Bali: Welcome to Paradise...?

Just like many other international students, as I have spent one and a half years studying in Netherlands, here comes the homesick period. I miss my home country, the tropical Indonesia, especially the sunbathing, the humid rainforest and the amicable rural life. Then I saw this huge billboard depicting a very familiar scene: a girl with sharp eyes and plush eyeshadow wearing the Balinese gelungan (golden crown). Right under this scene, written in large font: Bali: Welcome to Paradise. I know I should not miss this exhibition!

Taking place in Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, Netherlands starting from 12 October 2018 until 26 May 2019, this exhibition is researched and concepted by Museum Volkenkunde in collaboration with Indonesian contributors for the contents production. Adjacent to the exhibition, the organizers also arrange many diverse activities, such as film streaming, lectures and children activities during school holiday.

Welcome to Paradise!

The venue takes place on the ground floor of Museum Volkenkunde at the northern wing, right behind the Indonesian permanent exhibition. When entering the main gallery, you will acknowledge this scene: huge backdrop with slideshows of typical Bali panorama: beaches, sunsets and temples. In front of it, two snoozy benches welcome you to snooze yourself under the yellow umbrella with a big tagline installation, where visitors are encouraged to take a picture with their creative poses. Right behind the backdrop, you are now facing wallpapers depicting a totally contrasting scene from the earlier: traffic jam and plastic garbage scattered across the beaches. The backdrop plays a big role here: as a barrier wall to symbolize that behind the scene of a clean enjoyable paradise, there lies significant problems as the price for massive tourism. Three worth-watching monitors present a documentary about Soul Surf Project Bali, an NGO that create a gigantic whale out of plastic garbage in beaches as an environmental awareness campaign.

Still in the same room, on the left and right of the entrance, we can find two different scenes of videos: the left provides old black-white photos of native people performing traditional rituals and daily activities, while the right installation provides recent colourful photos of tourists enjoying their Bali experience. I find this room intriguing as they present ‘ironic’ contrasting scenes of Bali: old-new, splendid-disorganized, traditional-modern, which make us contemplate the paradox of how Bali change drastically through time.

Rice and Tourism

The adjacent room is dedicated to rice and tourism, another contrasting aspects (and atmosphere) that occur simultaneously. A green installation resembling traditional rice field (sawah) with rice goddess Dewi Sri on the top mimicking the shrine at the vocal point of the sawah, paintings of the traditional harvesting scenes, traditional cultivation tools mounted inside the stages (undak) to symbolize how this practice is abandoned beneath the surface as it is replaced with modern equipment. Across the room is a white installation resembles modern hotel-skyscrapers painted with infographics of statistics and current condition of Balinese tourism business. Next to this diorama is an interview video of a local that runs tourism business, explaining the growing number of tourists which compels people to shift traditional jobs into modern ones.

This development draws contradictory responses: some believe tourism is preferable as it contribute to provincial income while others see this as a threat. As I walked out of this room facing at the statue of Dewi Sri, I contemplated: if all rice fields were completely converted into tourism facilities, would she then be worshipped as the patron of hotels and golf courses?

Ayo beli, ayo beli (come and buy!)

Colourful butterflies on the ceilings, sarong and sandals (slippers) on the wall and responding shouting across the hallway: this is the scene I’m familiar with. As you walked down the hallway, take your time to slow down and appreciate the beauty of superimposed sarong and sandals mounted on the wall, then stop and watch the monitors where the local merchants explain and convince you to purchase their products and describe how they run their businesses. Touch and feel the products they sell right below the monitor: food wrappers, containers, drinking straws, and ritual offerings. Three interview videos play simultaneously, mimicking the real atmosphere of competing merchants.

Even though it is quite a familiar scene for me, the complete scene doesn’t fully resemble a traditional open market as the video shows: dim-lighted hallway instead of sunbathed alleys without the sound of people bargaining. Nevertheless, the product installation where people are encouraged to touch and “test” their products create the sense of presence and belonging as the visitors (as tourists) are participating in the transaction itself. If you’re tired of walking and observing, take a good time to sit down and observe how the merchants convince the tourists to buy their goods!

