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The aim of the franco-indonesian association Pasar Malam (“Night Fair” in Indonesian, in honor of one of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s novels, major Indonesian author), is to help foster understanding and friendship between the French and the Indonesian peoples through culture.
To achieve this, three types of activities have been envisaged:
Events organised around a specific theme, followed by Indonesian dances and a buffet dinner, open to members of the association or to anyone interested by Indonesian culture. The term culture is taken here in its widest sense, be it literature, the arts, the sciences, tourism, etc…
A six-monthly Le Banian (2005) also including topical news on Indonesia. Each issue of Le Banian publishes in French extracts from the works of an Indonesian writer. Pasar Malam, through its editorial programme Collection du Banian (2010), also acts as a publisher: fiction, poetry, short stories, essays by Indonesian authors are carefully selected, translated and published in French.
An important annual event to act as a showcase for the riches of Indonesian civilisation: dances, shadow theatre, cuisine, literature, crafts –traditional or contemporary, painting (such as a week-end long festival of Indonesian films, or the ten-hour day for the Indonesian literature).
Pasar Malam hopes, in this manner, to stimulate the French public who feel like visiting Indonesia in order to appreciate the culture in its own environment, as well as to discover the natural beauty of the country.
Founder
Johanna Lederer was born in Malang and lives in Paris where she has taught ballet dancing. She would like all aspects of Indonesian culture –the arts, the crafts, the sciences– to be presented by Pasar Malam, which she founded in order to maintain her bonds with the country in which she grew up.
