A Visual Journal of the City of Bandung and Its Vicinities.
A photo a day with insightful and informative commentaries from the capital city of West Java and one of the most fascinating cities in Indonesia.®
I spotted these clay limbs at the corridor in front of the sculpture studio at the Department of Fine Arts of the Indonesia University of Education (UPI) Bandung. Although they did not look perfect yet, they way they were placed looked somewhat intriguing. I snapped this photo with they toy camera on my cell phone and present it as it is without any editing.
Top photo: Channel News Asia (CNA) television crew I was working with in the making of Boomtown Asia Documentary inspecting an art work at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (SSAS).
Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (SSAS) is one of quite a few private art galleries -- and probably one of the most prominent -- in Bandung. The art space was officially opened in September 1998 following a four-year construction that began in 1993. (It was completed in 1997, but was not officially opened until 1998.) Occupying an area of 5,000 square meters in the scenic northern hills of the Dago area, SSAS is the dream child of Mr. Sunaryo, a prominent Indonesian artist and sculptor who was also a lecturer at Bandung Institute of Technology.
To get more information about it, you can follow the link I have made above.
Neptune, the Roman mythological god of water and the sea, had hidden himself in the root of a huge teak tree. When the tree was cut down, he rose from under the ground, outraged and swearing, "Are you out of your mind!? What right have you got to uproot me like that and woke me up from my centuries of sleep?"
Now, that's the story I had in mind when I saw this sculpture that was minimally sculpted from a piece of the dead root of a teak tree.
NATO Art - the 'birthplace' this marvelous piece of sculpture - is an art workshop and museum that specilizes in creating, nay, revealing a piece of art that nature has intended to create. They sculpt figures and shapes following the contours and shapes that the original material - teak tree roots - inspires them to make. The one above is one of the many marvelous pieces they exhibited at Pasar Seni ITB last weekend.
A section of Paris Van Java has just been renovated recently. At the roof of this newly renovated section, they have put these colorful and beautifully designed glass lanterns. They are locally made and have probably been put there as a kind of support the mall's is giving to the local craftsmen and women who produce them.
KLJI is a member of Pinhole Indonesia, Indonesia's network of pinhole photography lovers.
Here is one of the cameras used to take the exhibit photos. As you can see, a pinhole camera is very simple. It has no lense and consists of a light-proof chamber, where you place a photographic paper or film, a hole the size of a pin (thus the name pinhole) to let in the light that is needed to expose the paper or film, and a lid that opens and closes the hole to control the exposure. The chamber may be of any shapes. In the above photo, the chamber is triangular. This kind of chamber will produce a wide-angle or panoramic image.
A pinhole camera can also have an zoom in and zoom out capability. To do that, the chamber has to have the shape of a rectangular beam and the medium of exposure (film or photographic paper) has to be placed on a seperate slider (see the above photo). If you are interested in making your own pinhole camera, this Kodak article may be of interest to you.
A variety of creative communites was also taking part in yesterday's exhibition. One of them was Maya Hirai School of Origami.
Maya Hirai School of Origami was established by Maya Ismayanti, a housewife and a mother of four children, on November 11, 2009. Maya learned the art of origami from Takako Hirai San, one of the most respected origami teachers in Japan, when she accompanied her husband to study there.
Maya's origami school is the offspring of the origami internet community that she established (while she was still in Japan) to share her enthusiasm for this old Japanese paper folding art. The enthusiastic responses she received from the members of her community and the continuous overflow of invitations she received to conduct workshops throughout the country eventually made her decide to open her own origami school.
Maya, who is now considered to be a foremost origami sinsei (teacher) in Indonesia, is the holder of Nippon Origami Association (NOA) certificate. She now lives in Bandung with her family.
These paper dolls are some of the items that were exhibited at her school's booth at the exhibition.
An intricate and colorful paper cube chain. It's amazing what origami can do.
These murals along the Stasiun Timur Street (Jalan Stasiun Timur) is the longest murals in town. They are painted on the walls that border the railway tracks east of the station.
While I was walking down the Asia Afrika street the other day, I spotted this interesting piece of - shall I say - art?
A painter was apparently trying to sell his painting on the pedestrian walk and hanged it on the steel bars of a closed shop. He also hanged his helmet next to it, therefore accidentally creating some sort of installation art (?). The vertical steel bars, the abstract painting, and the black helmet somewhat made an eye-catching composition that transformed the otherwise dull look of rusty steel bars on the sidewalk into something that's worth stopping and looking.
