Gembull Navicula meets an orangutan

Bali based band, Navicula has launched the start of their Borneo Tour (Kalimantan) as part of their orangutan conservation campaign by holding an acoustic concert in Medan, on 24 July 2012. The event titled “Road to Borneo Tour” is aimed to raise awareness about the issues surrounding deforestation, a threat to the endangered species in Sumatera, especially in the area of Tripa peatland in Aceh.

“The concert in Medan is a warm up before we tour Kalimantan this September. During preparations for our upcoming Borneo Tour, we have heard about many pressing issues affecting Sumatera, such as the conversion of the Tripa peatland forest, which is an orangutan habitat. With the support of organizations that are concerned about these environmental issues, we are able to arrive in Sumatera, and chose Medan as the city for the main event,” said Gede Robi Supriyanto, vocalist of Navicula writing from Bukit Lawang, North Sumatera, Friday (20/7).

Robi has travelled to Bukit Lawang to trek through the Gunung Leuser National Park. His trip through the rainforest is a chance for Robi to gain more experience and understanding, to better campaign for environmental issues through music. Navicula’s Road to Borneo Tour in Medan is supported by Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (YEL), Sumateran Orangutan Conservation Programe (SOCP), PanEco, Sawit Watch, and Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (Walhi) Sumut.

The concert will be held at Rama Gardenia Cafe on July 24, and Navicula, a band active since 1996, will perform an acoustic set. The event will also include an environmental discussion focused on saving the Tripa peatland, as well as a Sumatran orangutan and tiger photo exhibition by Mata Kamera Community of Medan.

Navicula, who has consistently been advocating for environmental issues will leave for a Borneo Tour in East and Central Kalimantan this coming September. The tour is themed around the critically endangered orangutan, facing extinction as a result of deforestation and the massive expansion of palm oil plantations.

Navicula’s Borneo Tour is paid for through crowdfunding projects on Kickstarter.com and Patungan.net. On kickstarter.com, Navicula launched a project with a funding goal of US$3,000, while on Patungan.net the funding goal was Rp.5 million. Both projects have exceeded their funding goal, and the project on Kickstarter.com is still running until 29 July 2012. As compensation for supporting their project, Navicula has offered digital download of their songs, t-shirts, CDs, traditional handicrafts, private gigs, and even a ticket to join the tour in Kalimantan.

“We’re really happy our Borneo Tour crowdfunding project has succeeded in gaining the interest of people who support our mission to use music as a media for environmental campaigns. This is also an example of how independent bands can hold a tour without funding from sponsors or promoters,” added Robi.

In December 2011, Navicula released the song Orangutan as a free download under a creative commons license. Vocalist of Navicula, Gede Robi Supriyanto, wrote the song Orangutan in April 2011. The track will be included on Navicula’s 7^th album, which is still in progress. The album will also include tracks such as Harimau! Harimau! (a tale of the last Sumatran Tiger) which is dedicated for the conservation of the Sumatran Tiger, of which only 400 exist in the wild due to habitat loss.

Navicula has been performing the song Orangutan live from stage to stage, and even on a popular music program on national TV. Since this exposure, many Navicula fans have requested that the band travel to perform the song live in their cities, including requests from fans in Kalimantan. “As a band from Bali, which is far from the center of the music industry, we are proud to be able to tour Kalimantan, one of the last remaining rainforests and habitat to the critically endangered orangutan, and perform the song Orangutan live there,” says Robi.

An International Campaign

The song Orangutan has made Navicula the winners of the International band competition Planetrox. Navicula will be travelling to Quebec, Canada to perform at the Envol et Macadam Festival on the 7-8 of September. “This is one way we can raise awareness about the plight of the orangutan on an International level. Environmental problems, whether in Kalimantan, Sumatera or Antarctica are the responsibility of everyone inhabiting this planet,” says Robi.

To participate in the Planetrox Competition, Navicula submitted the music video Orangutan, which was chosen as one of the semi-finalists. The 10 semi-finalists then competed in an online voting stage, from which 5 finalists competed in a live competition held in Bandung on 7 July. The jury chose Navicula as the winners to represent Indonesia in Canada.

Besides performing in Canada, Navicula is also in the running to record in Hollywood, USA. Out of 500 videos from 43 countries, Navicula has been chosen as one of the top 10 finalists for the RØDE Rock competition. If they win the online voting stage of the competition by 31 July 2012, Navicula will be flying to Hollywood, California to record three songs at the legendary Record Plant Studios. Navicula is currently in the lead for the online voting stage.

