East meets west with art of bamboo

East meets west with art of bamboo
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Art of Bamboo, a meeting space for Indonesian and Danish artists

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.

Padersen, 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,"
Padersen 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.