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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.
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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.

2 days ago
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‘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

Picasso painting sells for $67.5 million at New York auction

The 1932 Pablo Picasso painting Femme nue couchée sold for US$67.5 million on Tuesday at its auction debut at Sotheby's in New York, the United States, the most recent large sale at auction for blue-chip art.

3 years ago
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Ukraine's museums eye Russian focus on east with suspicion

Museums in Lviv only dare open their doors a chink, convinced Russian forces will pillage Ukraine's culture as they have its villages.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Macklowe art collection becomes most expensive ever sold at auction

The famed Macklowe collection, subject of a bitter divorce battle between a New York property developer in the United States and his ex-wife, became the most expensive art collection ever sold at auction on Monday.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Ivory Coast artist recasts old mobile phones into art

Stitching together discarded mobile phone keyboards to make art, Ivorian artist Mounou Desire Koffi hopes to raise awareness about pollution.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Contemporary art to the metaverse: Takashi Murakami's poppy trip

Takashi Murakami is known for blending pop art and Asian fine arts, but for his latest exhibition in New York, he is moving into the metaverse.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Prasi: an ancient Balinese miniature art form transitions into the contemporary

Dating back to the 16th century, the tradition of scribing leaves with cultural knowledge compiled into lontar manuscripts is undergoing an exciting new illustrative era, driven by younger generations of contemporary artists. 

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Bob Dylan installs artwork in French vineyard

Bob Dylan's first permanent artwork has been installed on the grounds of a wine estate in southern France. 

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Warhol Monroe portrait set to smash records at New York sales

Christie's expects Warhol's 1964 "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" to become the priciest 20th century artwork when the auction house puts it under the hammer on Monday.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Mexican tiger fight ritual draws blood to bring rain

Seeking to appease the god of storms and end a drought, men and women in tiger costumes whip each other mercilessly into submission in an ancient ritual in southern Mexico.

3 years ago
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Twenties: Notable Batik patterns from across the archipelago

Batik, one of Indonesia’s most beloved icons and a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, comes in a rich variety of patterns, each with a unique origin and meaning. These are 20 batik patterns from across the archipelago.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Refugee who paints with a toothbrush nominated for Australian art prize

A refugee held in Australia earned a finalist spot in the nation's top art prize for a self-portrait he painted with a toothbrush.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Pulses race at new erotic Pompeii exhibition

Raunchy scenes may redden faces at a new exhibition in Pompeii on art and sexuality in the ancient Roman city.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

MoMA exhibits Matisse's paintings within a painting

In "The Red Studio," the French artist reproduced almost a dozen miniature versions of his paintings and sculptures as a way to depict his workshop in the Paris suburbs -- not to mention play with perspective, color, time and space.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Tuft Love: Young Chinese weave away stress with crafts

Using a craft gun to shoot yarn through a fabric screen, Nora Peng puts the finishing touches on a rug in the shape of a corgi's bottom — the perfect stress-relieving hobby for her frantic days.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

‘So much joy’: Brazil holds first carnival since COVID-19

Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval, a glittering, sequin-studded festival of the flesh, exploded back to life on Friday with the first famed samba school parades since COVID-19 started devastating Brazil.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Revitalized Angkor Wat brings hope for tourism recovery

As dawn breaks, foreign tourists gather by the ancient towers of Cambodia's Angkor Wat, some of the lucky few to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site among thin crowds as the country recovers from the pandemic.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Unseen for a century, tiny Bronte book goes on sale in New York

A miniature book of poems written by a 13-year-old Charlotte Bronte was unveiled in New York on Thursday after more than a century hidden away.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Puppets and poetry go underground in besieged city of Kharkiv

In a subterranean metro station serving as a bomb shelter in eastern Ukraine, two flamboyant puppeteers act out a tabletop fairytale for a gaggle of spellbound children.

3 years ago
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Indian sari weavers toil to keep tradition alive

Mohammad Sirajuddin's cramped studio is typical of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India's dwindling community of artisans painstakingly working by hand to produce silk saris, uniquely cherished among their wearers as the epitome of traditional Indian sartorial style.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Russian art show in Paris hits near record 1.25m visitors

An exhibition of masterpieces owned by a Russian art collector has attracted a near-record number of visitors in Paris, but the war in Ukraine may make it the last of its kind for a while.

3 years ago
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Sound of Mughal-era sarangi instrument fading away in Pakistan

Remarkable for its resemblance to the human voice, the classical instrument sarangi is fading from Pakistan's music scene –- except for a few players dedicated to preserving its place.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

France to hold back works from hit Paris Russia show

Two pictures from a hit Paris art exhibition of masterpieces from a Russian collection rarely seen abroad are to remain in France in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the French government said Saturday.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Missing Charles Darwin notebooks returned to Cambridge University

Two of Charles Darwin's notebooks containing his pioneering ideas on evolution and his famous Tree of Life sketch have been returned anonymously after going missing for 21 years, Cambridge University Library said on Tuesday.

3 years ago
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Taman Ismail Marzuki exhibition raises funds for sick Indonesian literary figures

Twenty artists held an art exhibition to help two of Indonesia’s biggest literary figures who are currently suffering from illnesses.

3 years ago
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Central Africa’s Aka Pygmies struggle with stigma and poverty

In Central Africa, indigenous people gain access to health but deforestation threatens their traditions.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Taiwan puppeteers look to NFTs to keep their art alive

A group of Taiwanese puppeteers are looking to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to help bring their traditional art form into the modern era and keep it relevant for a new audience.

3 years ago
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Kuti family keeps up Fela's Afrobeat legacy

Nearly 25 years after the death of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti, his son Femi and grandson Made are taking his Afrobeat sound to the United States.

3 years ago
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Kadapat is Bali’s best hidden musical treasure

Uncompromising, sacrilegious, and intense – Kadapat is one of the best hidden talents in Bali’s promising music scene.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Koons on the Moon sculptures to be placed on lunar surface

Koons, one of the most celebrated and expensive living artists, is famed for kitsch pieces such as "Ballon Dog" and "Rabbit," and his work is exhibited in galleries around the world.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Versailles reopens room where French democracy was founded

The Palace of Versailles is reopening the site of an often-overlooked part of its history on Friday with a fully restored Jeu de Paume Room that hosted the founding of French democracy.

3 years ago