Bamboo turns into inspring creations

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Inspiring pieces of work made out of bamboo are scattered in open spaces in three Yogyakarta villages: Nitiprayan, Jeblog and Kersan in Kasihan district in Bantul.

The pieces were created by four Indonesian artists and four Danish artists for the Art of Bamboo exhibition, which is being jointly held by Yogyakarta's Cemeti Art House and two Danish artists, Nane Kollgaard Pedersen and Christine Krabbe, until March 19.

The eight participants are Danish artists Alfio Bonanno, Jane Balsgaard, Vibeke Glarbo and Britt Smelvaer; and Indonesian artists Nindityo Adipurnomo, Mella Jaarsma, Anusapati and Eko Agus Prawoto.

Pedersen, the program's initiator, said the four Danish artists were selected because they all worked in site-specific arts, a characteristic crucial for the Art of Bamboo project, while the Indonesian artists were chosen due to their fascinating works.

The program aims at providing the community with wider artistic experience in creating bamboo artwork. Bamboo, as the main theme, was chosen to represent the meeting of two cultures, Indonesian and Danish. Bamboo, for Danish artists, is an exotic material that promises imaginative and poetic inspiration. For Indonesian artists, bamboo is part of daily life.

"This project, hopefully, will be able to bridge two different perceptions as well as provide both the artists and communities, especially the craftsmen, with more space for creative works," Pedersen said, explaining that the project also involved local, skilled bamboo craftsmen.

Bonanno created a three-meter-tall bamboo structure titled Keong (snail) for the exhibition.

Bonanno said he was sure he would return home with lots of inspiring ideas and techniques after the exhibition.

Bonanno's artwork, exhibited on Jl. Nitiprayan, has a bamboo bench attached. However, don't even think of sitting on the bench, at least not until March 19, because dozens of live snails are residing on it.

The artist is fascinated with snails. "They are everywhere. I'm fascinated with their beautiful shape. They inspire me," Bonanno said. The snail is also part of the landscape where his artwork was created.

"The snail belongs to the landscape. That's why I chose the snail and nothing else," said Bonanno.

Also on exhibit is Eko Agus Prawoto's stage-like structure built over a fishpond titled Between the Water and the Sky, Glarbo's binocular-shaped structure hanging on a structure comprising four bamboo pillars built in the middle of a rice field titled A Pathway to the Sky and Smelvaer's Rice Field Vessels a few meters to the south. Smelvaer's creation consists of five parabola-like structures of different bright colors in scattered positions.

Not far from their works, one can see Anusapati's Form Follows Tensions, which was originally a traditional bamboo structure used to make bricks but changes into an unusual shape.

From a distance, viewers can also enjoy Balsgaard's unique work titled A Gliding Object Between Two Palm Trees hanging loosely on a rope, the ends of which are tied to two different palm trees.

Nindityo's work titled You Come to Free Plastic Area, Nitiprayan, Jeblog, Kersan is an open, giant ikrak (bamboo basket used to carry garbage) with a pile of plastic garbage on it.

"Through this piece I'd like to warn people of plastic waste. Hopefully this object could replace my hair buns someday," said Nindityo, who often has hair buns in his artwork.

Nindityo's wife Mella Jaarsma presents Brokoh: A Bamboo Basket Used for Grass Collecting, a communications post (Posko), built on an intersection at the end of Jl. Nitiprayan. It was modified in such a way as to allow lots of fresh air to flow in. A folding table and a bamboo musical instrument set are attached to the inside part of the post's wall to allow people to play while sitting there.