A bold hope: Taman Ismail Marzuki was established in 1968. Now, in 2018 as it turns a half-century, that hope is still rather bold, or its shape is still unclear. Seen back then, as today, the arts center was a big experiment, daring, even though there is still no agreement as to its worth.

We know that the arts are confusing to many people in Indonesia: officials, bureaucrats, police, businessmen, schoolteachers, ulama, the people at large. The