Meeting the modern gods in paintings

The next room portrays an art gallery, a nice placement next to the market as it is typically found in Bali tourist attractions. It’s an alluring atmosphere: the room is dim yet the paintings are well-lighted. What I find brilliant is the painting arrangement: each theme (religion, protest, gods) presents paintings resembling past and present conditions with contradicting purposes, for example, the traditional depiction of Arjuna in temptations: lust and perseverance is reproduced into modern day temptations of youtube, facebook, twitter. Another depiction of people getting boiled in hell represented by people enjoying hell-bathing in this current world as it is now turning into hell itself. In theme ‘protest’, the artists portray gods themselves protesting issues such as reclamation, tourist misbehaviours and plastic waste.

The Transition

As you walk out the art gallery, you will realize a gradual atmosphere of object arrangements in the market: it starts with mundane objects (daily groceries and clothes) into more divine-themed (ritual offerings) which will be the next theme of our journey. The adjacent room is a small room separated by closed doors, disconnecting the mundane life from the divine encounter. Presented here is a brief explanation about Hinduism as the major religion in Bali and a video of an old lady sitting in front of pura (temple) gate explaining how to arrange different flowers into certain orientation as an offering to be presented inside the pura. As you have prepared your heart and offerings to be brought inside, now you are ready to step into the next room, which is again, separated by a door to symbolize the sacredness of the temple, remembering that only the faithful is allowed to enter the pura for praying.

When Gods and Humans Meet

A festive sacred atmosphere welcomes you as you step into this hall: colourful drapes representing eight corners of universe mounted on the top of an “altar” in the center, (clockwise) at the left you can find statues of fearsome rangda and other gods, parades of wayang (skin puppet) and statues of characters from Ramayana legend, a traditional calendar rug, and at the right end is the impersonation of side altar filled with the ritual instruments along with the video of a Hindu priest describing his efforts in preserving traditional medication practices in the midst of modern healthcare (fun fact: you can reach this traditional priest via facebook page!).

A visitor, a couple who is planning to visit Bali this summer mentioned that they are motivated to explore more about religious and Balinese medical practices after being inspired by Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray and Love and this exhibition even makes them becoming more anxious to visit Bali soon. Where gods and humans meet, many children expressed mixed reactions to the rangda and god statues, some came closer encouraging themselves to touch and interact with it, while some others kept their distance, intimidated by its scary depiction.

Growing Up, Embracing Death

As you walked into the adjacent final room, you will be completely absorbed by the atmosphere. Right in front of your eyes, an empty sedan chair and a cattle-shaped bade (coffin) welcome you like they have been waiting to carry you into the afterlife. The background is the video mapping of Balinese rituals: three-month ceremony, tooth filing, marriage, and funerals slowly moving as you are experiencing a flashback from the day you were born to your death. I once witnessed an old lady sobbing as she watched the video; she then told me that the atmosphere is an experience of memento mori which compelled her to contemplate about her life and forthcoming death.

To the left and right, ritual goods such as toys and marriage dressings are presented, while you can educate yourself by watching the explanation of ritual practices in the audio-visual installation next to the central stage.

The sensitive issue

I decided to visit this room last as it exhibits a sensitive issue in which observation need to be paid attentively. The room is black and dark, representing past dark days of colonialism and war. An inscription describes the story of Dutch military expeditions and the resistance of Balinese, who committed mass suicide in a ‘war that never happened’ (puputan). Pictures of war, prior, during and after, and a quote from Nieuwenkamp as a witness describe the ruthlessness effect of the war. Subsequently, Dutch armies collected the palace treasures, distributed among museums in Jakarta and Netherlands.

