Ark Galerie Puts the Focus Back on Art

Contemporary art tends to shine brightest when shown in a clean setting that puts the art at center stage. Jason Gunawan, the owner of Ark Galerie in South Jakarta, knows this and has made a point of stressing the ambience and look of the showplace in the gallery’s recent revamp.

Jason decided to renovate the gallery after a brainstorming session with co-owner Ronalk Akili.

The goal was to reduce the boundaries of the gallery to provide a more open space where the art would better be able to make an impression on visitors.

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Is it the End of the Reel for the Jakarta International Film Festival?

For 11 years the annual Jakarta International Film Festival, or JiFFest, has played an important role in rekindling Indonesia’s interest in quality cinema. The event’s discussions and workshops have also provided a platform for young Indonesian filmmakers to explore new horizons and meet big names in the industry.

So the industry was dismayed last week when organizers said that this year’s event, scheduled to run from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, may have to be canceled because of a funding crisis. Organizers have been forced to launch a public appeal for donations to keep it afloat.

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Solo’s Operatic Soul

The city of Solo in Central Java, Indonesia, was once known as a center of culture, religion and royalty. More recently, however, it has been associated with something much more menacing.

“I was sad and angry that people started labeling Solo a ‘haven for radicals,’” said Atilah Soeryadjaya , referring to an article in Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper last month. The article detailed the killing of terrorist Noordin M Top on the city’s outskirts.

A true-blue Solo native, Atilah is the granddaughter of Sultan Mangkunegara VII, a direct descendent of the Mataram dynasty’s royal line, which ruled Java between the 17th and 18th centuries.

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Angki Purbandono: The art of scanography

One may at first think the exhibition of noodle art at the Garis Artspace here is some kind of food promotion. But the opposite holds true.

Angki Purbandono, Indonesia’s most prominent artist specializing in scanography – the process of producing artistic digital images by means of an ordinary flat-bed image scanner – has now taken his scan-art to the realms of noodles. 

Placing noodles directly onto the scanner’s glass is like setting up a mini stage where the artist plays the stage director. Such a thought comes to mind as one looks at the works currently on show at the Garis ArtSpace.

Entering the space, one is first struck by images of elegant dragons seemingly playing with noodles. In the Western tradition, dragons are often thought of as awful monsters, but in the Chinese tradition, they carry with them the meaning of luck and welfare. The dragons in his scan-art, he says, are descendants of the Chinese Golden Dragon, raised in Europe. 

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Balinese: Between decline and transformation

Am I prejudiced? This is the question I asked myself a few days ago while arguing with noted Balinese scholar Nyoman Darma Putra.

I had missed the launch of his new book: Tonggak Baru Sastra Bali Modern (New Facts about Modern Balinese Literature), but I now found myself, two days later, sitting with him at the Pomodoro Italian restaurant in Northern Denpasar and discussing this very same book. 

In fact, I had accepted his invitation only because I wanted confirmation of a “hunch”, which I deemed a certainty: I was sure the Balinese language is under threat. 

Hasn’t UNESCO announced the probable extinctions of hundred of languages in the coming century? Isn’t it also true too that Balinese is now rarely spoken in Denpasar?

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Ababi’s ritual of warriors

The sun had almost disappeared into the horizon when the usually peaceful village of Ababi, Karangasem, was taken over by a bastion of proud warriors.

Dozens of men swarmed the village main street with krisses drawn on their hands. Bare-chested, they wore sarongs draped with poleng (checkered black and white cloth) and blazing red udeng (headgear).

Their upper torso glistened under the scorching sun as they rushed along the road. In unison, they repeatedly raised their hands, their krisses pointed at the sky, to show their readiness to attack.

Following them was a procession of a less aggressive character. Hundreds of men and women carried various offerings and sacred objects, such as jempana (wooden thrones of the deities), pratima (statues) and the

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