Held Bung Karno And Surabaya Sculpture Design Competition, Eri Cahyadi's Way Of Reviving Artists' Imaginations

Mayor of Surabaya Eri Cahyadi (Diskominfo Surabaya)

SURABAYA - Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi announced a competition to design a statue of Bung Karno with the theme "Inherit the Fire, Not the Ash". The winning design will be applied to a statue that will be built by the Surabaya City Government.

"Today, coinciding with Bung Karno's birthday, we are announcing a contest to design a statue of Bung Karno which will later be built in Surabaya. Apart from confirming that Bung Karno was born in Surabaya, this is our endeavor to keep remembering, learning, and grounding all thoughts and actions. Bung Karno's role model is truly extraordinary for Indonesia and the world," said Eri Cahyadi, in Surabaya, Monday, June 6.

The competition has a total prize of IDR 190 million. Entries will end in October, and winners will be announced November 10, 2022.

"Technically, we distribute posters on social media, media, and various communication channels. We hope that with this competition, all artists can be involved, providing the best ideas, so that in building, the Surabaya City Government does not run in its own imagination, but opens space for imagination. public," he said.

According to Eri, the Bung Karno statue design competition will be very thick with artistic values. This is part of a tribute to Bung Karno who is also known as an artist and architect.

"Not many people know that Bung Karno inspired architecture in his leadership. Works during his leadership era were timeless, such as the Istiqlal Mosque, Monas, Sarinah Building, Hotel Indonesia, Welcome Monument, and so on. We hope that the designs will also inherit Bung Karno's spirit, Bung Karno's thoughts, which will always be relevant forever," he said.

Eri Cahyadi said that Surabaya and Bung Karno and Bung Karno and Surabaya were like two sides of one inseparable coin.

"I call Surabaya the destiny of Bung Karno because this city is so attached to his life journey. We are very proud, touched, that Surabaya is destined to be a part of Bung Karno's journey and struggle," he said.

Eri then revealed a number of historical facts about Bung Karno and Surabaya, a line of facts that made Bung Karno call Surabaya the "kitchen of nationalism". Bung Karno was born in Pandean Village, Surabaya, on June 6, 1901.

Having moved to several areas in his childhood, Bung Karno returned to Surabaya to study at the Hogere Burger School (HBS) which is now the Great Post office building not far from the Heroes Monument.

"After he was born, then his childhood moved, Surabaya remained Bung Karno's destiny after his father, Raden Soekemi, sent his son to study in Surabaya and boarded the house of an Islamic leader, Haji Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto, in Peneleh," he said.

In Peneleh, continued Eri, Bung Karno learned a lot about popular agendas. He was involved in discussions with activists with various ideological backgrounds. The intellectual struggle at Tjokroaminoto's house, said Eri, which later helped inspire Bung Karno to fight for the independence of Indonesia.

"Of course, the process of searching for Bung Karno's ideology in Surabaya and the values he obtained in Peneleh must have become one of the references for Bung Karno in exploring the values of people's wisdom, which in turn led to the preparation of Pancasila," he said.

According to Eri, the five precepts of Pancasila, which put mutual cooperation at its core, have been embedded in the people of Surabaya. "We saw how the people of Surabaya gotong royong starting from fighting the invaders, building cities, facing the pandemic, and now together we rise from the pandemic," he said.