I don't know if the artist did it on purpose (he was not there when I took the photo, perhaps away for lunch). Being an artist, perhaps he did. If he did not, he certainly had accidentally and out of aesthetic instinct created an installation art display.
Installation art, as I understand it, is a three dimensional work of art that is designed to change/transform the perception of a space. It is usually made indoors. Those outdoors are usually called land art.
These students of the Faculty of Language and Arts Education of the Indonesia University of Education (UPI) are learning to make batik. The tool they are holding in their hands is called canting.
Canting is an Indonesian batik-making traditional tool that is used to apply wax in fine dots and lines on a cloth. It has a brass wax container head with needle spout and a bamboo or wooden handle (see picture).
If you are interested in learning how to make batik, here is an excellent illustrated step by step article that you may want to read.
Indonesian batik was designated by the UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on October 2, 2009.
Quite a few strange looking monsters and aliens have been lurking around the building of the Department of Fine Arts and Department of Music and Performance Arts of the Indonesia University of Education (UPI) for a couple of weeks now. Depending on how you see them (scary, funny, etc.), these brightly colored monsters and aliens have been "invited" or brought in by the students as part of their preparation for DJAMOE - an annual event where the students of the Fine Art and Music and Performance Arts Departments exhibit their works and creativity.
Twelve pieces designed by nine different student designers were in exhibit. I'm showing you two of them here. The one in the top photo is entitled "Warrior" and the one at the bottom is entitled "Porcupine". Both are designed by Afridanessa Chita Dewi.
The above photo is of Angklung Jaipong dance, one of the art and cultural performances staged at Saung Angklung Udjo (Udjo's Angklung House).
Among many performing art groups and houses in Bandung, Saung Angklung Ujdo (or SAU for short) is probably unique in that it is professionally managed and stages performances of a wide array of Sundanese (West Javanese) arts on the daily basis. Established in 1966 by the late Udjo Ngalagena or Mang Udjo and his wife Uum Sumiati, SAU takes pride in its vision and mission not only as a place where Sundanese arts are performed, but also as a living art laboratory and an institution that strive to preserve the Sundanese cultural heritage and provide community-based art education.
The word "angklung" that makes up its name indicates SAU's specialty in this kind of bamboo musical intrument. Angklung is a Sundanese (West Javanese) traditional musical instrument made of bamboo. Angklung performances are the main stapple of SAU's menu. Throughout the two hour daily performances, the angklung and Sundanese bamboo music makes up five out of ten performances given. In one of them, the audience is given a chance to play angklung together as an orchestra with the guidance of an expert teacher. Please check my other blog BANDUNG DAILY VIDEO at some later time to hear the music and see how angklung is played.
Other performances offered at SAU include a Wayang Golek demonstration, Tari Topeng Cirebon (Cirebonese Mask Dance), and Helaran (festive celebration of important occasions in the Sundanese society), and Tari Merak (Peacock Dance).
SAU is located on Jalan Padasuka 118 in the east of Bandung.
This post is BANDUNG DAILY PHOTO's participation in My World Tuesday. Please click the link to check other posts from the participating blogs from around the world.
Gatutkaca is a "wayang golek" figure. In the epic of Mahabharata - one of the main sources of the narratives for the Javanese and Sundanese wayang performances, Gatotkaca is characterized as a demigod superman whose power includes - among others - the ability to fly. So powerful this character is that it is said that his bones are made of steel and his muscles of wires.
Gatotkaca's power is said to be inherited from his parents: Bimasena or Bima of the Pandawa family, his father, is a fierce but kind-hearted hero, and Hidimbi (better known as Arimbi in Javanese and Sundanese), his mother, is a powerful rakshasa (giant).
The Gatutkaca in the above photo is not the one that is normally used for "wayang golek" performance, but a unique souvenir that you can bring home from Bandung and West Java in general. This souvenir wayang golek is made larger that the one that is normally used for the performance.
This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation in My World Tuesday Meme. Please follow the link to see other participants' photos and stories.
Acculturized from the Portuguese folk music of fado, keroncong began to develop in some parts of the Indonesian archipelago, especially in the Tugu area of what is now Jakarta and Maluku (the Moluccas), in the 19th century. It has since acquired a distinctively Indonesian flavor and hence been considered as an Indonesian musical heritage.
The root of keroncong is said to have been introduced into the Indonesian archipelago by the Portuguese sailors and officers in the 16th century. The earliest form of keroncong is called Moresco, which is characterized by - among others - the dominant use of chordophonic-percussion musical instruments. In its development, various local musical instruments and elements, such as some instruments of the gamelan, seruling bambu (Javanese and Sundanese bamboo flutes), and musical notes, were introduced into the ensemble, thus giving it a distinctively local flavor.
