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Futuristic Semar: Cast members of 'Mencari Semar' pose with director Rangga Riantiarno (top, third left), scenographer Deden Bulqini (top, fourth left), Bakti Budaya Djarum Foundation’s program manager Billy Gamaliel (top, center) and Teater Koma’s cofounder Ratna Riantiarno (top, fourth right) on July 31, 2025, after attending a press conference at Galeri Indonesia Kaya in Jakarta. JP/Sylviana Hamdani
Futuristic Semar: Cast members of 'Mencari Semar' pose with director Rangga Riantiarno (top, third left), scenographer Deden Bulqini (top, fourth left), Bakti Budaya Djarum Foundation’s program manager Billy Gamaliel (top, center) and Teater Koma’s cofounder Ratna Riantiarno (top, fourth right) on July 31, 2025, after attending a press conference at Galeri Indonesia Kaya in Jakarta. JP/Sylviana Hamdani
Art & Culture premium

‘Mencari Semar’: Teater Koma seeks ancient wisdom in the digital age

The play unfolds in the futuristic realm of the Nimacha Empire, where humans are gradually being overpowered by droids and robots.

3 days ago
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”.

5 days 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.

2 weeks ago

The Latest

Art & Culture

'Fast-food' bar frozen in Pompeii ash gives clues on Roman snacking habits

The ornate snack bar counter, decorated with polychrome patterns and frozen by volcanic ash, was partially exhumed last year but archaeologists extended work on the site to reveal it in its full glory.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

‘Cinta Semesta’: Poetic closure of a waiting game called love

Teater Koma moves on from a classic romantic tale to an intergalactic love story to close the year.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Year in review: Art matters in this turbulent year

The pandemic has forced people to experience art in a new way and embrace the technology that delivers it.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Archeologists recreate tiles of temple where Jesus walked

When Jesus strode through the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem, his feet met hewn-stone, earth-tone tiles that were geometric in design and cool, dappled and scuffed to the touch.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Graffiti explodes across pandemic-era New York

Graffiti -- part of New York's history for over 50 years -- is flourishing during the coronavirus pandemic, a sign of decadence for some, but vitality for others.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Digital hack: Goethe festival uses tech to innovate culture

Festival Retas Budaya by Goethe-Institut offers a glimpse into the (digital) future of GLAM institutions.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Wayang show, orchestra concert for a virus-safe weekend

Stroll down memory lane, enjoy Javanese theater comfortably at home this weekend.   

4 years ago
Art & Culture

UNESCO puts Finnish sauna culture on heritage list

Finns' penchant for relaxing in blazing hot steam-filled rooms was on Thursday put on the UN's list of the world's intangible heritage.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Spanish art show spotlights 'hidden' digital divide in pandemic

A painting of a woman using an iPad, a vase depicting children dreaming of computers - both historical objects with a contemporary twist highlighting the world's growing digital divide during the coronavirus pandemic.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Venice hails UN listing for virus-hit glass bead makers

Venice hailed Thursday a UN decision to put the art of glass beads on its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and expressed hope it would help artisans hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

UK slavery museum pulls sex trafficking exhibition after backlash

Britain's International Slavery Museum has pulled an exhibition on human trafficking in the porn industry after a backlash over the "dehumanizing" artwork and the involvement of a US lobby group criticized for its hardline stance on the sex industry.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

France MPs back return of looted African treasures

French lawmakers on Thursday approved the return of prized artefacts looted during colonial times to Benin and Senegal, completing the legislative process needed to give back the objects.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

UK slavery museum criticized for 'dehumanizing' sex trafficking exhibition

Britain's International Slavery Museum is facing a backlash over a "dehumanizing" exhibition on human trafficking in the porn industry, which features an image of a naked woman with tape over her mouth and abusive comments plastered on her body.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Egyptian potters using Nile mud seek to protect their craft

For generations, potters in the village of El Nazla have taken mud carried by the River Nile to craft their wares by hand, using techniques they say date back to Ancient Egypt.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Art of watchmaking gets UNESCO heritage status

The craftmanship of Swiss and French mechanical watchmaking on Wednesday won UNESCO intangible heritage status, casting the spotlight on an art practiced for centuries in the Jura mountain region straddling the two countries.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

'Priceless' haul of over 27,000 artifacts seized in France

French authorities have seized a "priceless" haul of over 27,000 archaeological artifacts ranging from Bronze Age bracelets to Roman coins that had been secretly amassed by a single person in the east of the country.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

5,000-year-old Great Pyramid artifact found in Scotland

One of only three artifacts ever recovered from inside Egypt's Great Pyramid has been found in a misplaced cigar tin in a Scottish university collection.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Cairo restored hieroglyph typecaster tells new stories

The French-made typecasting machine is over a century old, the Egyptian hieroglyphs 5,000 years. Now, in a Cairo workshop, the mechanical marvel has come to life once again.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Dismay as London's theaters forced to close their doors again

London's theaters will shut again on Wednesday as the British capital moves into the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions, with some forced to close Christmas shows just days after they opened, in a hammer blow for the industry.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Paris Opera singers go digital after COVID keeps theaters closed

Just five days before they were due to perform before a live audience for the first time in almost two months, the singers of the Paris Opera learned they could not re-open before January as France's coronavirus cases remained stubbornly high.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Housewives join workshop to start ecoprint production amid pandemic

Ecoprinting is a process of printing on various media containing natural fibers, such as cotton, linen, leather and paper, using leaves and flowers with the help of natural dyes and other additional materials.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Vatican 'Darth Vader' nativity scene gets earthly thumbs down

St. Peter's Square in the Vatican has hosted a few unorthodox nativity scenes over the years, but this season's entry looks like it came from outer space.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Japan picks the kanji character for 'dense' to define coronavirus year

Japan on Monday selected a kanji character used to encourage social distancing as its defining symbol for 2020, highlighting a catchphrase used extensively during the coronavirus pandemic that even inspired its own computer game.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Denmark's top art school head sacked over royal bust stunt

The head of Denmark's top art school has been sacked over the drowning of a bust of a former king in a Copenhagen canal.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Learning center aims to improve batik industry, create jobs

More than 120 participants are trained in batik-making and online marketing.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Time is precious, says Vietnamese collector of European church clocks

For more than two decades, Pham Van Thuoc has scoured Europe in search of historical church clocks, bringing them back to his home in Vietnam where he lovingly restores them.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Machu Picchu closes again, over local train dispute

The surprise measure came just six weeks after the tourist hotspot reopened following an almost eight-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Flamenco artist's show 'a balm' for pandemic-weary souls

Music and dance as a healing balm for pandemic-weary souls is what Spain's Joaquin Cortes had in mind for his new show that opens this Christmas ahead of a global tour. 

4 years ago
Art & Culture

Ukraine seeks World Heritage status for Chernobyl zone

More than three decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster forced thousands to evacuate, there is an influx of visitors to the area that has spurred officials to seek official status from UNESCO.

4 years ago
Art & Culture

'Heartbroken' French minister promises more help for theaters, museums

French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot pledged an extra 35 million euros ($42 million) on Friday to bail out museums, cinemas and theaters left "stunned" by an extension of COVID-19 restrictions.

4 years ago