A Bellwether Home Design that Changes with the Weather
Arch Daily has enlightened us yet again. This time with a report on the Tic-Tac House by Brazilian architects FGMF. I don’t like the name, but I guess in Portugese, it represents the sound of a ticking clock, and this house design involves movement like the hands of a clock. But it’s not just about hours, it’s also about seasons, conditions, moods and changing functions. The concept is a “timely” one for us, so to speak.
We live on a ridge, surrounded by rice fields, near the Indian Ocean, about eight degrees south of the equator. Wind, sun and seasons play havoc here. Half of the year strong trade winds blow from the east bringing sunny weather. The rest of the year storms sweep in from the west carrying torrential rain and intensely hot, humid conditions. Year round, the afternoon sun is blinding, and our west-facing rooms get scorched. Obviously weather really matters here. Read more…
BRUNEAF-BOAF ‘09: Solitude, Scant Sales, not a Quantum of Solace
Fine tribal and Asian art gets more attention now than ever, but where are the avid buyers of yesteryear? If the (almost) concurrent BRUNEAF and BOAF fairs in Brussels this June were any indication, there’s plenty of solitude for art afficionados to quietly contemplate the works on offer (like Davide Manfredi’s Modang panel, above).
Lately there’s also plenty of solitude for the dealers at tribal art fairs to meditate on their fate and what the future holds. Andres Moraga (below, with Clive Loveless), apparently had ample time to sample a pseudo stogie at Chez Richard on the Sablon, where the fair’s experts, organisers, cognoscenti, collectors, dealers and groupies rub shoulders with the rogues, ruffians and renegades of the tribal trade daily, weather permitting. Weather does not always permit in Brussels, and this year it did. Still, few buyers ventured forth.
For those who feel acronymed-out, BRUNEAF = Brussels Non-European Art Fair, one of the most respected and active international events for African, Asian and Oceanic tribal arts. And BOAF = Brussels Oriental Art Fair, a relative newcomer that looked promising for a few years as it built patronage. Both fairs this year, and also the (almost) concurrent BAAF (Brussels Ancient Art Fair), were subdued events in comparison to years past. Read more…
Bali is Overloaded with Magazines (and so is my bathroom)
The island of Bali is at risk of sinking into the Indian Ocean under the weight of all of its magazines. I put the latest issues of Bali’s mags on the bathroom scale, and it tipped almost ten kilos. How can an island so small generate so many magazines? And will there be any trees left in Kalimantan if this continues?
From broadsheet freebies to global glossies, there are more magazines on this island than its advertisers can possibly support. We wonder which ones will fold, and which will flourish?
Read on, to get the Sleeping Tiger’s take on just 26 of Bali’s bajillions of magazines. (Note: the magazine titles are links to their sites.)
Be Spoiled Silly on the Roof of the World at St Regis Resort Lhasa
I was last in Lhasa in November 1987 and haven’t felt a great inclination to go back. Seeing recent photos and hearing the tales of friends who have been there since, I’m not sure I would feel comfortable in Lhasa anymore, so great are the changes that have re-shaped the city.
Now I learn that St Regis (Starwood Group) is opening a five-star hotel in central Lhasa (rendering above). Read more…
Indonesian Textiles as Art: The Eyes Have It
An exhibition “Indonesian Textiles as Art” opened on 19 July at the Museum Pasifika in Nusa Dua, Bali. We were there. We saw. And we agreed wholeheartedly with the stance of Georges Breguet who mounted the exhibition, that the best textile arts of the archipelago are indeed art, and should be viewed as such. Read more…
Macan Tidur Has Got a Gateway: Our New Nutshell of a Website
We have a new website, small but cute. Which suits Macan Tidur perfectly. At last this lazy Sleeping Tiger has gotten up off its belly and made a wee site offering a peek into the Macan Tidur network of elegant little enterprises, which includes Gallery Macan Tidur (Ubud, Bali), ICON Asian Arts (Seminyak, Bali), Sumaru Sourcing (Indonesia), Macan Tidur Textiles (Bali and the World), and Sriwijaya Jewels (excavated and antique ethnic ornament by appointment and at ICON Asian Arts and Aman Resorts in Bali). Feedback welcome. And pardon us for blowing our own horn here . . . or for roaring just a bit instead of simply purring.
SACM Show Exposes Origins of Museum Booty
It’s a fun theme for an exhibition, “Hunters & Collectors.” And an interesting opportunity to consider the history of collecting itself as an anthropological phenomenon.
The age of plundering in the jungles is over, and attitudes toward cultural property and buccaneerism have shifted 180 degrees. Still, you can relive the romance and recklessness that helped build the Southeast Asian collections at the Singapore Asian Civilisations Museum, an institution which began in 1849 as the Raffles Library.
Flora and fauna, as well as ethnographica (above), photographs and fine tribal artefacts make up a significant part of the show. On through 21 September.