative in the previous event.
But I suppose Agung learnt something new from it, so there’s that I guess. At least it was way better than the crazy long line—my guess is about 50 metres long—to the book bazaar we saw afterwards. That turned us completely off.
Thrifted shirt // hand-me-down dress + socks // old shoes + tie // Toko Eneng tote bag //
photos of me by Agung
Take a Page Out of Your Book
The closest thing I could compare this to is Sampul Manusia, the event I mentioned earlier by Gramedia to commemorate their 50th anniversary. The event was held on 26 March-5 April 2024 at Bentara Budaya and the Kompas Gramedia Building in Palmerah, South Jakarta. While its pièce de résistance was the exhibition of book covers over the years—complete with transformations of earlier editions to the most recent ones, the event also had other activities, such as talkshows, competitions and film screenings. Overall, I was satisfied with the experience, since I could enjoy the exhibition very well and was even able to have a longer and deeper chat with Mas Emte, the talkshow speaker—granted, I did visit on a weekday.
Ironically, while Pesta Literasi was held by the same publishing house, I find it wasn’t as well executed—and I believe a lot of it is due to the location choice. As mentioned above, while the TIM area may be huge and filled with various buildings to choose from, the designated areas inside said buildings didn’t always seem able to accommodate the intended activities. Also, TIM has a lot of outdoors area—none of which was being utilised properly to give a more wholesome experience of the festival. Instead, there was a very poor wayfinding system—the signages were placed too far apart from one another, creating a gap between one activity site and another. That made the event felt less festive for me. Not to mention the simultaneous events on the same site.
The closest thing I could compare this to is Sampul Manusia, the event I mentioned earlier by Gramedia to commemorate their 50th anniversary. The event was held on 26 March-5 April 2024 at Bentara Budaya and the Kompas Gramedia Building in Palmerah, South Jakarta. While its pièce de résistance was the exhibition of book covers over the years—complete with transformations of earlier editions to the most recent ones, the event also had other activities, such as talkshows, competitions and film screenings. Overall, I was satisfied with the experience, since I could enjoy the exhibition very well and was even able to have a longer and deeper chat with Mas Emte, the talkshow speaker—granted, I did visit on a weekday.
Ironically, while Pesta Literasi was held by the same publishing house, I find it wasn’t as well executed—and I believe a lot of it is due to the location choice. As mentioned above, while the TIM area may be huge and filled with various buildings to choose from, the designated areas inside said buildings didn’t always seem able to accommodate the intended activities. Also, TIM has a lot of outdoors area—none of which was being utilised properly to give a more wholesome experience of the festival. Instead, there was a very poor wayfinding system—the signages were placed too far apart from one another, creating a gap between one activity site and another. That made the event felt less festive for me. Not to mention the simultaneous events on the same site.
This event—and our experience of it—really says to me more about the modern TIM’s shortcomings, instead of the event’s organiser or even the event itself. In case you didn’t know, Taman Ismail Marzuki was ‘revitalised’ in 2019 with the help of the renowned Indonesian architect, Andra Matin. Unfortunately, not everyone believes this move to be a positive one—particularly artists who have been actively creating artistic works of any kind at TIM forever. They believe the new industrial design of the building complex is devoid of soul and destroys a once historical site in the art field. Funnily enough, Andra Matin also designed the building for Salihara, which is also an art centre in Jakarta. How come that works and this doesn’t?
I think it is as simple as this: today TIM feels a whole lot like a mere convention venue and hangout spot. While TIM and Salihara were designed by the same architect, Salihara’s art community manages to make their mark on the building to make it look unique and warm. To this day, Salihara is still mainly a platform for the community. Very rarely would people go there without visiting an exhibition, attending a talk or watching a stage performance. Meanwhile, TIM with its new look is now mostly known to be a hangout spot by the masses. People don’t necessarily go there for the art, but often only because it’s hyped. The area has been re-opened to the public for a couple years now, yet the buildings still feel mostly cold and untouched.
It seems to value aesthetics over actual usability—including the crazy limited utilities—and community.
Perhaps the government should really consider that.
What do you think of Pesta Literasi or the not-so-new TIM?
Tell me in the comments!
This event—and our experience of it—really says to me more about the modern TIM’s shortcomings, instead of the event’s organiser or even the event itself. In case you didn’t know, Taman Ismail Marzuki was ‘revitalised’ in 2019 with the help of the renowned Indonesian architect, Andra Matin. Unfortunately, not everyone believes this move to be a positive one—particularly artists who have been actively creating artistic works of any kind at TIM forever. They believe the new industrial design of the building complex is devoid of soul and destroys a once historical site in the art field. Funnily enough, Andra Matin also designed the building for Salihara, which is also an art centre in Jakarta. How come that works and this doesn’t?
I think it is as simple as this: today TIM feels a whole lot like a mere convention venue and hangout spot. While TIM and Salihara were designed by the same architect, Salihara’s art community manages to make their mark on the building to make it look unique and warm. To this day, Salihara is still mainly a platform for the community. Very rarely would people go there without visiting an exhibition, attending a talk or watching a stage performance. Meanwhile, TIM with its new look is now mostly known to be a hangout spot by the masses. People don’t necessarily go there for the art, but often only because it’s hyped. The area has been re-opened to the public for a couple years now, yet the buildings still feel mostly cold and untouched.
It seems to value aesthetics over actual usability—including the crazy limited utilities—and community.
Perhaps the government should really consider that.
What do you think of Pesta Literasi or the not-so-new TIM?
Tell me in the comments!