Artists from Western Australia and Bali will collaborate in a two-month exhibition themed “Bali: Return Economy” that will showcase the exchange of culture between the two areas. The exhibition will be held at the Fremantle Art Center (FAC) in Western Australia from Jan. 31 through March 27. “Bali: Return Economy” aims at examining the complex exchange of ideas, art and culture between Western Australia and Bali. The exhibition will be curated by FAC curator Ric Spencer and writer and collector of Balinese art, Chris Hill. Desak Dharmayanti will manage the exhibition.
One of the artists taking part in the exhibition, Jango Pramartha, told Bali Daily that the event was a form of appreciation from Australian artists toward those from or working on the island. “Normally we participate in absentia [only the work is delivered]. But here, we’re invited and they’re very enthusiastically working on this show,” said Jango, who is a cartoonist and editor-in-chief of Bogbog cartoon magazine, on Tuesday.
“After all, Bali is like Perth’s front yard. We are close in every aspect,” he said. Responding to some claims, Jango said the event was neither aimed at easing the current tension between Jakarta and Canberra nor did it have anything to do with it. “This event has been planned for two years,” he said. “But if it can [ease tension], then that’s an added value.” Jango, who once held an exhibition in FAC in 1994, said he would showcase 10 cartoon works during the event. He said a biennial art event in July at the University of Western Australia would follow up this upcoming event.
Rather than being a thematic show, the committee said that “Bali: Return Economy” would bring together a series of projects based on the fluid and intertwined history and relationship between Bali and Western Australia. Australians have a long-standing love affair with Bali, but events such as the Bali bombing have made this relationship a complex and ever-evolving one, the committee said in a press statement made available to Bali Daily.
The exhibition will feature artists that are representative of the transient “back and forth” nature of Western Australia’s and Bali’s culture exchange; Balinese artists (or artists that live in Bali) who have worked or shown in Perth and Western Australian artists who have spent time and/or exhibited in Bali. The exhibition will included video, photography, music, performance, drawing, painting, political cartoon, sculpture and installation.
Besides Jango, the exhibited artists are Nyoman Erawan, Wayan Upadana, Paul Trinidad, Made Aswino Aji, Ketut Teja Astawa, Lucinda Crimson, John Fawcett, Kerry Pendergrast, Pranoto, Ni Nyoman Sani, Annette Seeman, Seniman Industries (co-founders Rodney Glick and David Sullivan), John Teschendorff, Toni Wilkinson, Mangku Ketut Liyer, Dewa Putu Mokoh, I Wayan Bendi, I Gusti Putu Putra Jaya, Mangku Muriarti, I Nyoman Tresna, I Kadek Narta, I Wayan Sujana Suklu, John Darling and Robert Birch.
“Bali: Return Economy” also presents pieces from some of Western Australia’s largest private collections of Balinese art, including works from the collection of Chris and Mary Hill, the Bernadt Family collection, Kamasan paintings from the collection of John Johnson, sculptures from the City of Fremantle Art Collection, and ceramics from the Edith Cowan University collection.
source : bali daily
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