Most of the objects now presented here, apart from the gifts from local rulers who collaborated with the Dutch, are spoils of war with high value as identity marker: royal daggers and a palace door that Nieuwenkamp preserved. What is also interesting to see is an interview video of a descendant of Klungkung kings, who commented that Balinese always consider these objects as their cultural possession although at the end of the video he gave a startling request to ask the Dutch government to take good care of these heirlooms as in Indonesia there is no place to keep them safely.

With the upraising issues of repatriation and decolonisation, these objects provide a nice subject of discussion. Noting that they are spoils of war in colonisation era, they could be considered to be obtained illegally. Although several authors have called up the notion of repatriating cultural objects during Dutch occupation in Indonesia as the most appropriate notion of decolonisation [1,2], the innocent statement by the descendant who is legally rightful for the objects might inhibit the demand of repatriation. At the other hand, an author [3] argued that decolonisation doesn’t necessarily be achieved by repatriating objects, instead by involving former colonies in adding to the more objective narratives from both sides. Despite all these arguments, the efforts of decolonisation involving these objects are still needed to be discussed further as the concept of repatriation for decolonisation are constructed.

As I walked out of this hall, I wondered how these objects would be treated in the future: some of them are under the possession of Museum Volkenkunde but they have never been seen in the permanent exhibition. Are they intentionally hidden from the public? I remember a story [4] when Aceh Governor visited British Museum, questioning why Acehnese coins were not displayed in the permanent exhibition like other coins from Southeast Asia. He then made a bold request: put it on the public display or repatriate them back to Aceh. I personally would demand similar action.

As I left…

Overall, I would say that the purpose of this exhibition is clear: presenting Bali as a paradise for tourism despite the environmental and cultural problems as the consequences [5-8]. As the tourism positively starts increasing after Mount Agung explosion in 2017 [9], this exhibition acts as a nice opportunity to “make Bali great again”.

The flow and scenes: backdrops, installations and lightings are beautifully designed to enhance visitor’s experience like they are truly present in Bali. The unique-designed catalogue resembling traditional fan provides good explanation in Dutch and English, along with the latest provenance and provenience data. In addition, I would recommend the visitors to download the interactive Bali App prior the visit as an accompanying guide (in Dutch, available on mobile apps store), as you can choose to experience the exhibition as a nature- or culture-lover.

Nevertheless, I think that the issues brought up by the curatorial team do not completely represent deeper and more urgent cases in Bali such as: drugs, human trafficking and illegal sex businesses. Even though cultural and environmental issues are more prominent to tourist’s experience, I personally believe that there is a higher call to introduce those compelling issues.

Whether you have been or will visit Bali in the future, this exhibition offers a nice insight about its natural and cultural aspects and worth explored for both adults and children from any background.

References:

[1] Van Beurden, J., 2018. Decolonisation and Colonial Collections: An Unresolved Conflict. BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review 133 (2), 66-78.

[2] Drieenhuizen, C., 2018. Mirrors of Time and Agents of Action. BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review 133 (2), 91-104.

[3] Arainikasih, A.A. and Hafnidar, 2018. Decolonising the Aceh Museum. BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review 133 (2), 105-120.

[4] Dadek,T., M. Hamzah and M. Fuady, 2017. Kapten Teungku Agam: Jejak Irwandi Yusuf Gubernur Aceh. Banda Aceh: Aceh Printers.

[5] https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2161683/chinese-tourists-are-changing-bali-they-are-not-first (Accessed on 23 March 2019)

[6] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/beautiful-islands-ruined-by-tourism/ (Accessed on 23 March 2019)

[7] https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/asia/bali-plastic-pollution-sea-diver-video-indonesia-problem-manta-rays-a8246241.html (Accessed on 23 March 2019)

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/21/bali-to-bring-in-new-rules-for-visiting-temples-after-decline-in-quality-of-tourists (Accessed on 23 March 2019)

https://bali.bps.go.id/pressrelease.html?katsubjek=16&Brs%5Btgl_rilis_ind%5D=&Brs%5Btahun%5D=&yt0=Cari(Accessed on 23 March 2019)