Name one song with an environmental message. There are a lot. Even one of Indonesia’s national music magazine’s (printed on paper from trees, of course) released one story covering 100 environmental songs in commemoration of Earth Day.

But what does the planet really need now, while facing degradation and destruction? A group of so called artists singing about nature, like the sounds of people celebrating in the desert?

Musicians who wish to touch our hearts and minds need to put in more effort than creating and producing songs, then performing them on stage. Especially in the context of fighting for our environment. Especially remembering our intense social media fever, where people feel accomplished just for being hashtag activists: then keep tweeting about an issue, but that’s all they do. While environmental degradation continues to systematically destroy our environment.

Last year saving orangutans was a popular topic. The hashtag #SaveOrangutans was used often on twitter. The trigger was the shocking news from a number of palm oil plantations in Kalimantan. They were promising a certain amount of money to workers who could kill and bring in orangutans, which are considered pests to the palm oil trees. How cruel. But the reality is that palm oil is considered more important as global resource than the continued existence of this large red ape which shares 97% of the same DNA as humans.

In December of 2011, Navicula released the song Orangutan as free online download. Other musicians, such as Shaggydog have also written songs about the critically endangered Orangutan. Robi Navicula – who has a twitter account, though rarely uses it – wrote the song Orangutan in April 2011. The song was written Navicula’s 7^th album which is in negotiations to be released in the United States. Besides the song Orangutan, this album also has songs like Harimau! Harimau! which is dedicated to the conservation of the remaining 400 Sumatran tigers, which are facing extinction due to habitat loss.

Navicula has been performing the song Orangutan live from stage to stage, and even on national TV stations. Since releasing the track, many fans have asked that Navicula come and tour in their city, especially in Kalimantan. Navicula hopes to bring this song live to Kalimantan, the last tropical rainforest on earth and habitat to the critically endangered orangutan.

Navicula may be considered ‘legendary’ and accomplished, their fan base is grassroots and dedicated, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they are financially successful. Planning an independent tour to Kalimantan may be more difficult for Navicula than recording a popular song. Seeking standard concert sponsor and promoters to fund a tour to Kalimantan may not be the right route for Navicula as they are not an ideal band for cigarette brands wanting to make bring in money through concert promotion.

Financial concerns have been the main factor preventing Navicula from touring Kalimantan. But there is still potential to fund the tour through Kickstarter.com, a platform for crowdfunding creative projects. Crowdfunding is a business phenomenon in the current economic recession which the United States is still recovering from and the bankruptcy of economies such as Greece. Massalution, a research firm dedicated to crowdfunding and crowdsourcing released their Crowdfunding Industry Report earlier this month. The firm collected data from over 170 (38 percent of the total) crowdfunding platforms.

Massalution discovered that throughout 2011, crowdfunding platforms have raised over 1.5 billion US dollars to fund around 1 million projects. These numbers are astounding. But before you start thinking about how much money your going to raise, you should know that not everyone can make a project that is interesting enough to get lots of people wanting to support it. All submitted projects also have to pass through a selection process, and be approved by the portal administrators. Navicula’s project, a Borneo Orangutan tour, has been approved by Kickstarter.com.

Navicula’s project will raise funds to tour East and Central Kalimantan through the target funding of 3000 US dollars, which needs to be raised within 45 days. As compensation for backers, Navicula is offering free song downloads, t-sirts, CDs, Kalimantan handicrafts, private home performances, and even an offer to join them on tour to Kalimantan.

Navicula is the first musician or band from Indonesia who has launched a project on Kickstarter. There have been a few projects on Kickstarter about Indonesian musicians, but the projects were actually by foreigners, not by the musicians themselves. For example a documentary film about one of Indonesia’s most influential punk collectives launched a Kickstarter project with a target goal of US$ 16,000 to be reached within 45 days, and successfully raised US$ 16,450. This project was a collaborative between 3 filmmakers hailing from America, China and Malaysia.

Kickstarter backers must have a US credit card. Of course, these makes it difficult for people in Indonesia to be involved in Kickstarter. Because of this, Navicula has launched a supporting project through Patungan.net, with a funding goal of 5 million rupiah.

