It’s amazing what one finds when cleaning out the closet–even when that closet happens to be a photo-hosting site.

Since I’m at nearly 7000 images and can’t seem to find anything when I look for it, it’s time to do some tagging.  A bit tedious, but a reasonable way to spend a slow Sunday morning, especially given my selective memory.  The best part about going back in time?  Discoveries like this picture I’d taken of a friend’s photograph from a trip to Indonesia (so meta!).

Whereas traditional wayang kulit (shadow theatre) is based on the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and Mahabarata, this is wayang wahyu, a form that allowed the Jesuits to spread their word through a means more familiar to their Indonesian audiences.  The piece to the right at first looks as though it is the usual kayonan (tree of life) or gunungan (holy mountain) , but look closely and you’ll discover some non-native imagery.
This is definitely not something you’ll see in our upcoming Bali exhibition, but a fascinating aspect of acculturation.  I know a few readers have traveled in Asia–what are your favorite moments of cultural disparity?

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Beyond Good & Evil

I will never forget seeing Balinese dance teacher Ni Ketut Arini in action in her home dance studio in Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia. She was teaching nearly 40 young girls to do Balinese dance with gentle, yet firm hands, and a huge smile. It was like her voice could control this 3D orchestra–the small hands, hips, and eyes moving together in the tight studio. She will be artist in residence with Gamelan Sekar Jaya this spring. Her dance workshop is already fully subscribed but she will be in a performance on April 24 at the School of the Arts.

Incidentally, I’m not sure if you can see it but she is wearing an Obama campaign t-shirt. When I visited Indonesia in the summer of 2008, many people were excited about the prospect of an Obama presidency. Sadly, it appears from this article in The Hill that the warm feelings have worn away a bit since then.

We hope somehow to get word to President Obama about our Bali exhibition so that he may in turn tell Indonesian President Yudhoyono about the exhibition when Obama visits there later this month.

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Visiting Balinese Dancer

The exhibition, Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance, will open at the museum in February 2011. But like many of our exhibitions, years of work are needed to ensure that it is a spectacular success.

Many of the world’s best collections of Balinese artifacts are located in the Netherlands, at such prestigious museums as the Rijksmuseum and the Tropenmuseum, both in Amsterdam. This trip is what we consider to be an early inspection trip — our first chance to see in person many of the objects that Natasha has selected for the exhibition.

Curator Natasha Reichle and Senior Registrar Sharon Steckline measure objects for the exhibition Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance.

Deep in the bowels of Amsterdam’s museums we have been busy measuring, photographing, and studying these objects. By doing so we can evaluate their condition and consider how to best transport them safely to San Francisco, plan for any installation challenges, double-check dimensions and basic cataloging information, and of course get ourselves excited about the show.

Natasha and objects conservator Mark Fenn carefully assess the condition of each object.

We still have many days to go and more collections to visit. But everyone here has been so helpful in allowing us access to their objects, and for ensuring our smooth visit. And for feeding us well. This is definitely one trip worth making, and an exhibition worth waiting for.

This is a post from: the blog of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Visit us at www.asianart.org.

Sneak Peek: Bali in Amsterdam