XXV Five Mountains Festival: Celebrating Maturity Through the Reflection of 'Getting Dumber Together'

The 25th edition of the Five Mountains Festival was officially held on July 10-12, 2026, in Warangan Hamlet, Muneng Warangan Village, Magelang Regency. The grand event, taking place on the slopes of Mount Merbabu, involved at least 85 art groups with a total of 1,274 artists performing various traditional, modern, and cross-disciplinary collaborations.

This year's theme, "Getting Dumber Together", became the main highlight, sparking deep discourse. According to the community's founders, the theme is an invitation to practice humility and build harmony amidst the complexity of the information age and global turmoil. The term does not refer to literal ignorance, but rather an invitation to dare to laugh at oneself as a form of awareness of human limitations in the face of the universe.

The strong sense of humor is evident in the festival's visual elements, from t-shirt designs featuring figures with protruding tongues to art installations made of natural materials such as bamboo, straw, and corn cobs. Local residents even built a grand stage adorned with puppet characters (panakawan) like Semar, Togog, and Gareng as symbols of local wisdom that understands life's reality in a more flexible way.

Cultural figure and founder of the Five Mountains Community, Sutanto Mendut, emphasized that the ability to be humorous and self-deprecating is a sign of a person's maturity in recognizing their own capacity. The positive energy from this joy is expected to be a foundation for the community to face various life problems with a lighter and more open perspective.

In addition to presenting art performances, the festival also served as a space for cultural dialogue through parades, symposiums, and the presentation of the "Five Mountains Award". Despite the unique backdrop combining the art stage with the still-under-construction Red and White Village Cooperative (KDMP) building, the committee chose to integrate it as part of the festival's dynamics, creating a visual reflection on the position of culture amidst the pace of national development.