And as if there is just not enough you can do for our red ape friends, Navicula has also chosen the song Orangutan to represent them in the International band competition Planetrox. The winning band will be invited to perform at Envol et Macadam in Quebec, Canada. Voting will continue until June 24^th, and 5 finalists will be selected to compete live in front of a jury in Bandung on July 8^th.

Navicula is the only one of the 10 finalists to submit a song in Indonesian. Other Indonesian bands may feel more confident submitting an English track to an International band competition, but Navicula feels their songs in their mother tongue are strong enough as is: Orangutan. It’s in the message, not the language.

Navicula invites you to join their acoustic show and launching of the Borneo Tour:
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Starts at 18.00
At Café Tjikini Jl Cikini Raya no 17 Jakarta Pusat
Performance by: Navicula, Adrian Adioetomo, Balian

Berkumpul, bermain, memanfaatkan barang bekas di taman. Mewujudkan imajinasi tentang sebuah kota.

Kardus-kardus dan kotak-kotak bekas makanan bisa ikut tampil dalam sebuah panggung taman hijau. Mereka memperkenalkan diri sebagai sebuah kota yang padat. Kota dalam taman.

Lalu bagaimana jika robot, monster, dan berbagai mainan ikut hadir? Entahlah.
Tapi yang pasti sebuah cerita dan peristiwa bisa terjadi.

Kegiatan ini bertolak dari ide yang sederhana. Errik Irwan Wibowo, seorang arsitek muda, saat sedang bercengkerama di Lapangan Puputan Renon melihat kardus-kardus dan kotak makanan yang mau dibuang. “Rasanya sayang betul. Lalu tiba-tiba saja muncul imajinasi seolah yang saya pandangi bukanlah dus-dus dan kotak-kotak tak berguna, tapi tumpukan bangunan,” kata Errik.

Errik mengatakan ada banyak benda terbuang lain yang masih bisa diberi kesempatan tampil di taman. Mereka didandani layaknya bangunan yang gemar bersolek. “Menarik juga kalau orang-orang tak dikenal, yang malu-malu tapi ikut terlibat mendandani dus-dus dan kotak itu,” kata Errik.

Kegiatan ini merupakan pengembangan dari apa yang terjadi pada Minggu (29/4) sore lalu di Lapangan Renon. Errik dan kawan-kawannya mengumpulkan sejumlah barang bekas dan semua orang diajak merespons barang-barang yang disajikan: tusuk sate, robot, piring kertas. Beberapa orang menggunakan cat air di atas lembaran kertas.

Semuanya terjadi tanpa penulis cerita dan sutradara. Entah apa skenarionya, tak jadi soal. Tanpa komando, orang merayakan ruang (dan waktu) terbuka. Merasakan jadi manusia yang manusiawi di kota. “Pasti sesuatu akan terjadi dan kita tinggal mengikuti,” kata Errik.

Errik dan kawan-kawan merencanakan aktivitas kedua, Minggu sore berikutnya di Lapangan Renon. Bagi partisipan diharapkan membawa bahan-bahan yang bisa digunakan untuk meramaikan suasana. “Bisa bawa dus-dus, boleh cat air, kertas lipat, alat musik, camilan, kamera, mainan, apa saja. Bagus juga kalau barang-barang tak terduga yang baru ditemukan di sekitar itu bisa ikut digunakan” kata ia.

Menurut Errik dalam kegiatan ini setiap orang akan merespons dengan caranya masing-masing. Mungkin akan ada yang bermusik, menari, bermain, atau membuat instalasi. “Silakan untuk menggambar atau menggunakan cat air di media kotak, lalu menata atau menempatkan. Ini seperti bermain dalam arsitektur atau susun massa,” kata Errik yang komik-komiknya sering menghiasi halaman akarumput.

Kota-kotaan dari kardus ini adalah sebuah peristiwa yang dibangun. “Harapannya akan ada orang-orang penasaran yang akhirnya kenalan, terlibat dan ikut berkreasi. Untuk yang sudah kenal bisa lebih akrab lagi. Selama proses itu bisa terjadi diskusi-diskusi menarik pula. Setidaknya ada hal aneh baru yang terjadi di lapangan itu. Kira-kira selesai ketika matahari menghilang,” kata Errik.

