Bali — Behind The Scenes at Tropenmuseum
BALI
Behind The Scenes
February 14, 2020 — January 10, 2021
Sandy beaches stretching as far as the eye can see, magnificent temples, rolling rice paddies and the perfect surf. That’s Bali. At least, that’s the accepted image. The Tropenmuseum’s Bali – Behind the Scenes exhibition ventures beyond the tourist paradise to explore the island’s other faces. Featuring some 250 objects from the museum’s Indonesia collection alongside works by contemporary Balinese artists and the personal testimonies of island residents, the exhibition shows how this paradise is under pressure but also the resilience of local culture.
The image of Bali as a latter-day Eden was carefully cultivated during the Dutch colonial era as a way of masking a painful past. Nowadays the Indonesian island is threatened by mass tourism, plastics pollution and the rapid urbanization encroaching on its rice fields; problems that are replicated throughout the world.
But Balinese culture is as vibrant as ever. Palace treasures from the former kingdoms of Badung, Tabanan and Klungkung tell the story of Dutch colonial rule on the island. Early 20th century posters and photographs trace the way in which the image of Bali as an island idyll of peaceful village life, richly decorative temples and wonderful rice fields was carefully created and curated. Contemporary works of art and videos show the determination and optimism of the Balinese people and their dedication to their culture.
Balinese artist and activist Made Bayak draws attention to the problems of plastic waste with his ‘plasticology’ art. The Hindu priest Ida Dalem Parama Diksita shows how he seeks to preserve long-standing traditions and rituals. And I Dewa Ayu Putu Evayanti, who works in the tourist industry, talks about how she sees the future of an island where the rice paddies look set to disappear.
A Lifetime of Rituals
Hinduism is the major religion on the island of Bali. Hindus believe in reincarnation. If the right rituals are enacted after death, the soul will return to earth and one’s family will be blessed with a new member.
Each new phase in life goes hand in hand with its own particular ritual for the soul. Parents are charged with the rituals that accompany their children’s birth, transition to adulthood and marriage. Following the death of their parents, children must take care for the accompaniment of their souls. The exhibition features objects and video fragments explaining the various Hindu rituals, including that of filing the teeth.
The exhibition features magnificent jewelry, ritual clothing and other ceremonial objects used in the ceremonies outlined above. The most striking of these is the huge coffin in the form of a bull, that could only be used by royals and those of high nobility. A winged lion was the designated coffin for lower nobility, while ordinary people were cremated in an elephant fish.
Bali’s image as a paradise on earth is a deliberate construct. Photographs, posters, palace treasures and stories take visitors back in time to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In the 19th century Bali comprised various kingdoms. During the colonial era the Dutch forcibly subjugated these different kingdoms, bringing the entire island under Dutch rule in 1908. In the wake of this painful conquest the Dutch deliberately set out to create the image of Bali as an idyllic, artistic paradise in order to gloss over the harsh and often bloody reality of its subjugation.
Art and photography, but also tourist advertising presented Bali as a paradise on earth, depicting scenes of peaceable village life and a thriving local culture. This propaganda was a key driver behind the rise of the tourist industry in the early 20th century.
Bali’s landscape and culture attracted not only tourists but also western artists. In Sanur, the German Neuhaus brothers made a living selling Balinese art to tourists. Other western artists, such as Walter Spies of Germany and the Dutchman Rudolf Bonnet, lived for a long time in Ubud during the 1920s. Together with local artists who had previously been court painters for Balinese rulers they created works intended primarily for the tourist market.
The creation of paradise
In the 19th century Bali comprised various kingdoms. During the colonial era the Dutch forcibly subjugated these different kingdoms, bringing the entire island under Dutch rule in 1908. In the wake of this painful conquest the Dutch deliberately set out to create the image of Bali as an idyllic, artistic paradise in order to gloss over the harsh and often bloody reality of its subjugation.
Art and photography, but also tourist advertising presented Bali as a paradise on earth, depicting scenes of peaceable village life and a thriving local culture. This propaganda was a key driver behind the rise of the tourist industry in the early 20th century.
