Nuarta builds monument despite opposition

Nuarta builds monument despite opposition

By Jean Couteau

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): The first impression of Balinese sculptor
Nyoman Nuarta is one of a man of strong will and self-confidence.

Tall, handsome, and still young at 44, he is not a man of
little ambition. He has completed his project on Indonesia's
biggest statue in Surabaya's harbor, the 30.6-meter high
Jalesveva Jayamahe, which is 60 meters tall with the pedestal. He
has now taken up a new challenge to build the world largest
statue, the 140 meter Garuda Wisnu Kencana, on the Bukit
Peninsula of Bali.

Overlooking Nusa Dua and Jimbaran from the top of the 100
meters peninsula, the statue is a representation of the Hindu God
Wisnu astride the mythological eagle Garuda, the carrier of the
elixir of immortality. It will be part of the 170-hectare
"culturally-themed" park inspired by Balinese culture and
complete with progressive entertainment venues, theaters, museum
and facilities for international cultural exchanges.

Nyoman Nuarta is also a sculptor in the traditional sense of
the word.

How do the faces of Nyoman Nuarta, the artist and the builder,
coexist with one another, and what are his aims in building such
a monument as the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK), in spite of
opposition from the ranks of Balinese traditionalist and foreign
conservationists? What is the logic behind the construction of a
monument which is going to change the landscape and the image of
Bali?

"By building the GWK," Nyoman Nuarta says, "I am paying what I
think is my debt to my place of birth. But beyond, what matters
most is the fate of the island. Some would like to turn it into a
museum, thus to immobilize change. But change is going to occur
anyway, and if we refuse it, we lose the opportunity to utilize
it. In my opinion we must project ourself into the future with a
clear concept and resolutely adopt progress."

"But modernity originates from the West," some will say with a
sneer!

"So What? It does not disturb me in the least. Our task as a
people, and my task as an artist, is precisely to turn this
modernity into something which is really Indonesian and Balinese.
Otherwise history will pass us by, and we will betray our
artistic tradition, because we'll stop being creative."

In the GWK, Nyoman Nuarta says "we use the best enlargement
technology of structure and materials... which we have improved
and already tested in the Surabaya monument, but the theme
remains Balinese. There are even people who reproach me about the
theme, and suggest that I build a contemporary statue instead."

But why such a huge statue?

"Statues of Wisnu riding Garuda are found everywhere in Bali,"
comments Nyoman Nuarta. "It is the island's most common icon. By
making it in such huge dimensions, we created a landmark monument
which will be immediately identified with Bali, which is
important from a marketing point of view."

"Owing to its sheer size, and its symbolic significance in
particular to the Indonesians, the GWK will draw crowds and
generate revenue, thus allowing the financing for a variety of
cultural activities.
This way we'll be able to support contemporary as well as
traditional arts."

The various venues of the project will be open to all artists
as participants without discrimination. The ultimate goal is to
have the Balinese remain an active part of the new modern
culture, instead of being relegated to the role of onlookers and
objects of tourism.

Feeling

This mode of thinking strikes a chord of confidence now found
throughout much of Asia, and increasingly in Indonesia. There is
a new feeling of national and pan-Asian pride which is the
reflection of the region's success in the economic arena. Instead
of refusing the Western legacy as in the troubled earlier years
of independence, modern Asians eagerly embrace its technology to
better challenge its cultural premises on an equal footing. The
GWK can thus be seen as a sign of Asian assertiveness.

A tricky question in the midst of such optimism is whether a
monument such as the GWK, essentially a Hindu symbol, can be made
to represent Indonesia, primarily a Moslem country.

When asked this question, Nyoman Nuarta lashes back.
"Westerners should stop seeing Indonesia in light of their own
history," he says.

"Tolerance was, in the West, the result of the painful history
of institutional construction. In Indonesia it is simply a part
of our cultural heritage. We have a long tradition of religious
tolerance. Most Indonesians, including the Moslems, do not scorn
their Hindu-Buddhist past. On the contrary. The Javanese, for
example, know that they were Hindu until a few centuries ago, and
they are proud of this past. Look, there are Garuda statues all
over Java, and Wisnu is found throughout the wayang tradition
(puppet show).

Another problem is the GWK's relevance to Balinese tradition,
which emphasizes harmony, and which has never had any monumental
architecture.

Nyoman Nuarta insists that the GWK is culturally rooted in the
island and corresponds to a need of the times: "I know that some
of my critics accuse me of defacing Bali. I would never build the
statue in the agricultural heartland of the island, of course
not. I am a conservationist too and have selected the site
accordingly. It is located in a former quarry, cut into the
driest, most unproductive part of the island. The GWK is actually
giving value to a place which would otherwise have none. And,
unlike others, I am defacing neither the seashore nor the
ricefield terraces."

"As for the idea that the statue is at odds with Balinese
tradition, that is a joke: all iconography elements of Garuda and
Wisnu will be immediately recognizable to any Balinese. The head
is perhaps slightly more proportionate for reasons of balance,
but I'm not being innovative, believe me. The Garuda Wisnu
Kencana is Balinese. It owes more to Bali's genius than to mine.
My personal works rest on a quite different thread of
inspiration. As for the size, the whole of the Bukit and Nusa Dua
area, is already a huge tourist resort. We are only adding to the
number of existing attractions and thus making the tourist spend
their money far and away from the villages where their numbers in
presence would have a negative influence on the culture."

Some of the criticism is esthetically-based, with the fear
that the GWK is opening the door to Balinese "kitsch" on a huge,
Disney-like dimension.

Nuarta replies his idea is misunderstood: "We are building a
theme park of a special kind in Bali. We may have experts who are
using the management principles of theme parks ... how to
integrate activities and structures into a single, living entity,
but to say that we are creating a Disneyland is just not true. We
are not going to have wayang characters dressed like Batman just
to make children laugh. We are not going to sell a parody of our
tradition. The park, I repeat, will be culturally themed, and as
such, based on Balinese concepts. As in any Balinese structure,
it will be divided symbolically in inferior, middle and lower
(nista, madya, utama) areas. Each with a corresponding range of
activities."

"We will provide facilities for people in general as well as
for intellectuals and artists. We will have museums, including
the Garuda Museum, entertainment venues and foodcourts to serve
all patrons' needs," he said.

Is the GWK merely a dream ? Apparently not. The building of
the statue began in December in Nyoman Nuarta's studio in
Bandung, and the corner stone will be laid in March.

Will Bali, under the wings of the Garuda, be a different
place? The question still remains.