For your information, a keroncong ensemble typically consists of cordophonic musical instruments such as the violin, the guitar, cello, contra bass, three and four strings ukuleles, plus a flute, and some gamelan instruments.
Keroncong became very popular throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its popularity began to fade only with the introduction of The Beatles' style of music in the 1960s. The music still survives and has its own fans, however, as is shown by this group of young keroncong musicians performing at the Braga Festival last December. I was happy to see that this performance did not only attract audience from the older generations, but also a lot of young people who seemed to enjoy it as much as their parents and grandparents did.
To see what the performance was like and listen to a sample of what this music is like, please enjoy the following 1 minute 52 seconds video clip which I recorded from their performance. (This video can also with viewed at my other blog BANDUNG DAILY PHOTO'S sister site BANDUNG DAILY VIDEO.)
This post is BANDUNG DAILY PHOTO'S participation in MY WORLD Tuesday meme. To see other participants' posts from around the world, please follow the link.
When life is hard and chaotic, make humor out of it!
I think that's what this mural is trying to do.
This mural on Jalan Stasion Timur near Bandung Train Station depicts the chaotic realities on board Bandung commuter train in humorous and exaggerated way. Such a depiction is probably meant to raise the public awareness of how dangerous it is the things that they do and take for granted as a day to day normal and expected experience.
And here is what Wikipedia says about how humor occurs:
An alternative (or surprising) shift in perception or answer is given that still shows relevance and can explain a situation.
Sudden relief occurs from a tense situation. "Humourific," as formerly applied in comedy, referred to the interpretation of the sublime and the ridiculous, a relation also known as bathos. In this context, humour is often a subjective experience, as it depends on a special mood or perspective from its audience to be effective.
Two ideas or things that are very distant in meaning emotionally or conceptually (i.e., having a significant incongruity) are juxtaposed.
One laughs at something that points out another's errors, lack of intelligence, or unfortunate circumstances, thereby granting a sense of superiority.
Which one do you think relates to the humor in the above mural?
This sculpture is one of the art works exhibited at Braga Festival last December. It is crafted from the whole root of bamboo by Tedy K., the artist and craftsman and the copyrights holder of this piece of art work. Tedy K. is a naturally talented artist and a member of the "Komunitas Kalangan Atas" Art Community.
The "Komunitas Kalangan Atas" Art Community works and permanent exhibits can be found at their workshop at Dago Tea House on Jalan Dago Selatan 53A, Bandung.
Here is a close up look at Batik Cirebon's patterns and colors. These batik clothes and sarongs are displayed at the Cirebon Municipality stand at the Braga Festival last week.
I have previously posted the history of the Indonesian batik and the characteristics of Batik Cirebon (Cirebonese Batik) here.
Cirebon , by the way, is a city and regency in the northern coast of Java, about 135 kilometers to the north east of Bandung. As a coastal trading city, Cirebon has received various influences from its visitors throughout its long history (the city was officially established in 1369). These influences have created an interesting cultural melting pot, which, among others, are reflected in the designs of its batik. Its bright colors, for example, are said to have come from the Chinese influence.
Batik Cirebon is mostly produced by home industries in Trusmi, a village some 7 kilometers from its city center. That is why sometimes batik Cirebon is also called batik Trusmi.
In addition to Trusmi, there are actually two other villages that also become the centers of batik production in Cirebon. They are Karang Tengah and Kunduran. The latter has a predominantly Chinese population and, therefore, produces mostly Chinese-Indonesian style batik.
How much inspiration is the US President elect Barack Obama here?
These two paintings displayed at the Taman Sari Artist Community stand at Braga Fest last week can probably become a testimony to how inspirational and popular he is here.
Back in October last year when he was a presidential candidate, six senior painters/artists at Bandung's Taman Sari Artist Community began working on their paintings of Obama. Each of these artists pictured Obama in different styles, such as realist, caricatural, abstract, and expressionist.
When asked of the reason for their project, Basuki Bawono, one of the artists, said that they were inspired to paint Obama because he was currently a popular figure and one that had a very close relationship with Indonesia. Obama, as many of us know, lived and went to elementary school in Indonesia from 1967 (when he was six years old) up until 1971. Bawono also said their paintings were meant to show support to the presidential candidate.
With his inauguration only a few days away, we really hope that Obama can deliver what he promised in his campaign: Change! We really have a lot of hope in him not only to bring about change for the better for the American people, but also for the people of the world, especially those who are currently living under oppression, fear, and poverty.
