Wijaya Journal: Italo-Indonesian Cultural Evening, Kerta Ghosa Complex, 30th May 2009

THE MYTH OF BALI and THE EPIC OF LIFE
Notes by Idanna Pucci

When I first embarked on the literary adventure of The Epic of Life in 1976, the island of Bali was not widely known. Nothing much had changed since the thirties, when Margaret Meade and Gregory Bateson studied there, when President Nehru of India and the great poet Tagore visited, or when Anais Nin and Noel Coward became fascinated with the island as well Charlie Chaplin who was inspired in his funny walk by Balinese comic dancers.

All the big changes occurred over the next twenty-five years, turning Bali into one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the world. But as the new Millennium arrived amidst great world celebrations, unforeseen astonishing events provoked more changes. In 2001, September 11th sparked paranoia about travel resulting in new security measures at all airports; then came the bombings at Kuta Beach in October 2002, and again in 2005. With these shocks, tourism on the island of ‘‘paradise’’ substantially slowed down. But the dismal situation did not last long. Now, just four years later, the Balinese seem to have forgotten their human and material losses. In the first quarter of 2008, the number of visitors to Bali has reached an all time high of around 1 million, placing Bali once again at the center of the world’s preferred destinations.

Nevertheless, in the wake of far more uncertainty and general economic world crisis, there are now perhaps more arm-chair travelers, seated in the safety of their homes, who read about journeys they will never take and people they will never meet. Bali’s myth lives on.

Last year, the ancient Kertha Gosa court of justice of Klungkung enjoyed an ever increasing flow of both foreign and Indonesian visitors. In 2008, entry tickets numbered about 200,000.

This historical site remains the only monument in Bali that has been captured in both images and the written word--the only one to have its own book.

THE EPIC OF LIFE
The Balinese Divine Comedy
by Idanna Pucci

This story is a tribute to life. It fills the chasm between different cultures, races, customs, religions, and languages in the name of universal principles.
The subject is startling and timeless in its depiction of the human condition and the situation of the world. It addresses the same issues which continue to pervade all societies: greed, murder, theft, usury, political corruption, abortion and homosexuality seen as interrupting the cycle of reincarnation, and crimes against the flora and fauna of the planet viewed as injuries against life itself.

This “Balinese Divine Comedy”, an episode from the ancient Mahabharata epic, unfolds on 144 painted panels that line the ceiling of a much revered building: the royal court of justice in Klungkung, ancient seat of the Dewa Agung or “King of Kings” on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Miraculously surviving earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and a huge fire during the Dutch invasion in 1908, this rare gem in the panoply of South-east Asian art and literature--known as the Kertha Gosa or place for justice--contains all aspects of Balinese culture under one roof. Its seventeenth-century paintings represent the suffering of Hell and the peace of Heaven, mirroring the outcome of individual actions or karma upon each destiny.

The story documents a double adventure: the hero Bhima's epic journey to the afterlife and the author's own exploration of his odyssey. Through a dramatic narrative filled with suspense and wonder, the reader is invited to listen as if he were part of a large Balinese audience, mesmerized by the fusion of past and present, in which the afterlife is synonymous of life itself.

The Kertha Gosa pavilion was used until 1950. During the trials, the Brahmin judges--having no written body of laws--turned their eyes upward to consult the visual legal codex. Today, this sacred painted ceiling serves as a testament to man’s unending metaphysical journey.

THE RENOVATION PROJECT

Kertha Gosa - Court of Justice
Klungkung, Bali, 2009

The initiative has been promoted by Idanna Pucci--author of The Epic of Life: The Balinese Divine Comedy and long-time student of Balinese culture--in collaboration with the Italian Embassy as well as the Italian Cultural Institute in Jakarta, and the BALI PURNATI Foundation for the Arts in Bali.
This international cultural collaboration will highlight the Sister-City Pact between Florence and Semarapura-Klungkung created in 1996. With their visual and literary “Divine Comedies,” their artistic tradition, their living weavers, woodcarvers, and silver/goldsmiths, these two cities share a profound affinity. They also have in common the question of an ever-increasing flow of tourists in the face of serious environmental problems. W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, first European artist in Bali, eventually settled in Florence and is buried there. The Florentine artist Emilio Ambron, instead, settled in Bali, where he found inspiration that lasted a lifetime. The first fashion collection of Florentine designer Emilio Pucci, entirely inspired by Bali, was the result of his visit in 1962 as a guest of the Tjokorda Agung of Ubud. Aside from being cradles of “Renaissance arts”, curiously Bali and Tuscany have many more unexpected shared legacies.

