The Press Conference: Solo International Performing Arts (SIPA) Coming in 2023

SIPA is a Solo-based international art festival that has been running for 15 years, including this year. SIPA 2023 is being held at Vastenburg Fort in Solo, Central Java, and will feature magnificent art performances by talented artists from Indonesia and around the world in the forms of music, dance, and theatre. This year, SIPA will be held from August 31 to September 2, 2023, with free entrance. SIPA 2023 has previously held pre-events like as talk shows, fashion show, live music, sharing sessions, modern/traditional dance, and culinary festivals prior to the major event.

At the Press Conference held at Pendhapi Gede, Surakarta City Hall on Tuesday morning (29/8/2023) LPM Campus crew met Sophia, one of SIPA performer from Indonesia (Bandung and Surakarta) that brings collaboration between performing arts (particularly theater) and projection mapping. Then, from the meeting of these two elements, a performance that will be presented takes data from Sangiran ancient human research (paleoanthropological research), and that it is further specified to precisely display the cooking culture of Homoerectus—the first human to walk, move, also the one passing down cooking culture. They want this to be a reflection on ourselves as Homosapiens; are our senses and primitiveness, as found in homoerectus culture, still exist?

“I will perform a collaborative performance between performing arts, especially theatre, and projection mapping” said Sophia as one of SIPA performer from Indonesia.

Sophia collaborates with Tilik Sarira Creative Process in Solo as a platform providing cross-cultural and interdisciplinary encounters. Together they also already have the interest in ancient humans, including Zarry (an illustrator in the ancient human sector who is also the projection mapping animator for SIPA 2023). Therefore, they are not making selection to the art performances that will appear later. They have even done a residency in Sangiran and was working together with archaeologists and paleoanthropological researchers in Sangiran.

In addition, SIPA team has been carrying out research since 2022 by participating in various workshops of Indonesia Bertutur, performing initially at Community Media Arts in Bengkulu, then developing until later they will perform at SIPA stage of 2023. Another city from Indonesia beside Bandung and Surakarta, there are also Medan, Yogyakarta, Banjarmasin, Riau, Kalimantan Tengah, Nusa Tenggara Timur, and Kutai Kartanegara who will be performing various arts along with the performers from Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Japan, and other countries as well.

The press conference went off without a hitch, and the media who attended were very enthusiastic about the discussion about the specifics of this year’s SIPA (Solo Performance Art).

As the closement statement, This year’s performance, as said by Sophia, is a new exploration because it is no longer in the form of installation art, but tries to be present on a big stage. “This year at SIPA, we are trying to uncover new work from previously developed ideas, resulting from research that has been conducted before,” says Sophia. SIPA team hopes that the uniqueness of SIPA in which providing interdisciplinary, inter-age, and even transnational meetings, can be understood also enjoyed by  the people from many different countries, especially Indonesians.

Writer: Nada (Dentistry ’21)

Reporter: Fathika (Communication Science ’20), Rissa (Islamic Education Science ’21), Linda (Accounting ’22), Farah (Public Health ’22), Syahan (English Education Science [International Programme]’22)

Editor: Shafaa Azka Indradi (Psychology ’21)