Yogyakarta, October 3rd 2023─The international community has approved the concept of sustainable development goals (SDGs) as a strategy to respond to change. The use of natural resources, education, food security, and responsible production and consumption are some of the targets that must be achieved by countries in the world. Indonesia itself has tried to pour the concept of SDGs into each of its policies. Supporting the implementation, various professions, including art activists, voiced the sustainability aspect in “Malioboro Coffee Night” at Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of UGM from October 2nd to 3rd, 2023.
“Malioboro Coffee Night” is an event initiated by the Nusantara Coffee Community ahead of the commemoration of the 267th anniversary of Yogyakarta City on October 7, 2023. One of the series of events was held in the form of an exhibition of coffee tools and locally made coffee derivative industries and other interesting performances. The event attracted 30 of the best coffee farmers, art activists, and professionals in the archipelago’s coffee industry. The works were also exhibited at Western Hallway (Selasar Barat) of FISIPOL UGM with various interesting stories behind them.
One of the works, made by Aditya Kreshna, a cethe cigarette painter from Tulungagung, had the opportunity to showcase his work. He started his career as a graphic designer because of his love for art, especially painting. Then gradually, Aditya found a new and interesting art object, namely cethe cigarettes. Cigarettes are known as one of the commodities that have close ties with Indonesian socio-culture. Meanwhile, in Aditya’s eyes, cigarettes are more than that, namely as a means of painting with coffee grounds or known as cethe.
“The key is to take risks! When we take the risk, many opportunities will come,” he said. His courage to leave his original career path deserves appreciation. Instead of using paint, Aditya fell in love with coffee grounds and cigarettes as his art medium. He also shared his experience when he introduced the art of nyethe to the American public in a solo exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona. “I introduced nyethe to them. They were shocked at first, why would they paint cigarettes like that. They also thought it was a shame to smoke it because there was art on it. But I emphasized to them that we would still smoke this cigarette. And those who try it find it unique and the cigarette becomes more palatable,” he added.
Aditya’s decision to choose coffee grounds over paint certainly makes each of his works more environmentally friendly because they are based on organic materials. In addition to Aditya, another work on display was that of Irawan Halim, Founder of the R.E.D System or an electricity-free coffee brewing device. Irawan realized that the high cost of getting a brewing device was too expensive as capital to open a coffee shop. This then sparked his inspiration to create a cheaper and easier-to-operate electroless brewing device. Of course, this product deserves a thumbs up for successfully combining the industrial sector with minimizing the use of electricity. Given the production of electrical energy that is not fully environmentally friendly, due to the proliferation of electric-powered tools.
The cooperation between UGM and Malioboro Coffee Night is one form of university support for the nation’s works. This movement needs to be supported to grow advanced MSMEs that are responsible in terms of production and consumption. Especially in relation to the implementation of 12 aspects of SDGs, which is Responsible Consumption and Production.