Sebuah ajakan yang menggoda. Mari rayakan kota dalam taman.
Waktu: Minggu, 6 Mei 2012 mulai pukul 15 WITA
Tempat: Lapangan Puputan Niti Mandala Renon. Berkumpul di Circle K depan Museum.
*Bawalah kardus bekas yang bisa diolah

Nafka – 2nd chance to be Better
Talks and responsible lifestyle products presentation

Sunday 22 April 2012 | 2-4pm
at Little Tree Green Building Center
Jl. Sunset Road No. 112x, Kuta – Bali

Presentation and discussion sessions:
1. Responsible lifestyle product ideas by NAFKA | Ayip
2. Financing creative and good projects by Patungan.net | Enrico Halim
3. The making of Wisnu Open Space | Made Suarnatha

A designer’s job is to make sure that the model can be converted into a working prototype – a blue print for the manufacturer. However, it is in our nature to measure individuality. Since the 1980s designers have been injecting unique identity “chromosomes” into their products on an industry scale.

High-income earners – which are the industry target – fill the empty space of boredom in their lives by shopping. But possessing the exact same product as everyone else only creates a new kind of boredom. The era of uniform consumerism has ended. Mass products are now being challenged by truly individual designs. Yes, it’s pseudo individualism.

During the 1980s, the concern for environmental damage was no longer exclusive to environmentalists. The call to stop deforestation, environmental pollution, and the green house effect entered into popular culture. Terms such as Eco, Green, and Global Warming were often used, while at the same time the importance of the 3Rs (Reuse – Reduce – Recycle) became ever more apparent.

Recycling can sometimes be too expensive and requires a lot of energy. Which is why some people turn to upcycling, which means converting waste or unused materials into something useful, like the products developed by Freitag. In Bali, Nafka initiated a laboratory for creative designers focused on developing responsible lifestyle products. In June 2011, Nafka showed their first exhibit in Denpasar titled Wonderground. Nafka will once again be showing the creations of their designers at the Ecologically Sustainable Solutions Week on April 16–22, 2012 at Little Tree in Kuta, Bali.

To create designs out of used materials, Nafka designers focus on planning the shapes. Through the process, the used materials can offer unexpected visual surprises. It’s as if looking at a montage or photo collage by artists from the Dadaism era on products such as bags, sofas, room partitions and lamp shades, all made from reclaimed waste or used plastic wrappers. Cut up images, numbers or letters, a build up of colors.

Nafka products seem to fuse the line between art and craft in the shape of everyday accessories. Visually they are attractive. Nafka products are a refreshing surprise in the droll of everyday standard mass-produced products. Nafka products are truly one-of-a-kind.

The products may represent individual expression. But the production process is fueled by a passion for community movement and empowerment. Nafka outsources its production to local handicraft community groups. Handicraft producers, much like other traditional production workers, are marginalized in today’s modern economic distribution routes.

In modern sales systems, the middleman marketing the products can be a necessity. When the producer and consumer are too far apart and there is no access between them, the role of the marketer grows ever larger. The role of the middleman in sales is to dictate the price to maximize profits. The producer has little power to sell at a higher, or more profitable price.

This inequality in the marketing stage is only beneficial to the seller and too often exploits the producer. In Bali, these symptoms have long been visible in the industry, for example in the sales of art or crafts. Art shops in Bali have a very high profit margin, sometimes as high as 60 percent on the handicraft products they sell. By the time they are sold, these handicrafts can be expensive, but the amount the producers receive is too far below the selling price.

The partnerships Nafka builds with local handicraft producers follow fair trade standards. In this way they are supporting sustainability, not only the environmental aspects, but also the social aspects.

It takes hard work to follow the principles of fair trade while also successfully conducting business. To make sure the products are not just salable because they are “fair trade” and pulling on heart strings, but because they are of high quality.

If upcycling has it’s own attraction for consumers, could upcycle product hold special economic value? Anyone can take unused material around them and transform it into something new and useful. So, is there still a market for Nafka products? Here the idea of branding comes into play. A product will not just be valued in a utilitarian perspective or at face-value use. Urban residents want to communicate and declare their individuality in the midst of their lonely disoriented lives. Brands provide this.

Brands become a tool for interaction, a celebration of togetherness, even without having to communicate it. A brand is a message in itself.

The project “Illustration around the world” is Ientile’s mission to travel, while documenting through illustrations and sketches, and meeting other artists and designers in the countries and places he visits. He plans to release his travel art in the form of a book later this year.

This project has inspired him and Bali has become one of his favorite destinations during his travels. Before returning to Germany this weekend, Ientile would like to meet Bali’s creatives to share experiences and stories.

