Rianto’s “Medium”: Of Journeys, Transformations & Corporeality
By Nirmala Seshadri (990 words, four-minute read) Total darkness. The sound of sleep. Sleep of an eternal sort. Slowly the light reveals a solitary human body conveying a sense of sleep or is it semi-consciousness? Now, the entry of…
On the Indonesian Dance Festival with Maria Darmaningsih
As part of ArtsEquator’s series of interviews profiling festival directors in Southeast Asia, we get to learn more about Maria Darmaningsih, co-founder and current artistic director of the bi-annual Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF), which was launched in 1992. Its 14th edition…
“Hijrah”: In Between Body and Gender ‘Migration’
By Michael HB Raditya (1018 words, five-minute read) Read this review in Bahasa Indonesia. Baca review ini dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Rianto, 37, has attracted public attention with his Lengger Lanang dance performance. This dance is a type of dance from Banyumas that…
“Hijrah”: Tubuh di Antara dan Migrasi Gender
By Michael HB Raditya (1000 words, five-minute read) Read this review in English. Baca review ini dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Sejak kemunculannya, Rianto Manali (37) telah mencuri perhatian publik dengan tari yang ia pertunjukkan. Adalah Lengger Lanang, salah satu jenis tari dari Banyumas…
“One Two Jaga”: Keberanian Baharu Sinema Malaysia
Oleh Daniyal Kadir (1260 patah kata, 5-miinit bacaan) Penyampaian kritikan sosial atau politik dalam filem-filem Malaysia jarang berlaku melalui suasana yang berani dan mendatangkan ghairah. Malah mengkritik melalui karya secara berdepan seperti sukar untuk dilakukan. Terdapat banyak hal yang menyumbang…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (23 – 29 July 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Bromo, Solo and Jakarta from 23-29 July 2018 In Bali, Uma Seminyak is exhibiting Dolanan, an art show by 4 artists that highlights the world of imagination. Dolanan means play or specifically…
Kartika Affandi: 9 Ways of Seeing | Interview with videomaker Christopher Basile (via Culture 360)
A new documentary film tells the story of visionary artist Kartika Affandi, daughter of Indonesia‘s most celebrated painter, and a groundbreaking personality in her own right. On the poster for the documentary: “Kartika: 9 Ways of Seeing”, the smiley face of…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (16 – 22 July 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Solo and Jakarta from 16 – 22 July 2018 We have picked a variety of art events this week that might be interesting for you. Balai Soedjatmoko in Solo presents the first…
Austrian singer collaborates with ‘angklung’ musicians at Indonesian Cultural Night in Vienna (via The Jakarta Post)
Angklung musicians featuring Austrian soprano Maria Theresia Gruber staged the song Bengawan Solo at the Indonesian Cultural Night event held at Vienna’s Weltmuseum on Tuesday evening. Antara reported that the young soprano also sang “Im Prater blühn wieder die Bäume”…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (9 – 15 July 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 9 – 15 July 2018 Titian Art Space in Bali presents the exhibition Mokoh for the house of Mondo. The late I Dewa Putu Mokoh was a Balinese…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (2 – 8 July 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bandung and Jakarta from 2 – 8 July 2018 Dance lovers and practitioners, we have several dance events in Jakarta and Bandung for you to choose from. Today (Monday, 2 July 2018) and…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (25 June – 1 July 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali and Jakarta from 25 June – 1 July 2018 What would cultural heritage look like beyond the western perspective? Journey around East Timor’s Local Heritage is a lecture by Dominique Guillaud that…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (18 – 24 June 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Ngawi and Bali from 18-24 June 2018 In the small town of Ngawi that is located on the border of Central and West Java, there will be a film screening and discussion…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (11 – 17 June 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta and Bali from 11-17 June 2018 Barus is a region in Central Tapanuli in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Between the 7th and 15th century, Barus was a center of spice trading in Indonesia…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (4 – 10 June 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 4 – 10 June 2018 We begin our weekly picks in Bali with the True Line exhibition by Sanggar Bares. Created by I Nyomana Bratayasa, Sanggar Bares is…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (28 May – 3 June 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 28 May – 3 June 2018 It’s a brand new week and we’re bringing you a variety of selections of art events in Indonesia that are happening this…
Semar in the eyes of Sohieb Toyaroja (via The Jakarta Post)
For artist Sohieb Toyaroja, Semar is his favorite jester in Javanese mythology because the character is divine and very wise. Semar, one of four famous punakawan (jesters), has three sons: Petruk, Gareng and Bagong. Each has a different form, representing different philosophical…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (21 – 27 May 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bali from 21 – 27 May 2018 If you feel like catching some films on Tuesday night, head to Goethehaus in Jakarta to catch Indentitas, a screening of 5 Indonesian…
Beyond the Boxoffice: On the Cultural Relevance of Indonesian Cinema (via Cinema Poetica)
One might argue that we are entering the new golden era of Indonesian cinema. For the first time in the history of post-Reformation cinema, in two consecutive calendar years, the boxoffice top ten are fully dominated by films with more than one…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (14 – 20 May 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta and Bali from 14 – 20 May 2018 Komunitas Salihara is organizing a lecture on the 15th of May 2018 titled 20 Tahun Reformasi: Majukah Rasionalitas dan Budaya Ilmiah Kita? The talk…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (7 – 13 May 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Denpasar, and other cities in Indonesia from 7 – 13 May 2018 If you’re in Indonesia this week, here are some events that you might be interested to attend. Indonesia’s biggest…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (30 April – 6 May 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Makassar, Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta from 30 April – 6 May 2018 It’s an exciting week for art in Indonesia as we have 2 festivals that are opening this week! The Makassar International…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (23 – 29 April 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Makassar, Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta from 23 – 29 April 2018 For our first pick this week, we’re bringing you to Makassar in South Sulawesi. If you’re a dance practitioner, join Densiel (enci)…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (16 – 22 April 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Bandung, and Solo from 16 – 22 April 2018 Indonesia celebrates Hari Kartini on the 21st of April, a day to remember the work of Raden Ajeng Kartini in fighting for female’s…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (9 – 15 April 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta from 9 – 15 April 2018 If you’re in the Yogyakarta region, catch MELAYUMINATI, a solo exhibition by Singaporean artist Rafaat Haji Hamzah. MELAYUMINATI invites us to look at…
Citra Sasmita captures the Indonesian contemporary art spotlight (via Life As Art Asia)
The most significant display of contemporary art on the island during 2015 featured many of Bali’s finest artists exhibiting side-by-side with emerging talent. Violent Bali – Bali Art Intervention #1, opened at the Tony Raka Art Gallery, Ubud in November presenting eighty-five…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (2 – 8 April 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta from 2 – 8 April 2018 Start your Monday with Asimetris, a documentary on the palm plantation in Indonesia. A production of Watchdog and Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru and produced…
Documentation, Restoration, and Repatriation? Reflections on a dance film screening for the ‘Bali 1928’ project (via New Mandala)
Bali 1928 is an ongoing international and interdisciplinary project established by American ethnomusicologist Edward Herbst in 2002 to “research, find, understand, document, explain, restore, re-release, and repatriate the first published recordings of music in Bali along with rare film footage and photographs of musicians…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (26 March – 1 April 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Medan, Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Jember from 26 March – 1 April 2018 Indonesia’s ocean contains some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the population…
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (19 – 25 March 2018)
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Solo, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 19 – 25 March 2018 On Thursday, in Central Java, there are 2 music performances to watch for your Thursday night art entertainment. In Solo, the Parkiran…