Two and a Half Decades On, the Five Mountains Festival Consistently Serves as a Village Knowledge Laboratory

The Five Mountains Festival (FLG) is held once again for its 25th edition, marking an important milestone for the community-based cultural movement in Magelang Regency, Central Java. This year, Warangan Hamlet on the slopes of Mount Merbabu has been appointed to host the event, which is scheduled to take place from July 10 to 12, 2026.

Cultural figure and founder of the Five Mountains Community (KLG), Sutanto Mendut, emphasized that this festival is not merely an artistic entertainment stage. For a quarter of a century, FLG has transformed into an exhibition of rural inner knowledge that cannot be measured by commercial value or formal sponsorship support. According to him, the main strength of this festival lies in honesty, love, and emotion, which form the foundation of the villagers' mutual cooperation.

Carrying the grand theme "Getting Dumber Together" ("Makin Goblok Bareng"), FLG XXV aims to invite the public to reflect on the developments of the information technology era with humility and a spirit of continuous collective learning. This theme is expected to serve as an antithesis to intellectual arrogance and to encourage the creation of a noble civilization relevant to future generations, both in the physical world and digital spaces.

Head of KLG, Sujono, added that the community's resilience in preserving this tradition has been tested through various challenges over time, including the pandemic era. To date, 85 art groups with more than 1,274 participants are confirmed to enliven the event. All stages and art installations decorating the event site are self-funded creations of local residents, utilizing natural materials as a form of respect for the environment.

This event serves as concrete proof of the practice of mutual cooperation that is still alive in the hamlets of the Mount Merapi, Merbabu, Andong, Sumbing, and Menoreh regions. Without relying on external funding, the Five Mountains Community continues to prove that brotherhood-based networks and local wisdom are capable of sustaining art and human values independently and sustainably.