Installation forms bridge between East and West

Installation forms bridge between East and West

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

A huge structure built out of bamboo poles shaping like a
zeppelin airship greets anyone passing the Gaya Fusions of Senses
Gallery in Payangan area in Ubud, some 20 kilometers north of
Denpasar.

The installation, titled Skyplace, is a remarkable creation of
the famous German artist Markus Heinsdorffs.

The 27-meter-long bamboo zeppelin hovers over a 10-meter by
20-meter pool of water, clearly reflected in the water's mirror-
like surface. The bamboo installation can neither move nor fly
but for the artist, it is a monument to possibility -- the
possibility of a noiseless airship navigating the skies in
harmony with the nature, of bridging great distances, and
creating aesthetic connections between Asian and European
cultures.

Constructed in the shape of a zeppelin -- inspired by Graf
Zeppelins' blimp in the l930s, the airship was erected in this
Ubud village by local craftsmen using traditional building
techniques and environmentally friendly materials.

"I wanted to create a sculpture and an architectural space
which is open, transparent and works with nature and humans.
People can walk inside and feel themselves within nature and
human life," Markus said of his creation.

The form of installation is an airship -- the mode by which he
can come to Bali, by air or sea, flying or sailing -- thus giving
"airship" a double meaning. "I hope that when people walk inside
the airship, the form will suddenly change for them completely".

The artist wants people to stand inside on a long gangway with
the sky and landscape with the construction around them creating
one special space, reflected in the water and giving the double
feelings, outside and inside.

Alexander Boldizar, the gallery's manager, shared his
feelings, finding Markus' structure fits comfortably with the
gallery's philosophy. "Our main intention is to create an open,
welcoming space for artistic inspiration of all kinds, a fusion
of the senses, thoughts and aesthetics".

The zeppelin form was created when man still wanted to fly
more for the dream of flying rather than to get somewhere. "And
seeing one's reflection in the water of Bali, flying in an
idealistic bamboo construction, will reflect not only on Bali and
your own country but also on one's own journey through life,"
Boldizar said.

Only a few Western artists have the idea to use bamboo as
major material for their artistic creations.

"My work in the West was always with metal, but now I want to
change it, I hope to make my next installation in Asia again --
new forms, new installations, but using bamboo. Only bamboo gives
this feeling of flight and lightness," said Markus.

Bamboo is one of the famous materials. "It is Eastern and we
are now in the East." And more, it is a connection between nature
and art. "The sky ship in this form can only be built with
bamboo; No other material gives this aesthetics," Markus said.

Born in Steinkirchen in Bavaria, Germany in l954, Markus
received training as a stonemason and goldsmith in l974. Two
years later, famous artist Robert Jacobson trained him as a
sculptor. In l977, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
After graduation, he worked as a goldsmith before he became the
director of the school for modern designs in Villa Pacieri in
Rome, Italy in l989.

He made extensive solo exhibitions around the world from
Germany to New York, Italy, France, China and many other
countries including Indonesia.

Many of his installation works made of diverse materials are
now exhibited permanently in various public spaces in Europe.
Markus garnered numerous art awards worldwide.

"But, for me working with bamboo is very fascinating".

Bamboo is the oldest and most environmentally friendly
building materials known to humans, and one of the fastest
growing plants with one of the longest fibers. Classified as a
species of grass, it can reach a diameter of 10cm to 14cm and in
tended forests up to 30cm. The aesthetic and functional aspects
of bamboo make it the material for the future.

Some Western artists and scientists like engineer Otto Frei
used a picture of a Torajan (an ethnic group in South Sulawesi)
bamboo bridge on the cover of his book as the epitome of elegant
architecture possible within our given laws and physics.

Though used in sophisticated designs by the intuitive Torajan
engineering intelligence for a thousand years, bamboo has only
recently been "rediscovered" in contemporary arts and
architectures.

Twenty years ago, the building master Buckminster Fuller
constructed a large bamboo dome in Bali, giving a new breath to
bamboo as a building material of the future, as well as of the
past. Columbian architect Simon Velez, constructed a bamboo
pavilion at the 2000 Expo in Hanover and the Italian star
architect Renzo Piano displayed various experiments of newly
devised connecting techniques in his Berlin exhibition.

Despite his extensive traveling, the artist felt that arriving
in Bali was a new experiment.

"Bali has given me a lot of new inspiration, and this
inspiration I want to bring into this sculpture and these
paintings, it starts with the possibilities and the material,
working together."

It is new for him to blend traditional skills this way with
Western architectural concepts, to prepare and work with the
material in ways that is possible only here in the East.

"The architecture and the religion and the way to live which
Indonesian people understand so well, these are all inspirations
for me and also for many other foreign artists who come to Bali."

Every work is a new experiment for the artist.

"The bamboo installation Skyplace is built here and for me
it's always only when the work is finished that I can say yes, if
it works or not. "For him, this installation works wonderfully
with this space. It has changed the area and the view of the
arena for the time it is standing here."

"I want to invite people to look at this work," he said. "It
becomes very interesting when people connect with the art work
and the space and they are changed by it. Maybe they start also
to create forms, which give yet others inspirations to make art
and architecture for living together".

In the spring of 2003, this zeppelin installation will sail to
Italy, where it will be reassembled in the city of Modena,
closing one cycle of cultural exchange between East and West.

i-box

The exhibition runs until Oct. 20 at Gaya Fusions of Senses
Gallery, Jl.Raya Sayan, Ubud. Tel: (0361) 979252.