Editor1's blog

Jakarta Biennale

A grand event of Indonesian contemporary arts, held every two years by the Jakarta Arts Council.
First it was held in 1968 under the name of Indonesian Painting Exhibition at the Jakarta Arts Centre Taman Ismail Marzuki. The name was changed to the Jakarta Biennale (painting) in 1975, then Biennale Fine Arts in 1993. The last time Jakarta Biennale was held in 2009 with a major theme ARENA.

Biennale Jogja

Starting in 2011, the Biennale Jogja XI, which takes place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, will work its way around the equator, a zone designated as the area between the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23°27′ north) and the Tropic of Capricorn (latitude 23°27′ south). Biennale Jogja will look further towards the future, open up new perspectives and develop confrontations that engage convention and the establishment by examining similar situations all over the world.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was very influential on many artists in Yogyakarta, related to the tribal, Caribbean, Rasta and Graffiti movement, many artist identified with him and copied him in many ways. Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.

Jean-Michel Basquiat and on WIKIPEDIA about Jean-Michel Basquiat

Cemeti Art House
Wrestling and rebellion directed towards innovation in the history of art quickly becomes the staid and withered establishment. Unique and alternative soon turn into the uniform and accepted order.

Performance Klub

Based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Performance Klub organises a number of international performance festivals each year. Performance Klub uses these festivals to bring attention, analysis and support to social, economic, environmental and political issues affecting communities in Indonesia, and by default the rest of the world.

"A lasting relic of our human cultural heritage"

To hear Aaron Taylor Kuffner describe his time spent living in Indonesia, playing gamelan became a consuming way of life. "For more than two years I ate, dreamed and woke playing various forms and instruments of the gamelan tradition," shares Taylor, of the period he spent playing for more than 40 hours a week.

A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included.

The term refers more to the set of instruments than to the players of those instruments. A gamelan is a set of instruments as a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together – instruments from different gamelan are generally not interchangeable.

Varieties of Javanese Religion: An Anthropological Account (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology)