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The Literature and Ideas Festival (LIFEs) director and literary curator Ayu Utami (second right) speaks during a press conference on Aug. 1, 2025, at the Salihara Arts Center in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. The biennial event is one of the oldest festivals in the country.
The Literature and Ideas Festival (LIFEs) director and literary curator Ayu Utami (second right) speaks during a press conference on Aug. 1, 2025, at the Salihara Arts Center in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. The biennial event is one of the oldest festivals in the country.
Art & Culture premium

LIFEs 2025 explores national identity through art and literature

The Literature and Ideas Festival returns from Aug. 8-16 with "Menjadi Indonesia", featuring over 35 performers.

1 day ago
Art & Culture premium

‘Beyond Unsettled Past’: Revisiting Indonesia’s colonial legacies

The exhibition, held at in Erasmus Huis in Jakarta, reexamines colonial legacies through a distinctly Indonesian lens. Curated by historian Sadiah Boonstra and artist Sukiato Khurniawan, the show features powerful works by six artists that confront the lingering imprints of colonialism on society.

1 week ago
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Dancing in harmony: 75 Years of Indonesia-Thailand diplomacy

From the graceful Thai Blessing Dance to the vibrant Indonesian Puspa Mekar, the performance blended traditional melodies and symbolism, captivating the audience with a shared spirit of peace and unity.

1 week ago

The Latest

Art & Culture

Thieves who stole Banksy's Bataclan mural found guilty in France

Eight people found guilty by a French court on Thursday of stealing a mural by street artist Banksy from the famous Bataclan concert hall in Paris were handed prison sentences ranging from a few months to several years.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Practicing Khorasani archery with Cahaya Tua Dari Khurasan

Archery holds a special place in Islam. Prophet Muhammad was once recorded saying “verily, strength lies in archery”. Many Muslims today, including Habib Qori and his students, learn and practice archery to keep the prophetic tradition alive.

3 years ago
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Egypt family keeps alive tradition behind haj centrepiece

His family's creations would be despatched in a camel caravan to Islam's holiest site in western Saudi Arabia towards which Muslims across the world turn to pray.

3 years ago
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Star wars: Russians turn to astrologers amid Ukraine conflict

As the Kremlin presses ahead with its military intervention in the pro-Western country, more and more Russians are turning to astrologers.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

R. Kelly sues Brooklyn jail for putting him on suicide watch

R. Kelly on Friday sued the Brooklyn jail that has housed him since his racketeering and sex crimes conviction, saying it wrongly put him on suicide watch after he received a 30-year prison sentence despite knowing he was not suicidal.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Mixed fortunes of celebrities who leapt on NFT craze

Sports, film and music stars have all flocked to the NFT market to buy pictures of apes, endorse corporate partners or even launch their own art collections.  

3 years ago
Art & Culture

High in Turkish valleys, Afghan shepherds dream of home

In Turkish mountains so high that the silver clouds almost touch the top of his head, a homesick Afghan shepherd prepares his baaing flock for a good shear.

3 years ago
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Online exhibition exposes real-world digital emissions

An online exhibition held by Jakarta’s avant-garde Komunitas Salihara cultural center examines cyberspace’s intangible imprints on the real world.

3 years ago
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Independent Algeria turns 60, but colonial-era wounds remain

Algeria marks 60 years of independence from France on Tuesday, but rival narratives over atrocities committed during more than a century of colonial rule still trigger bitter diplomatic tensions.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

UNESCO declares borshch protected Ukrainian heritage at risk from Russian invasion

Paris-based UNESCO announced in a statement that it had placed borshch, a rich crimson soup packed with vegetables, on a list of cultural heritage in need of "urgent safeguarding" due to the risk posed to the soup's status as an element of Ukraine's cultural heritage by Moscow's invasion.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Sex Pistols show shines light on 'violence of punk'

More than 40 years after the band shot to notoriety, an exhibition of Morris's classic photographs is revealing the mayhem and violence that surrounded the band to a new generation of fans.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Russian LGBT artists find sanctuary in Paris

For many LGBT Russian artists, the invasion of Ukraine and the accompanying political crackdown was the final straw. Helped by a Paris charity, they have found a new home in France.

3 years ago
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Hong Kong's blurring border with China a sign of things to come

And it was one of the catalysts for the huge democracy protests in the finance hub three years ago, a movement initially triggered by an attempt to allow extraditions to China's mainland.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

First ever ‘Africa Fashion’ exhibition opens in London

Britain's most extensive exhibition of African fashion is set to open in London, showcasing designers past and present as well as the continent's diverse heritage and cultures.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Jakarta Arts Council’s new exhibition casts Taman Ismail Marzuki in a new light

For the soft opening of Taman Ismail Marzuki, the Jakarta Arts Council showcases some of its most notable archives and art collection. 

3 years ago
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Saudi artists marvel at surprise patron: their own rulers

With Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, eager to rebrand conservative Saudi Arabia as a global arts destination, officials are heaping previously unheard-of opportunities on Mater and his peers.

3 years ago
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Jewel thieves in brazen Dutch art fair heist

Armed robbers staged a brazen daylight raid on an international art fair in the Netherlands, smashing a jewellery case with a sledgehammer in front of terrified visitors.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Mud, sweat and cheers: Traditional Thai water buffalo race enthralls crowds

Boys scurry, duck and weave through crowds sheltering from the suffocating heat on Sunday, before upending buckets of cooling water on beefy bovines waiting to compete at the annual traditional Thai buffalo races in Chonburi.

3 years ago
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Menswear regains its muscle at Paris Fashion Week

Menswear proved to be in reinvigorated form as Paris Fashion Week ended on Sunday, with spectacle, innovation and the return of big-name designers to the catwalk.   

3 years ago
Art & Culture

FBI seizes Basquiat paintings amid doubts over authenticity

The Orlando Museum of Art said it had complied with a request for access to works at the show called "Heroes and Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat" and that the paintings are now in the hands of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

3 years ago
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Dubai urges using smart apps for Idul Adha

Veterinarians are being called in to inspect sheep at an abattoir in Dubai, where the municipal administration is encouraging residents to use smart apps to order sacrificial animals ahead of one of Islam's major holidays.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

French court convicts 8 for stealing Banksy from Paris attack site

A French court on Thursday convicted eight men for the theft and handling of a Banksy painting paying homage to the victims of the 2015 attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Sugar fever: A complex tale of love, loss and public health

Once the world’s second-biggest producer of sugar, Indonesia’s love affair with this commodity is bittersweet.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Cameroon's 'cloth of kings' torn over future

Ndop's richness and distinctive motifs -- often animals or geometric shapes -- are now being threatened by crude rip-offs.

3 years ago
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Misty sunrise for the summer solstice at Stonehenge

The sun was long overdue on Tuesday but when it finally appeared, faces lit up and arms rose as one to greet the summer solstice at Britain's most famous prehistoric monument.

3 years ago
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Judo helps fight xenophobia in South Africa

In a newly renovated white building in the South African township of Alexandra, about 20 children in judogi (judo kit) and others in school uniforms tumble around on a tatami under the watchful eye of a coach.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

'Good or bad, it’s Hong Kong history' says British colonial museum founder

Ong, 42, has been collecting colonial memorabilia since he was a child and last year opened The Museum Victoria City to put his treasures on display, detached from growing acrimony between China and Britain, fuelled in part by the colonial legacy.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Drought paved way for Islam's spread in ancient Arabia: study

The findings in the journal Science highlight the role of extreme weather events in "changing the course of history", said a statement from the University of Basel in Switzerland –- a relevant lesson as climate change warps today's weather patterns.  

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Street art in Montreal is writ large

A mysterious creature playing piano, a white tiger baring its fangs and a huge Batgirl: dozens of artists are busy this June painting giant frescoes for the 10th edition of the MURAL Festival of Montreal.

3 years ago
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Birthplace of Saudi state becomes tool for 'new nationalism'

Saudi tour guide Nada Alfuraih ushers guests through an 18th-century palace where the kingdom's royal family is said to have first plotted its conquest of the Arabian Peninsula.

3 years ago