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A promotional poster for 'Pagelaran Sabang Merauke', a theatrical performance that blends traditional Indonesian arts with a modern touch.
A promotional poster for 'Pagelaran Sabang Merauke', a theatrical performance that blends traditional Indonesian arts with a modern touch.
Art & Culture premium

Artistic heritage meets modern beats at 2025 ‘Pagelaran Sabang Merauke’

Music director Elwin Hendrijanto says the show will fuse contemporary arrangements with traditional sounds like Kalimantan’s Karungut and the Batak song “Rambadia”.

21 hours ago
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 week 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.

2 weeks ago

The Latest

Art & Culture

Josephine Baker becomes first black woman in France's Pantheon

Baker, who left the US in 1925 to escape racial segregation and found fame in France, is buried in Monaco.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

New York's Met gets its biggest donation ever

The donation by Oscar Tang and his wife Agnes Hsu-Tang is the largest capital gift the Met -- one of New York City's biggest tourist attractions -- has ever received in its 151-year history. 

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Vintage cars show racy past of Iran's toppled royalty

Before they were ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran's royal family enjoyed a lavish lifestyle with a taste for fast cars quite unlike any ever built.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Notre-Dame in Paris denies redesign is too radical

With the cathedral set to reopen in 2024 -- five years after a fire devastated much of its roof and spire -- church authorities are putting forward new plans on December 9 for how the public will experience the iconic Parisian landmark. 

3 years ago
Art & Culture

UK fashion awards honour Virgil Abloh and other big-hitters

The British Fashion Council's usually glitzy annual awards honoured a host of prominent industry names in sombre style on Monday following the death of Louis Vuitton designer Virgil Abloh.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Singing on: Next-generation 'sindhen' carry the Javanese performing art

Musically inclined people, both Indonesians and foreign nationals, are carrying the Javanese traditional performing art over the tide of pop culture into the digital era and hopefully, beyond.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Revered Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim dies aged 91

Legendary Broadway songwriter Stephen Sondheim, widely credited with revolutionizing American musical theater, died Friday at the age of 91.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

'Shape shifting' US painter Mark Bradford explores racial tensions in Portugal show

In his first major show in Europe in nearly five years, US painter Mark Bradford says he has turned to the mediaeval period to explore contemporary conflicts and racial tensions.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Green fingers: a conversation with leaf-loving painter Bambang Nurdiansyah

The Yogyakarta painter has made a name for himself as a book cover illustrator

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Pandemic hobby grows into plan for Africa's largest photography library

His dream of using the books to set up Africa's largest photography library in Ghana became a reality after popular blog "Humans of New York" promoted a crowdfunding campaign for his project that raised US$1 million in a single day.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Pompeii online: Italy launches cultural streaming platform

The new "ITsART" (Italy is art) platform, launched Tuesday in the spectacular surroundings of the Colosseum in Rome, will offer a mix of live and on demand events, from plays, concerts and films to virtual tours of museums and monuments.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Met returns three artworks looted under British colonial rule to Nigeria

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art returned three works of art to Nigeria that were looted in the 19th century, as museums make increasing efforts to repatriate some foreign treasures.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Imports imperil Jordanian makers of handcrafted shoes

"This craft is on the verge of extinction," said the head of Shoe Manufacturers Association, lamenting that Jordanian shoemakers received little support.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

'Oldest' jewelry in history unveiled in Morocco

The shells, assumed to have formed necklaces and bracelets, were discovered in the Bizmoune cave near the coastal resort of Essaouira.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Pegon: a Javanese script of acculturation and resistance is fading

An Arabic-Javanese writing system used by scholars during wartime is at risk of being forgotten.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Serena still carries trauma of 2001 Indian Wells jeers

"I remember I was playing this infamous match at Indian Wells ... That was a rough one for me," Serena said.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Pro-democracy clothing brand Chickeeduck to quit Hong Kong

Cute cartoon animals have been at the heart of Chickeeduck since its founding in 1990, and as democracy protests convulsed the city in recent years it embraced designs that subtly backed the movement.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Adidas apologizes after describing ‘wayang kulit’ as Malaysian

Adidas Singapore has apologized for its Instagram caption that claimed wayang kulit was from Malaysia.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Japan experts craft 'super clone' of destroyed Afghan mural

Using a mix of traditional and digital techniques, Japanese researchers have crafted a "super clone" of an Afghan mural destroyed by the Taliban.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Indonesia's batik-makers turn to mangroves as demand grows for eco-dyes

Despite being duller than synthetic dyes, natural dyes are more environmentally sustainable and have a greater market value because of their quality and durability.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Rare Balinese portrait by iconic Dutch painter Hofker to go under the hammer

Inspired by Bali, Hofker created a series of paintings describing the island and its culture's elegance.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Frida Kahlo self-portrait sets auction record for Latin American painting

Completed in 1949, Kahlo's "Diego y yo" (Diego and I) went under the hammer at Sotheby's in New York and sold to an unidentified buyer for US$34.9 million.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Macklowe art collection brings in $676 mn at New York auction

The auction in New York saw a parade of 35 modern and contemporary works by artists such as Warhol, Rothko, Koons, Picasso and Giacometti go under the hammer.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Rothko abstract sells for $82.5 million

Titled, "No.7," the 95 in (241 cm) high canvas painted in 1951 in bands of green, crimson and lavender, had been expected to sell for $70 million to $90 million at Sotheby's in New York. It was the first time the painting had come to auction.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

In a changing city, a glitzy Hong Kong gallery grapples with censorship

Hong Kongers queued for the opening of the much-anticipated multimillion-dollar art museum M+, a project bedevilled by delays, spiralling costs, and now the spectre of censorship.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

Telusur Kultur: Retelling Indonesia through modern prints

Entrepreneur Renaldi Perdana Kesuma and illustrator Hari Prast are spreading the wonder of everything from traditional folktales to culinary heritage through the boldly printed shirts of Telusur Kultur (Exploring Culture).

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Archaeologists find pre-Columbian mass grave in Peru

Archeologists found remains of some 25 people, mainly women and children, as well as dozens of ceramic vessels and objects such as needles used in textile work.

3 years ago
Art & Culture premium

'Ugly history': Battle to restore iconic Japan brothel building

Taiyoshi Hyakuban hasn't functioned as a brothel for decades, and now operates as a restaurant, but it is seen as a symbol of the surrounding neighbourhood.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Smuggled Romanov royal jewels net nearly US$900,000 -Sotheby's

The large oval brooch and ear clips had belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, wife of Grand Duke Vladimir, who was also the aunt of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

3 years ago
Art & Culture

Grieve to release first edition of new underground compilation, 'Noise Assault'

Grieve Records has dug up some underground gems through its followers' recommendations and curated a new compilation album, Noise Assault Vol. 1, due out at the end of November.

3 years ago