This is another short update about the folks at Taring Padi art collective and bit of observation of the current Indonesian art and activist community. (on island of Java)

Its been more than a year since the earthquake hit Bantul area in 2006, and since then the Taring Padi collective has relocated to a kampung village area in the outskirts of Yogyakarta/Bantul. Near the beginning of this year they bought a piece of land there and began construction on a new building that will house TP projects. Since the previous TP house was destroyed by the earthquake, during the construction process of the new building, they are living in a few rented houses together in the village- walking distance from the land they bought. The money to buy the land was a combination of collective money from exhibitions and projects, as well as foreign donations and fundraising. The money has been limited and more help is always needed to continue rebuilding infrastructure of the collective. They plan to house a library/education center, gallery space, and studio in the new building. While most of TPs collective efforts seem a bit quiet, focusing on the new land and village, individuals are busy creating their personal art, solo exhibitions, and music as well. In general the Javanese art and activist community seems awake and alive with many different projects and groups doing exhibitions, public murals, performances, music etc... most with at least an edge of politically or socially concious content. All over the city of Yogyakarta murals and writings cover the walls and its not uncommon to see antiwar or anarchy slogans in all sorts of places. A beautiful thing is the strong sense of community, working together, and alternative space that is present in the Indonesian scene. Alao there are a variety of different different types of art and community here from traditional puppet shows to noise shows, lots of original music, experimental bands, and hiphop mc's with the flavor of poetry people singing in Indonesian, javanese, and english, graffiti and street murals, stensil and screenprint art, street musicians, food not bombs, anarchist thinktanks, multimedia art, and all sorts of fine and raw art of everykind. I've created a folder in the gallery section with photos from Yogyakarta and Jakarta...slowly adding more so check back later and they'll be more when I have time to get to it.

Here's a edited/"translated" response to a few questions...

>>How has the direction of Taring Padi's current projects changed since the Bantul earthquake in 2006?

-Taring padi has not changed so much, we still try hard... maybe now to do more for the people, not just for the artist. Now taring padi has property and the challenge is now whats next to do. Our idea still is to make a school for art, enviroment/organics, community radio, alternative space and library for adults and especially for kids. After that we want to continue to make a lot of exhibitions, discussions, workshops, and if we have a projector we can screen movies every week for the people. Make performance and art festivals in the village. A lot of ideas.

>>What kind of material things does Taring Padi still need in working towards these goals?

- Right now we are working on the building but we still want to fill it with things such as a computers, printer, projector, sound equipment, books and things like this. We also want to try to get a vehicle bus/truck soon, and some kind of alternative energy system like solar/wind etc.

>>How does Taring Padi work with community around you?

- We like to organize events and projects with the ordinary peoples like make a painting, banners, poster printing, toys, or performances and events together. There is no difference between the artist and the villagers. Every human being is an artist, we like to just give inspiration and direction and everyone can create together. Its nice to have the presence of art in everyday life, and use this as expression for issues that are important to the community. In the city we are a part of many things as well directly or by influence to much of the art community, but maybe less visable than before. Before we have organized alot of exhibitions, and events with other artists and local festivals supporting issues like farming, land reform, fair trade, organics, and enviroment. These days people ask if Taring Padi still exists, the answer is of course! We just got land and are working on those types of projects right now.

>>What kind of collaberation or interaction does Taring Padi have with the international community?

-Over the years Taring Padi has foreign friends who come to visit or live in Indonesia and are interested in what we are doing here. Whenever we have a project it's always open for them to jump in and be involved, and we have had foreigner friends who are more continuously involved somehow in our efforts. Mostly strong ties with other southeast asian communities, Australian and European communities and some American friends too. Sometimes they come here to do projects with us, and we have made projects with people overseas in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Holland, Germany, and France. Last month a few of us went to Kuala Lumpur to bring TP art/posters, do performance art, and some workshops. After the Bantul earthquake several of our friends overseas came forward to organize fundraising for us. We are really grateful for the help we got from all of that. Most were informal small benefits events organized by friends, but also we had connections with Goethe Institute in Germany that put together a mailing list to all of their affiliates around the world to accumulate funds for us. Initially the money from fundraising after the earthquake was used to organize and operated a relief center taking care of the immediate needs of the community, and deliver food and supplies to places within the cities as well as neighboring kampungs affected by the disaster. Some of the left over money was put towards purchasing the new land. We really hope to continue working with our international friends and invite any ideas for collaberative projects, and with the new land we can easily house visiting artists who want to come work with us here. The Cyclown circus is to be arriving in September with plans to be here for a few months staying at TP land, I'm sure they will do some great stuff and we can make events and workshops together.