Join the discussion on 15 March 2012
Location: Danes Art Veranda, Jl Hayam Wuruk no 159 Denpasar
Time: 7pm

People have a natural desire to master information faster than other creatures. This desire is influenced by the information industry, including the mass media. Hence the battlefield of information technology media is also a race to share a story.

Why do people want to know more and know it before anyone else? Perhaps because, in this way, they feel more powerful than people who are still in the dark. This power does not necessarily achieve inherent and authoritative domination of the subjects of a territory or a country. Power can be achieved within many domains, and it is not always repressive. Knowledge is power.

One form of claiming power over knowledge is by exploring, or at least travelling to foreign places. Recently in Indonesia travel writing has exploded. Recent publications of travel books have lead to a new category on bookstore shelves.

Air travel is no longer an expensive form of transportation in Indonesia—that is what the slogan ‘now everyone can fly’ from one popular budget airline implies. Globally, tourism also continues to develop as an industry. Today, 8 percent of global gross domestic product comes from the travel industry. Where in this world have we not yet explored? Images of remote corners of the earth find their way into mass media and may in time become the most sought-after tourism destinations.

Commercialization of the travel lifestyle creates hyper-realities about new places as treasures as yet to be discovered. However, the impacts of such travel, including environmental degradation, cultural change, and sociological shifts within local communities are often the consequences of the arrival of tourism.

Lately, the concept of responsible travel has been given a lot of attention: Every traveler must be aware of the impacts of his or her visit to a place—both the cultural and ecological impacts. The most responsible travel may, in fact, be to not travel at all; the arrival of a new person in a new place, isn’t just economically beneficial; it can also create larger problems.

The desire to travel and share travel stories has found a modern medium in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, two days ago, an Indonesian traveler shared photos and stories about her trip to Tibet through her Twitter account.

Her short stories, limited to 140 characters, shared general information about Tibet; but there were errors in the information. She posted that Dalai Lama has not lived in Tibet since 1995. In fact the correct date is 1959, and this spiritual leader has not only “not lived in Tibet” but was forced to flee Tibet and take refuge in Dharamsala, India.

She also shared posts about Potala and Norbulingka palace, along with visually pleasing panoramic photographs. But she forgot to mention how the few remaining monks of Potala are forced to hold positions of cleaners in uniform (not the traditional monk garments). Finally, she reminded followers that the best time to visit Tibet is in August, September, April and May, even though she was there in January.

@tibettruth responded to the posts and stated that the account was a tourist who is spreading the illusion created by Chinese propaganda of a colonized Tibet. @tibettruth is an account for the international movement  which supports the reinsitution of Tibet’s independence. The Indonesian tourist replied that her intention was not to spread propaganda, but merely to share what she saw and felt to her friends. This response showed her failure to capture the naked reality about Tibet as a colonized nation. She overlooked the fact that in Lhasa a Chinese military post can be found every 100 meters and miliatary are constantly patrolling the area.

Sometime last year, the photographer Timur Angin also shared his experiences of Tibet through Twitter. Moments after he left Tibet, Timur promoted his plan to form a group tour of Tibet during the country’s best travel season, organized through a photography magazine. His plans were overturned, however, because in 2011 China denied all permits to foreigners to visit the annexed area now known as the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Social networks are designed to allow us to share knowledge; but without indiscrimination. For some travelers, these media are used to propagate a damaging myth of a far-off place.

I visited Tibet for 15 days. I experienced Tibet as China’s backyard, used as a location for picnics for Chinese residents, who are enjoying the biggest surge in economic growth in the world. I noted the lines so visible on the faces of exhausted monks at temples or monasteries, whose movements are limited following their rebellion of 2008 against the repressive Chinese military.

I witnessed that the economic sector of Tibet is dominated by people from Mainland China: Almost all souvenir shops and tourist attractions in Lhasa are owned by Chinese. The people of Tibet, who often speak English more fluently than many Chinese, must be content to sell souvenirs from mobile stands in Barkhor. The stand sellers are honest and point out which souvenirs are made by Tibetans and which souvenirs are made in China; not surprisingly, most items are Chinese-made.

I witnessed the train routes, which China claims are part of the infrastructure for the development of Tibet; in actuality they are primarily used as transportation for Chinese going to Tibet. I saw the economic control of China, binding the Tibetan people to poverty. Residents are “mobilized” to an area of annexation—merely a repetition of what China has done previously in Uyghur. In Uyghur, an area with primarily Muslim residents, conditions were extremely repressive, to the point of ethnic cleansing.