Bali’s landscape and culture attracted not only tourists but also western artists. In Sanur, the German Neuhaus brothers made a living selling Balinese art to tourists. Other western artists, such as Walter Spies of Germany and the Dutchman Rudolf Bonnet, lived for a long time in Ubud during the 1920s. Together with local artists who had previously been court painters for Balinese rulers they created works intended primarily for the tourist market.
Trophies of war
This section of the exhibition features its biggest exhibit: two palace doors taken from the palace of Badung in Denpasar. Each is more than four meters high and weighs in excess of a hundred kilograms. Their story is a violent one.
In 1906 the Dutch mounted a military expedition against Badung’s ruler I Gusti Gede Ngurah Den Pasar. Hundreds of Balinese died as a result of Dutch gunfire or took their own lives rather than face the humiliation of surrender in a ritual suicide known as puputan. The palace was sacked, its treasures seized as war booty and later shared between museums in Jakarta and Dutch museums of ethnology.
At the time the Dutch artist W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp was journeying through the region to collect artefacts for the then National Museum of Ethnography. He witnessed the puputan in 1906 and wrote:
“Through considerable effort, I managed to save two magnificent doors from the main entrance leading from the forecourt to the guest area. They had wanted to use them to make a bridge over a water pipe in order to help the army (…) one of the few things that hadn’t yet been stolen for the simple reason that it was too heavy and too big.”
These days Bali has a wealth of art. But in the past that wasn’t the case. Traditionally Balinese artists only created works for temples and palaces, but that all changed in the colonial era.
The exhibition’s art gallery features a wide variety of contemporary Balinese art alongside art from the 19th century. The variation illustrates the development of art on Bali and shows the principal themes of the time both then and now, such as Hindu scenes.
Although artists developed their own style, prior to the 19th century their work was anonymous. They worked on commission for the island’s various rulers, taking Hinduism as their principal theme. But after 1930 everything changed, when they started selling their art to tourists. Artists developed a highly individual style and their work evolved into an expression of their own ideas and feelings.
Art as protest
The exhibition introduces visitors to various examples of Balinese art executed by different artists over the years. One such artist is I Wayan Aris, who protests against the sell-out of Bali. Through his painting, Bali, sold out! he expresses his support of the demonstrations on Bali against the planned land reclamation near Benoa. This million-dollar project to accommodate mass tourism would wreak havoc on the natural environment, protestors say.
Artist Made Bayak creates art from all kinds of plastic objects he finds on the island. His works include Sanghyang and the secret of Pertiwi dance and Protect our land, yard and culture. Both works are on show in the exhibition.
How much of a paradise is Bali? The tempting travelogues and enthusiastic blogs don’t always tell the whole story. The impact of tourism on the Balinese quality of life is one of the stories you don’t get to hear.
Bali through the eyes of the Balinese
The exhibition introduces you to different Balinese people who tell you how tourism has impacted their way of life on the island. You’ll meet the artist Made Bayak, who as activist and artist draws attention to the problems of plastic waste on the island through his plasticology art.
The plastic soup that emerges in Bali during the rainy season is illustrative of a far greater problem: plastic waste is a worldwide scourge. In early 2018 Rich Horner’s underwater videos of the plastic pollution in the seas round Bali were trending on social media and on television. The videos catapulted the island to the centre of the world’s attention as symbol of a worldwide problem: we are all using too much plastic. The video resulted in a project to rid all the seas round Bali of plastic waste.
In June 2019 Bali instituted a ban on plastic with the aim of cutting plastic pollution on the island by 70 percent. Do you want to learn more about how the pollution originated? Read the article and watch the video by Dutch broadcaster NOS.
Projects to raise awareness
Numerous projects to raise awareness around plastic pollution have been set up on Bali and throughout the world. One of the Balinese initiatives Is the Soul Surf Project, which targets young people as the prime movers to bring about a change in mentality. Through a series of interviews, the exhibition introduces you to project workers Eci, Iluh, Nova and Prema.
You’ll also get to know sisters Melati (15) and Isabel (13), who set up Bye Bye Plastic Bags in April 2013 to battle single-use plastic.
