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New arts landmark for Klungkung
New landmark: A huge new performing and visual arts center and contemporary art museum is being constructed in Klungkung regency by a team of craftsmen
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span class="inline inline-right">New landmark: A huge new performing and visual arts center and contemporary art museum is being constructed in Klungkung regency by a team of craftsmen. Once completed, it will be the largest in the regency and Bali. JP/Richard Mann
A huge new performing and visual arts center and contemporary art museum is reaching to the sky in Klungkung, Bali. It is often described as the birthplace of Balinese culture because it was here that Javanese Hindus relocated after the end of the Majapahit kingdom 700 years ago, recreating classical Hinduism on the island.
The Arts Monument, or Monumen Kesenian, is being constructed by a team of 40 craftsmen on four hectares of land adjacent to the decade-old Nyoman Gunarsa Museum including the Museum of Classical Balinese Painting. When completed, it will be the largest arts center in the regency, and one of the biggest in Bali.
The center’s buildings alone occupy 2 hectares, plus additional space for an ornamental pond, gardens, temple and car parking.
The originator is Nyoman Gunarsa, famous in Indonesia and in many parts of the world for his vivid pictorial evocation of Balinese culture in paintings of ceremonies and dances. He is also the founder of Bali’s only museum of classical art.
The new Arts Monument is being built from simple hand-drawn plans and designs by Gunarsa.
The soft opening of the Arts Monument will coincide with the opening at the same site of Visit Museum Year 2010, organized by the Museums Association of Bali (Himusba) of which Gunarsa is chairman.
Bali has more than 20 private and government museums devoted to archaeology, volcanology, history, art and traditional culture, such as the Subak irrigation system.
The heart of the Arts Monument is Surya Candra Murti, a set of eight giant Balinese Hindu gates, the Kori Agung, which at 30 meters tall is so big that Gunarsa plans to enter them in the Guinness World Records.
Nine-meter-high wooden gates made from Papua teak, which require two men to open or close, have been set into concrete and brick, ornately decorated with giant classical Balinese art motifs and mythological figures.
The ornamentation on each of the eight gates reflects the Balinese philosophy of Asta Berata, or eight beliefs that include the essential elements of life as well as valued human qualities.
Visitors can enter the gates by elevator to view a kris collection and other small temporary exhibitions on either side at mezzanine level where light refreshments are available.
To the west, the gates overlook a spacious open stage for regular performing arts programs, not only from Bali. Gunarsa hopes other parts of Indonesia and abroad will take interest.
Already, Gunarsa plans to program the Bali Barong Festival, the Legong Festival, the Music International from New York’s Wesleyan University and the Sekar Jaya Festival, also from the United States.
Seats will face the stage in an amphitheatre rising up at the back to form the new ground level Museum of Contemporary Art, the first in Bali. The space for seating will accommodate an incredible 10,000 people.
The Museum of Contemporary Art will house 1,000 paintings from the Sanggar Dewata Indonesia Group of which Nyoman Gunarsa is the “locomotive” and from the Indonesian Institute of Art in Bali and Yogyakarta. The artists are from Bali and many other parts of Indonesia, and reflect local conditions and traditions as well as international art styles.
“It is important for young people to be able to enter a venue where they can see the development of Indonesian contemporary art both from the roots of traditions and also in relation to global influences,” Gunarsa said.
He believes in the idea that local art is also universal.
The grounds surrounding this enormous center have been filled with native trees and shrubs, especially from the botanical garden at Bogor, West Java. All reflect the art, philosophy, use and traditions of Bali and Indonesia and even include fruit and medicinal trees.
To the east of the Kori Agung, a serene lotus pond leads to a new Hindu temple.
The enormous gates are unique, not only because of their size but because they rise skywards to finish in triangular spires, each one devoted to a Hindu God — Wisnu, Siva and Brahma.
Gunarsa expects an opening of the Arts Monument and Contemporary Arts Museum toward the end of 2010.
“Monumen Kesenian and Surya Candra Murti is not about looking backwards but looking forwards.
Klungkung and the nearby Gelgel were once the most powerful kingdoms and richest art and culture centers in Bali.
“In addition to Kerta Gosa [Hall of Justice], the regency is home to traditional painters, kris makers, songket weavers, silver and goldsmiths, gamelan makers and kepeng craftsmen, as well as traditional activities as boat building and salt making,” Gunarsa said.
“My Museum of Classical Balinese Painting aims to preserve the past, but the new Monumen Kesenian will link the past with the present and even the future, and hopefully contribute to the reemergence of Klungkung as Bali’s cultural center.”
