Javanese Wedding

The groom steps on eggs with his feet, the bride cleans his feet with water. The family observes, gives conceil and prays for them. These are just some moments in traditional Javanese wedding, a serious ceremony with almost no words, just action, performance, and glamorous and complicated dresses. Different from the weddings I know, there was no rice, no clapping and no alcohol, but tons of food, even ice cream (Es krem in Bahasa Indonesia) for the invited people (almost 500). I enjoyed the ceremony for its complexity and for the form. The make up is part of the whole setting and you probably won´t recognize the bride in her normal dress.

Jakarta Biennale

A good surprise for me. No big names, no top artists, no top curator. A good concept of art in the city, with a curatorial proposal about young, emerging South East Asian artists and/or of Indonesia´s neighbouring countries. Very interesting positions with strong ideas. I liked the Biennale for its connection with the city and with the local urban environment. There were exhibitions even in Grand Indonesia, a huge mall for rich people, which hosted part of the exhibition, besides some activities and actions held in the city, for example in local cheap cinemas, in an open air chess place, in the streets and even proposals in parks (not all of them were accepted by the major, but were still presented in the exhibition). In general, I enjoyed it a lot. The inaugural concert was held by Good Night Electric and some Djs in the Galeri Nasional, the main exhibition space. 

Some European artists were invited, but just a few and who had been in Asia before, either as resident artists or for an exhibition. 

The problem I saw is that there was no advertising for the event, which I missed, but the rest was refreshing, creating impact and most of it art in a social and political context of South East Asia, which I really appreciated.

On the photos some views of the Biennale with works from Eko Nugroho and Jompet Kuswidananto, both great artists from Yogyakarta and Iswanto Hartono´s installation with water, simbolizing channels.

Melaka

Malaysia is part of the British Commonwealth (this was new for me), and everybody speaks English, besides Bahasa Malay, which is similar to Bahasa Indonesia. The ethnic minorities speak Chinese and  (mostly) Tamil or Hindi. Global culture again and again. As you may know, European traders came long time ago and settled down in Asia. An example of this is Melaka, which was a Portuguese, a Dutch and later a British colony and now it looks like a puzzle of architecture and cultures. You see a Chinese temple, besides an Indian one, a catholic Church, a mosque, all in about ten minutes walk. It is a nice city close to the sea, small and cozy. I had the best noodle soup in my life in a tiny Chinese restaurant, which made me not forget that place, just for the taste of the noodles.

Kuala Lumpur

Did you ever see a huge building like this one? Well, this is Kuala Lumpur, a city of extremes. Mixed Malay, Chinese and Indian culture, with a predominant conservative Muslim Malay culture, which has the power in economic and social terms. There are not so many opportunities for Chinese and Indian minorities to develop, but Malaysia actually lives from their work and their culture. There is an amazing Chinatown, great food and nice Hinduist, Buddhist temples and big mosques. People love to go shopping, specially women tourists from Middle East running with their families and bargaining every cent Ringgit they can, sometimes just for fun. In Kuala Lumpur, shops are open until 10 pm, you can get a massage until 5 am (I took a reflexology massage at 2 am, when I arrived from Yogyakarta) and eat what you want anytime. Beside this, the city is not really interesting, as it is all commercial and for business purposes. The monorail is great, but the conservative culture contrasts with the futuristic architecture. A strange place, worth for a 2 day visit, or in my case, just for the visa extension to go back to Indonesia.

Modernity or modernities?

In a conversation with Agung Kurniawan, a good artist and the owner of Kedai Kebun - a multifunctional restaurant with a gallery on the ground floor and a theater on the first floor - he said the following: In Indonesia there is not one, but many modernities. And that is actually true. You cannot talk about modernity, but of modernities which include the use of technology combining elements of tradition and religion in an interesting re-interpretation of what we think it is "modern".

I experienced this in Bandung, talking with a group of traditional Sundanese musicians playing music with hard core and electronic musicians. Until now, people I met respect and have knowledge about their own tradition and follow it. 

For instance, the tradition of celebrating someone´s death. People meet after 7, 40, 365 days, until 1000 days after their actual death. One of the MES56 guys had to go to Sulawesi to attend the conmemoration of the death of his grand father, who died actually 3 years ago. At the same time, Jimbo´s artwork is about internet culture and collects spam messages to create an artwork based on an archive of spam messages in a blog called epistleheaven.wordpress.com or an artist from Bandung mixing elements from the traditional masks of the city of Ceribon with Japanese manga in a self-portrait. Incorporation and inclusion of different elements coexist in a natural manner of respect for the old and living the world of today.

Another example is the punk scene, which is very strong in Yogyakarta, Bandung and Jakarta. You will find Muslim punks playing in amazing bands. Behind the mask of "traditional", you turn your head and see a consumer capitalist culture, some independent and strong women leading research centres, such as Kunci Cultural Studies Center and IVAA - the Indonesian Visual Art Archive. There is also an open and playful gay culture. In almost all TV programmes gay people and transvestites appear to be completly accepted in society, at least what I have seen so far. Well, and the use of technology on a daily basis. We relate this to the word "modern", but what does the modernity actually mean?

Airports in Indonesia

I have been in a number of airports in Indonesia so far. The nice thing is that there is always lots of good food and oleh-oleh, which is like a souvenir, but always something to eat. In every airport  I have been, you find a device to plug your computer or mobile phone (called hand phone here). You can also have a massage on your back or on your whole body or a reflexology massage on your feet. One thing that always has impressed me is the mix of praying places next to toilets, as in every place you go you see a toilet (kamar kecil, literally: small room) and next door to it the musholla, a small chapel. And what else? The toilet in Jakarta´s airport has a fish bowl with many small fish in it. You can also find a painting with a big frame and a flower as a decorative sign in the small room.

Bali

Bali is for Australians and English people as Mallorca is for German "cheap" tourists. Kuta is the worst place to stay, full of drunked surfers, a dirty beach with tons of death fish - image the smell by night - and some awful tour operators trying to make you go for a tour, which costs three times more if you compare it with the real price. In Bali white or foreign people or Bule, as they call it it in Indonesian language, are the ones that have the money and they want to take it as much as they can. I was also attacked by some Balinese men trying to have a fling with me, because they think you come there for having fun. Well, no more comments about it.

The best thing is to escape from that "Palma de Mallorca" in South East Asia and go somewhere else, as I did. I went to the north of the island and landed in an amazing city called Lovina, with dark sand, fishermen, little fishing boats and a great blue sea view. Lovina is a place surrounded by rice fields, has a nice water fall and a small Hinduist temple. I met some nice girls Erna, Putu and Budi, who showed me around the city and made me forget my time in Kuta. These young girls were working in the hotel I was staying. I went snorkeling and had dinner with them, and also visited Erna´s family, who lives close to the hotel. The contrast of poor and rich is really strong, as there are poor houses next door to European vacation houses and luxurious hotels, all of these with a beautiful sea view, and some domestic animals, such as chicken, for example. Chicken at the beach!