A dazzling textiles show opened last week at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, titled “Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade 1500 – 1800“. It’s a topic that touches on interesting aspects of Indonesian history and material culture. Unusual textiles from faraway places were hot commodities in Indonesia’s ports and … Continue reading
The plastic trash that washes up on Bali’s beaches is something I give a lot of thought to. And a fair amount of energy, too. The problem is multifaceted, and has become a chronic one. Looking at beach trash in new ways can help us to increase our awareness and … Continue reading
Yes!! Bali Creative Economy. Gaya ceramics studio is brilliant, and has been seminal in transferring skills, techniques, and launching the ceramic arts careers of local young people. The Wall Street Journal is writing about it.
Yes, I have to say myself, that the whole “porsche club” thing in Bali last week was . . . shall we say . . . symptomic . . . (of what ailment) . . . pause for thought . . . How can porsche rallies be relevant or amusing … Continue reading
In a run-down office at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport, the head of air traffic services Tri Basuki says staff do double shifts because he has less than 50 percent of the people needed to operate radar, surveillance and navigation systems. For air traffic control it is even worse. There … Continue reading
Wow. What a find. Material for a Master’s Thesis, for sure. A book by an Indonesian writer that exposes Indonesian perceptions of foreigners as they are known. It reflects direct observation, extrapolation from popular media, and a spectrum of preconceptions arising from indigenous ways of being in and seeing the … Continue reading
Tomorrow! 29 March. An evening that will be remembered as “one of those moments” – – a “you should’ve been there” one. Talented photographer Doddy Obenk + important figures in traditional dance and performance. At Three Monkeys Sanur, 7pm. Note: Bring cash, credit card and checkbook. Acquire authentic fine art … Continue reading
Get on down to the nearest bookshop or online bookseller. Get yours quick. The new edition of Adrian Vickers’ superb and readable history of modern Indonesia is out! Adrian seems to be a force of nature, he never stops. And thank goodness for that! “Since the Bali bombings of 2002 … Continue reading
Looking forward to a very important forum, and hopefully an interesting one. There are so many opportunities for the Asia Pacific region to work together for a better future. I do hope that voices of sustainability and humanity will be heard during the forum. Synergy around the Pacific is not … Continue reading
This seems like a step in the right direction. But the problems of environmental imbalance that affect the watersheds upstream of Jakarta are bigger than just a few dozen villas. It’s not just the upper elevations that affect the whole watershed; the lower elevations and flatter lands nearer the city … Continue reading
This is a fairly accurate news story about my recent experience here in Bali. One important element does not appear in this story: I was treated with respect, dignity, and pure neutrality by all of the personnel of the narcotics unit of Polresta Denpasar once I had been delivered to … Continue reading
To sit atop a mountain is an extraordinary, even spiritual, experience when amongst relics of the Hindu and Buddhist periods or on a mountain that locals treat with great reverence. An Australian national, he has lived in Indonesia on and off since 1972. Nick will explain the science behind the … Continue reading
Since I’m inadvertently serving as ad hoc translator and bridge between mutually-misread populations cohabiting in Bali . . . This news hasn’t filtered through to non-Indonesian-language media yet. For the past several weeks there have been outbreaks of a new strain of bird flu among commercially-raised and traded birds (chickens, … Continue reading
The Director General of Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, I Gde Pitana Brahmananda, is calling on the young people of Bali to get creative, get innovative, and get going as creative entrepreneurs. He cites the booming global success of Japanese and Korean emerging creative enterprises, and gives a … Continue reading
Today, I discovered The Act of Killing, a newly released film that is of major significance in Indonesia’s evolution, and in the evolution of cinema itself. Werner Herzog, who I consider the most impressive living filmmaker in the known universe, put it this way, “I have not seen a film … Continue reading
Jokowi is a phenomenon. Funny how his miraculous and idiosyncratic ascendancy has gone unheralded by the world press. They should be all over it. And they will be. They’re just a few hundred sluggish heartbeats behind you and I and the rest of us who live in the big world, … Continue reading
Opening in Hong Kong this very minute (vernissage tonight) is Fine Art Asia, a fair that seems to get more interesting every year. Stands to circle on your fair map include: Galerie Christian Deydier (we are lusting after his enigmatic mat weights, above, in gilded bronze, created two millenia ago). … Continue reading
Exhibition on now at SFO of fine old Italian rides, called Moto Bellissima: Italian Motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s. If you’re changing planes in San Fran, skip Starbuck’s and feast your eyes on these bikes instead. That’s a ’55 Moto Rumi “Raid” above, and a ’52 Motor Devil … Continue reading
The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) just acquired the greatest single collection of Indian trade textiles in the world: The Roger Hollander Collection. The museum has 70 important pieces from the collection on show now until 3 June, in a blockbuster exhibition entitled “Patterns of Trade: Indian Textiles for Export 1400 … Continue reading
Big news. Donovan is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and (Marketing) Museum on April 14th. This pixie troubador out of deepest Glasgow enchanted the world in the sixties with his psychedelic naif persona and almost childlike sing-along songs. He was seminal (if I dare use … Continue reading
The planet is pinching itself to make sure that it’s not dreaming, with this six-meter sculpture by Turkish artist, Mehmet Ali Uysal. The work was installed as part of Festival Cinq Saisons at Chaudfontaine in the Liege district of Belgium. Yes. Belgium. Whether I want to or not, I will … Continue reading
BRUNO PIAZZA: MASTERPIECE My beloved husband Bruno Piazza died at home in Bali, at dawn on Friday the 28th of October, 2011 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Bruno lived an extraordinary and beautiful life, and (not surprisingly) he died a remarkably beautiful death. He was not an … Continue reading
Do not be alarmed. Do not touch that dial. This is a test. This is only a test. This is a test of the emergency Sleeping Tiger broadcast system. The Sleeping Tiger has been granted amnesty for a lapse in blog-posting on the grounds of terminal illness in the immediate … Continue reading
Here’s the weirdest, wildest and probably the best event of the Bali summer season: Empire of the Sun at Potato Head Bali Beach Club in Petitenget, 19 August. Feeling a bit bored? Jaded? Nothing new to do? Under-awed by the faux-fabulousness of (yeah yeah) normal nightlife? Then pay attention.
Well, now we’ve gone and done it. HIV/AIDS thrives on ignorance and denial, and it’s thriving in Bali. A decade ago it was almost unheard of here; now it’s the stuff of headlines in the local Indonesian language newspaper almost every day. Today’s headline story, set off from the other … Continue reading
Travel guides and glossy magazines call Bali paradise and wax poetic about the island’s glories, and how peaceful and spiritual a place it is. Of course, there is some truth amid all the hyperbole, but reading the local newspapers written in Indonesian gives a somewhat different impression. There is evidently … Continue reading
I haven’t posted on this blog for a while. Too busy trying to get something done about everything that’s wrong but doesn’t need to be. Apparently, resistance is futile. We will be assimilated by a sea of trash. Plastic trash. Chemical trash. Trash on four wheels. Trash on two legs. … Continue reading
Brand-new blog Kitchen InSurgency comes stuffed with witty commentary and epicurean insights. Author and newbie blogger, Karen Waddell puts her moxie where her mouth is, sharing secret recipes, kitchen tips and food lore from Bali. She and her husband Gusky are the pair behind Bali Good Food Co, who brought … Continue reading
As a suitable tribute to a marvelous material, here’s a chair by Colombian bamboo builder and designer Marcelo Villegas. While too much of newly-designed bamboo furniture looks like you have to give up something to use it (like comfort, stability and style, for example), Villegas’ works are artistic masterpieces and … Continue reading
Biasa Artspace has been missing its mojo for months, during the extended absence of its founder, Susanna Perini. For most of 2010, a bevy of guest curators stepped in to keep the Biasa heart beating (“paddles, clear!”), with a round of satisfactory exhibitions – – most recently On Camera, a … Continue reading