I witnessed Chinese military confiscate a Lonely Planet book on Tibet from the backpack of a tourist at the military post along the Nepal border. China banned Lonely Planet books from entering Tibet because their guidebooks include a map showing Tibet in a different color than China and include a photograph of the Dalai Lama, who is exiled in India.

Even though I made an effort at the beginning of my journey to ensure my own local impact benefited Tibetans (for example, by using a travel agency owned by Tibetans, not a Chinese company), I realized that my trip to Tibet was a mistake. Vacationing in an occupied region is the same as offering foreign exchange to the colonists.

My one pride from Tibet is a t-shirt sporting a Tibetan flag and the inscription “Free Tibet”. This shirt I bought in Kathmandu, Nepal, after convincing the seller to embroider those legendary symbols. “Free Tibet” flags are popular in Nepal, but not one seller is brave enough stock them in their stores. Rather, they are available on order so that store owners avoid the risk of being caught during the Nepalese government sweepings—in this way, the government likes to demonstrate its friendship with China.

During my visit, I wrote a few stories, took thousands of photos and dozens of videos in Tibet. But I did not share these in any portfolio. I don’t want to share my experiences in Tibet to the wider public to encourage other people to visit Tibet.

But I do offer this story I wrote about Tibet, as an appendix to this article.

A prison on the roof of the world

In the plane as we prepared to land, the Tibetan natural landscape transfixed all eyes, and no one blinked. Everest, surrounded by the satellites of lower peaks, appeared like an island in clouds, towering over a cobalt blue sky. The snow blew in gusts, like a flag from a distance.

It was a view you can find in no other country. This country truly is the roof of the world. This land, so grand in its history, is covered by a rich blanket of spiritual practice, devotion to Buddha, invasion, subjugation and oppression. The land is a traveler’s dream. But most travelers must abide by strict rules evening order to enter. Only Chinese tourists enter with ease; they come by the thousands every summer. Tibet is like a playground in China’s backyard.

Accompanied by a tour guide, who contextualizes China’s control over Tibet, the Chinese tourists come to fill the temples and monasteries. They are amazed by what they see, Imagine how much more amazed they would be, if only the Chinese military had not destroyed around 6,000 monasteries during the occupation, beginning in 1951. The religious identity of Tibet was brutally disarmed, and tens of thousands of civilians were killed.

In 1959, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14^th Dalai Lama, the living Buddha, left Lhasa in exile to settle in India and continue his struggle to free his homeland.

In some monasteries there are paintings or photographs of all of the Dalai Lamas, with the exception of the 14^th. It is forbidden to speak of him or hang his photograph in Tibet. Even tour guides are forbidden to mention him.

In Potala Palace, traditionally the Dalai Lama’s official residence, monks are forbidden to wear their classic red robes. Instead they wear uniforms like maintenance workers and are assigned tasks similar to the care of a museum. Since the monk protest of 2008, which ended in military violence, being a monk is increasingly difficult. The number of monks has decreased dramatically. Before 2008, there were around 600 monks at Potala Palace; now there remain only 200.

Proceeds from the fairly expensive tickets to enter a temple or monastery go to the Chinese government. The temples and monasteries are funded by charitable donations from the people. Not surprising, then that inside the temples we must pay to take photographs, as a way to bring much-needed income to the monastery. In Jokhang Temple, the monks opened a small shop selling “blessed souvenir.” Outside of the monastery, in Bakhor Square, tourists can get almost the exact keepsakes for a much cheaper price.

In Lhasa, tourists are intercepted by Chinese military or police for photographing beggars. China is concerned that images of poverty could ruin their idyllic image of Tibet development. The tallest train rail in the world, running from Qinghai to Lhasa, has been in operation since 2007 and the government boasts it has propelled development in Tibet. But in reality this train rail only makes it easier to transport products from China and mobilize the Chinese military, which have 3 nuclear missile sites and uranium mines in Tibet.

As in Uyghur, China clutches the area through control of the population’s composition. The Han Chinese population continues to increase, and many control business there. To smooth assimilation, Tibetans are forced to study Mandarin in school. No Han is forced to learn the Tibetan language.

Today, no Tibetan can leave the country because they cannot obtain a passport. Until three years ago, many Tibetans fled to Nepal through the Himalayan mountains. Today, however, the Chinese police and military strictly guard these mountains.