The 144 narrative paintings of the Kertha Gosa of Klungkung were last renovated in 1960. Almost fifty years later, the entire ceiling of the court of justice—an open pavilion in the ancient royal capital of Klungkung in Bali—appears gravely damaged. The seasonal monsoon rains and the hot humid climate have caused rapid deterioration of this remarkable pictorial representation of the Balinese “Inferno” and “Paradiso.”

This monument—known as the Kertha Gosa or “the place for justice”—is unique in Bali. It brings together all the most important elements of the living culture: daily customs, religion, oral tradition and literature, philosophy, history, art, architecture, and particularly the shadow-play, which is the most ancient form of “film.”

(Over the years, many Western artists have found inspiration in Balinese shadow play, theatre and music, such as: Antonin Artaud, Charlie Chaplin, Peter Brook, Robert Wilson, and Judy Taymor of the Lion King; as well as musicians Antoine Debussy, Steve Reich, and Phil Glass, etc.)

THE ARTISTS OF KAMASAN
The ceiling of the Kertha Gosa is painted in the traditional style known as wayang or “shadow figure.” If we were to cut out any figure and lifted it from the paintings, we would hold in our hand a puppet ready to perform in a shadow play, and the paintings would come alive with voices, music, and movements.

This wayang pictorial style took roots in Kamasan, a village two miles south of Klungkung towards the sea. This style dates back to the great Majopahit Hindu court that sailed from East Java to Bali in the 15th century, and settled in Gelgel and Kamasan, before moving to nearby Klungkung.

During the golden age of the Dewa Agung Renggong, all the ancient arts flourished, including the wayang style, which came to be known also as “Kamasan.” From that time on, generations of painters have continued to transmit this art so accurately that even today, many centuries later, it still reflects its ancient Hindu-Javanese origins.

THE RENOVATION
All the painters who participated to the last renovation in 1960 have since left on their own journey to the afterlife. However, before leaving, they passed the secrets of their art to their children and grandchildren.

The renovation will be assigned to a group of 22 artists—men and women with precise roles—all of whom have already been selected by the great master I Nyoman Mandra, whose masterpieces can be found in various museums around the world.
The renovation will begin in June 2009 and last six months.

THE BALINESE VIEW OF RESTORATION
The Balinese have always accepted the deterioration of art as an unquestioned fact of life. Artists and craftsmen create things of beauty, not with an eye to posterity or permanence but with the intention that they should serve the special function assigned to them.

As long as the tradition and religious beliefs are alive, the various crafts are alive as well. The Balinese look on the decay of a work of art as a natural process. When it is almost destroyed, they replace it with a new one. Within this frame of reference, then, the Balinese have little or no concept of restoration as such, but only of replacement. And in replacing a work of art, they always modify it—sometimes slightly, sometimes drastically. The island is very ancient, but there is nothing more transient than Balinese art. The longevity of any work is not as important as the intensity with which it was created and its proximity to the traditional ideal.
For instance, the religious offerings made of palm leaves hand-woven into tiny baskets—a true artistic marvel—last only two days before they dry up and disintegrate.
Balinese culture is the only one in the world capable to recreate its own art. In Bali, the act of “renovating” does not mean restoring but rather “replacing.” In fact, why should the Balinese want to restore a statue, a temple or a painting, if they still possess the talent and the capacity to re-create it? Things don’t last because of the climate and the vulnerable nature of the local materials like the porous volcanic stone, called paras. This means that what is lasting in Bali is not a work of art but rather the style in which it is created..

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Director RIRI RIZA will work with documentary filmmaker SRIKATON to create a film inspired by the pictorial journey to Hell and Heaven in the context of the renovation process. The ceiling paintings will come to life through the dynamism of Balinese creativity and the power of communal work.
Riza and Srikaton may even merge past and present through a fictional plot that will highlight the universality of “good and evil”, crime and punishment, the ancient struggle between justice and injustice in the face of the uncertain state of our world today.

The important themes in the film will be “community work” and the “reverence for ancestors.”
None of the artists who painted the ceiling in 1960 are alive today. However, the renovation cannot begin without a whole series of religious rituals. The living painters have to ask permission to their ancestors to take down their paintings as well as plead with them to fill them with inspiration to create a nearly exact replica—not an easy accomplishment!
A very special ancestor is I Gdé Modara. He lived in the 18th century and may well have been responsible for the first ceiling paintings of the Kertha Gosa, showing Bhima’s voyage to Swarga or the afterlife. Bapak Modara is revered almost like a god in Kamasan, and many painters claim to be related to him through family lineage.

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