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.