Bali, Art, Ritual, Performance At the Asian Art Museum

Bali, Art, Ritual, Performance which opens Friday at the Asian Art Museum (February 25) is an intelligent, gorgeous and vibrant show of a richly textured, religious and seductive culture. There are over 130 objects, some the finest of their kind, including sculpture, paintings, and ritual objects, masks and costumes, photographs and much more.

"Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance introduces visitors to a culture that has long been at the crossroads of many civilizations," states Dr. Jay Xu, director of the Asian Art Museum. "It teaches visitors about Balinese history, religious beliefs and traditions, and artistic practice. Most importantly, it highlights ways in which the Balinese people integrate artworks, ritual, and performance in their daily activities. It poses questions about cultural authenticity, adaptation, and persistence. And it encourages a new evaluation of perishable materials used in ritual artistic practice."

The Balinese phrase "desa, kala, patra," which can be translated as "place, time, situation," refers on one level to practices that differ locally from north to south, east to west, village to village. But in a larger sense the phrase suggests the necessity of context—of trying to understand how meanings of events or objects are unique to specific circumstances and differ by location and over time

While it is true no museum can recreate the cultural milieu that produced these objects, all is not lost. Using that phrase as a guide, the Asian Art Museum, through its extensive educational and artistic resources, took the further step of embedding these artifacts within their living context as much as possible. The museum's education department has involved the Bay Area Balinese community and artists from Bali in offering demonstrations and performances of some of the ritual and performing arts of Bali during the course of the exhibition.

The museum has also planned an extensive schedule of over 60 events throughout the duration of the show, from puppet shows, Gamelan performances, drumming, dances, symposia and lectures. The show features a multimedia tour, providing context for many of the individual objects.

Curated by Natasha Reichle, the Asian Art Museum's associate curator of Southeast Asian art, Bali: Art, Ritual Performance is the only place that this work can be seen, either nationally or abroad. A 376-page, fully illustrated catalogue - the first of its find to be published in more than thirty years, accompanies the show.

Where: Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco



When: Opens Feb. 25; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except closed Mondays and open until 9 p.m. Thursdays; closes Sept. 11

Tickets: $7 to $17

Contact: (415) 581-3500

http://www.asianart.org