Artist Cecil Mariani planned to have three billboards at three spots in the park. The billboards would bear pictures of Persija stadium, which previously stood at the park. After several meetings and clinching the permit, the committee was asked to pay a fee of Rp 100,000 (US$8.9) per day for each board. That’s on top of ‘wisdom’ money asked for by the park attendants. One of them told me, ‘to ease closer ties between us here and your products’, they wanted Rp 200,000 per day,” said Ardi. The closer ties he was talking about included fixing the position of the board should they fall, Ardi said. He said for each set of letters, his team attached a letter from the city’s tourism and cultural agency, saying the event was a city program. But he said many officials from other agencies just ignored it. Many of them said they would were complying with a gubernatorial decree, Ardi said. Money wise, the four billboards cost Jakarta Biennale the most. The owners of the billboard, who happened to know some committee members, let the artists use them free of charge. The advertisement tax, however, was not waived.