While tourists flock to Tibet as a mystical far-off land, the region’s own citizens are prisoners within its borders.

“Tibet under lockdown” photo by Ryan Gauvin via Freetibet.org

Indonesia faces a classic dilemma in the world of publishing. Over the past year 15,000 books have been published by 1,400 publishers, these numbers are relatively low for a population of 230 million.

Publishers struggle to exist in conditions where the cost of paper to print books and taxes continue to rise. They must carefully calculate the business end while choosing manuscripts for publishing. So it’s not surprising that we are experiencing a decline in the quality of literature published. Traditionally publishers enlighten and help to advance culture, this role must not be forgotten.

Have Indonesia’s publishers followed the path of blockbuster films in Hollywood, do they find it easier to publish manuscripts written by popular writers? Is there still a chance for new writers to break into the world of publishing, how? What can writers do to prepare themselves? It is important for writers to find the right publisher for their manuscripts.

All of this will be covered in the discussion this Wednesday night with Windy Ariestanty, author of Life Traveler. Windy has also published Tiara Lestari: Uncut Stories  Shit Happens: Gue Yang Ogah Kawin Kok Elo Yang Rese?!, Studying Abroad: Belajar Sambil Berpetualang di Negeri Orang. The discussion will not only be from a writer’s perspective, for Windy is also the editor in chief of GagasMedia and Bukune.

Discussion (Obral) 25 Januari 2012

Location: Danes Art Veranda, Jl Hayam Wuruk no 159 Denpasar

Time: 19.00 WITA

In 1920s Europe, cubism and expressionism art were in vogue, but not all artists were content with these new movements, which sliced nature into geometric shapes or considered nature only as a medium through which to express emotion.

Walter Spies felt that the new art styles of the time negatively impacted his work as a surrealist. Coupled with his discontent with European society, which did not accept his sexual orientation, Spies was motivated to leave the Netherlands for the Dutch East-Indies in August 1923. From Batavia (currently Jakarta), he went on to Jogjakarta, and in 1927, on invitation of the king of Ubud, Cokorda Gede Agung Sukawati, he moved to Bali.

Spies met many of the local artists. He was influenced by the fine art aesthetics of Bali which, at the time, only portrayed scenes from folk tales and shadow puppet stories. So was born a style of painting that portrayed Bali with mystery and beauty, a style deemed naturalistic and naïve by Western surrealists.

Spies began to give direction to Balinese painters to paint the forgotten world around them and transfer it onto the canvas. In 1935, along with Cokorda Gede Agung Sukawati and Rudolf Bonnet, Spies founded Pita Maha. The goal of the group was to add value to the art of local Balinese painters to better compete within the commercial art world that was developing in Bali.

Pita Maha provided paint, supplies, and guidance to local artists. Then they would promote selected paintings and carvings made by Balinese and exhibit them in Java and even overseas. Through fine art, Bali’s attraction grew even stronger as a paradise of topless women, and Bali attracted more and more foreign visitors. Spies and his cohort were responsible for popularizing Bali as a paradise lost, where Europeans could live out their lavish fantasies in a world far removed from the pretensions of their own nations.

The image of Bali as a paradise island has shaped Bali into what it is today: This small island is mislead into living off the tourism industry, which never provides enough and, hence, continues to expand through more investment and development. The building of tourism infrastructure takes no notice of Bali’s limited capacity. To this day, even basic needs, such as waste management, have not provoked practical solutions to meet the island’s needs. The ecological impacts of tourism infrastructure development are not yet deeply considered.

Many Balinese, who traditionally hold a deep respect for nature, have changed their behavior: They are busy selling off their natural resources because the price of land on the island skyrocketed. In the end, many Balinese fall into the position as the screws to turn this big machine known as the tourism industry.

But the actual conditions on Bali have provoked a reaction from a number of artists, though they are still in the minority. One such artist is Made Muliana Bayak. Bayak expresses his discontent through multimedia art composed of installations and paintings. I new exhibit of his work, “Fresh from the Oven,” is now on display. The Exhibit opened on Friday (20/1) and will end on 2 March 2012 at Griya Santrian Gallery, Jl. Danau Tamblingan 47, Sanur.

