In 2016, Festival Salihara was reintroduced as Salihara International Performing Arts Festival (SIPFest). This festival is held every two years in even-numbered years—2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022. SIPFest’s predecessor, Festival Salihara, was first held in 2008. It proudly presents the pinnacles of performing arts, the best works by top tier artists from Indonesia and around the world. Not just providing aesthetic experiences through performing art programs, SIPFest also organizes fringe events such as fine art exhibitions.
SIPFest has showcased some of the best works by Indonesian artists like Jim Adhi Limas, Eko Supriyanto, Papermoon Puppet Theatre, Melati Suryodarmo, Teater Garasi, Iwan Gunawan, Al Suwardi and Didik Nini Thowok. In addition to homegrown artists, foreign artists have also taken part in the festival, such as Lucy Guerin Inc (Australia), Ju Percussion Group (Taiwan), Toccata Studio (Malaysia), Compagnie X-Press (France), ARICA Theatre Company (Japan) and Speak Percussion (Australia).
Mid-2022—in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic—Musim Seni Salihara was introduced to keep up SIPFest’s spirit. We have maintained some of SIPFest’s defining characteristics: presenting new works that are considered “pinnacles” of their crafts, while adapting to the latest situations and network formats, including social distancing in pandemic times.