Artists In Residence 2006
Bhima Swarga workshop at the Bali Purnati Center for the Arts
André Gingras residency
18 – 30 September 2006
Choreographer André Gingras (Holland/Canada), video artist Catarina Campino (Portugal) and dramaturge Sue Jane Stoker (USA) spent 2 weeks in residency at the Purnati Center, where they worked intensively with composer Rahayu Supanggah (Java) and 3 Indonesian dancers, I Gede Sudiarcana and Kadek Tegeh Okta Wm (both from Bali) and Indra Widaryatno (Jogjakarta). They also conducted a day-long residency at the SMK Negeri 2 Sukawati, filming a video with nine of the second- and third-year students from this high school for the arts.
During the residency, movement research was done with the three dancers, resulting in the filming of a second video featuring only these dancers, and a third video involving several of the students from SMK and the three resident dancers. Further research was done towards creating material for a possible collaboration on a live performance piece choreographed by Mr. Gingras and featuring the three resident dancers, and music performed by Mr. Supanggah and other Indonesian musicians. The plan is to present this in Utrecht as part of the Springdance 2007 Festival, in conjunction with the presentation of one or more of the videos filmed during the residency.
At least one of these videos will have its first public presentation at the Purnati Center for the Arts as part of a fundraising gala for the Center in December 2006.
The Western artists also had the opportunity to learn something about Indonesian art and culture through their contact with these fine Indonesian artists, by visiting and speaking with teachers and students from the SMK fine arts high school, and ISI, the University for Fine Arts in Den Pasar, as well as by viewing a variety of traditional performances and ceremonies, and visiting and speaking with several traditional craftsmen in their studios.
ANDRÉ GINGRAS, resident artists from Holland/Canada
The time I spent at Purnati was my first time in Indonesia, and I was deeply impressed by the richness of the culture and the depth of kindness of the people there. As for the Purnati Center itself, it creates an extraordinary opportunity for cultural exchange, facilitated by a very professional staff. This vibrant place creates and fosters an enthusiastic environment for the development of new forms in modern dance and visual arts.
CARLEEN SHEEHAN and MARK GIGLIO, resident artists from New York
The highlight of my time at Purnati was working on a collaborative project with fellow artist-in-residence Mark Giglio and two Balinese artists, I Wayan Suja and I Putu Sudiana 'Bonuz'. The four of us collaborated on a mural, titled "Continuous Painting for the Village of Ubud". The mural was completed during the second half of our residency and will hopefully develop into an on-going project. We settled on a process that involved intuitive layering and collaging of imagery, which was both challenging and liberating, as each artist had to trust the others to move the work forward in a way that would strengthen and enhance each other's work. For me it was an incredibly positive experience that is already influencing the way I plan to approach my working process in the studio.
Visual language as a vital part of everyday life, the natural world as a constant reference and source of decorative/devotional imagery, a sense of images embedded, woven into the fabric of daily life, color as an offering, as a surprise moment.....these are some of the strongest impressions I take back from Bali, along with the incredible openness and kindness of the people I met there.
Carleen Sheehan, June 2006
VISUAL COLLABORATION: CONTINUOUS PAINTING FOR THE VILLAGE OF UBUD
First Stage: New York - Bali
A Collaborative Project Between Artists of Yayasan Bali Purnati, Komaneka Fine Arts Gallery and Ubud Community
We are honored to announce and initiate a new ART PROJECT: Continuous Painting for the Village of Ubud. The painting as an ongoing process, both in time and space will be displayed in both gallery-museum settings and in outdoor, public spaces in and around Ubud. At the same time the project is an open invitation to the international and Indonesian art communities: to visit, to work with us and to exchange ideas.
The purpose of this project is to create meaningful collaborative artwork, linking different cultures through a living work of art. Most importantly, its intention is to energize and welcome participation of the local communities: not only artists, but also small and large businesses and all residents of our area. We very much hope that the Continuous Painting will create more bridges between Yayasan Bali Purnati, Komaneka Fine Arts Gallery, the Ubud Community and the world. We also hope it will open new avenues of dialogue within our community, making its voices stronger and defined.
We are starting with the creation of a collaborative painting by four artists: two from New York, artists-in-residence at Yayasan Bali Purnati, the Bali Purnati Center for the Arts in Batuan: Carleen Sheehan and Mark Giglio, and two artists represented by Komaneka Fine Arts Gallery, I Putu Sudiana and I Wayan Suja.
May 2006
DEAN MOSS, resident artist from New York
Open!, a multidisciplinary performance collaboration of poet/performer/activist Cok Sawitri from Bali and choreographer/video maker/director Dean Moss from New York City, was presented June 5, 2006 at the Art Center in Denpasar. It featured the young community theater/dance group Kelompok Tulus Ngayah and both artists in an in-progress performance. Co-produced by Yayasan bali Purnati, The Bali Purnati Center for the Arts, Kelompok Tulus Ngayah and Gametophyte Inc.,with additional support from Restu Kusumaningrum, the work represents the first phase in the development of an ambitious multipart project between the two artists.
The next phases of the project include a research trip to New York City for Cok Sawitri, to explore both experimental and community theater practices with Dean Moss serving as guide and colleague. Subsequently Moss plans to return to Bali and collaborate with Cok and her experimental performance company on a full evening work. This new performance will, like Open!, focus sincerely and critically on the timely sociopolitical questions of identity, cultural diversity and the integration of traditional and contemporary culture. Most importantly the project will be designed for presentation at and possibly replication by [at least in form] community groups and community based art centers all across Indonesia. Of course should the work inspire additional interest, there is also an optional plan to develop it for international touring.
In sharing this project and themselves, Cok Sawitri and Dean Moss, seek to deepen their individual creative practices and to establish a more culturally specific, community based model for experimental contemporary performance and international collaboration in Indonesia.
May - June 2006
GERDA VAN LEEUWEN, resident artist from New York
The phase between ideas through the process of inspiration to a final art piece is what interests me most.
It is the act of creating sheets of ink drawings and doodles that look sometimes like incoherent writing, needed to be translated into three dimensional metal objects. At the end I use these wire sculptures to print, either onto paper or fabric.
The village sounds surrounding Purnati: temple music, people’s voices, laughter, motorbikes, geckos, roosters and dogs create an immense background and help me along in my working process. It is something I hoped and longed for being used to working in New York with its own background noises.
April – May, 2005 and May 2006