The curator of the exhibition, Wayan Jengki Sunarta, wrote in the introduction to the exhibition that most Balinese artists are busy fulfilling what the art markets demand. They touch on aesthetics and form, but forget to explore their own ideas and the meaning of their work. For example, most artists graduating from fine art institutions choose the safe and comfortable path as painters: “Their art only chases beauty; it is ‘made to order’ and appears dominated by images created by Bali’s tourism industry. This art successfully sells the lies of what Bali is. [The artists] are having fun masturbating with aesthetics, and they ignore all the important issues which are right in front of them,” says Jengki.

In his paintings, Bayak criticizes “Sukawatian” paintings, which replicate the Mooi Indie style and are commonly sold at art markets, galleries, and gift shops in Bali. “Sukawatian” paintings portray the exoticism of Bali with iconic beauty, such as rice field views, quite villages, or topless women. In reality, the rice fields of Bali are being replaced with hotels and villas, and colonial etiquette long ago coerced local women to cover their breasts—while tourists enjoy the freedom of being practically topless.

Bayak has reproduced these iconic touristic paintings and added new icons to represent Bali’s actual current conditions: the words “SOLD,” for example, and barcodes and dollar symbols accompany the images. He also added ornaments which portray Bali’s new reality, such as cement walls, billboards advertising land for sale, and the modern farming machinery that has replace cow-drawn farming methods.

Bayak’s paintings do not delve too deeply into technique. The focus of the exhibit is clearly the message. In the past, Spies used fine art as a tool to promote tourism in Bali; in contrast Bayak is promoting the degradation of Bali as a result of the tourism industry.

We live in a fast paced world. Issues, problems and concerns are all easily forgotten, just as quickly as they appear. An issue becomes the center of attention only while the topic is hot.

Now, as 2011 comes to an end, social media in Indonesia is filled with stories of orangutans being slaughtered. But in a matter of weeks, it’s as if the issue was over. Orangutans are still at risk. Indonesia is still rife with deforestation, and land for palm oil plantations continues to expand without any significant resistance.

Palm oil companies actively implement greenwashing tactics to conceal the fact that they are the orangutans’ main enemy. This is the second effort to improve their image after their first tactic to convince people that palm oil plantations are part of “reforestation” efforts.

From Bali, as a participative alternative media, Akarumput.com put on the event “Orangutan – suara untuk alam II” (sounds for nature II), in partnership with Sawit Watch and Walhi Bali at Seaman’s Club Sanur, this December 17^th. The event started with a discussion “End of the Year Environmental Reflections” with Albert Nego Tarigan (executive director of Sawit Watch), Wayan Suardana known as Gendo (WALHI Bali), and Gede Robi Supriyanto (vocalist of Navicula).

Albert talked about the importance of stopping the expansion of palm oil plantations. “Palm oil plantations are competing with the livelihood of local residents and endangered species such as orangutan. In Aceh, Riau, and East Kalimantan, orangutans are slaughtered,” said Albert.

Albert also drew attention to the violence related to palm oil plantations in Mesuji, Lampung. Five people were killed during a conflict between the local community and the security personnel of a palm oil plantation. According to Albert this type of incident also occurs in other areas. “In Riau, a woman died because she was accused of allegedly occupying land owned by a large palm oil company. In Jambi, seven people were shot, and we have video footage of this,” said Albert.

After the discussion, the event moved to the stage with musical performances by the Listen, Balian, Nosstress, Geekssmile, and Navicula.

In between the performances, there was also an art auction of artwork with orangutan themes created by Balinese artists such as Made Bayak and ISI students are part of Komunitas Djamur. The funding raised was over Rp. 6,000,000, which was donated to WALHI Bali to support their environmental advocacy work.

The moment everyone had been waiting for was the release of Navicula’s latest single titled “Orangutan”. Navicula dedicated the song to encourage people to do more in orangutan conservation, to protect this endangered species. Robi wrote the song “Orangutan” in April 2011 as a track to be included on their Navicula’s new album, which will be released sometime next year. The song “Orangutan” is available for free download here.

Not only did they release a song, but Navicula also released a music video to the song “Orangutan”. Shots of the band performing live were edited together with shots from Green the Film. This documentary film by Patrick Rouxel follows the story of Green, a female orangutan who is on the verge of dying. The film needs no narration; it is a montage of both beautiful and heartbreaking footage.

Green is a victim of deforestation and exploitation of natural resources. This film is an emotional journey of a rare primate, alone in this world that is not on her side.

Photos by Vifick Bolang and Green the Film.