Visual arts
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Encompassing sculpture and carving, painting, textile design, beadwork, basketry, and other forms, the visual arts of Indonesia are as abundant as they are diverse. Some of these forms have been shaped by ancient cultures of Asia, including those of late Zhou dynasty China (12th–3rd centuries bce) and of Dong Son Indochina (3rd century bce). Others have drawn influences from more-recent cultural contacts. Such interaction, combined with local artistic and aesthetic sensibilities, has produced a spectrum of styles that are unique to the various peoples and regions of the country.
Carving and painting are among the best known of Indonesia’s visual art traditions. Bali long has been of special interest culturally because it has maintained Hindu traditions for centuries within a predominantly Muslim environment. Carvings are visible at nearly every turn; images depicting natural and supernatural entities from Hindu and indigenous traditions adorn temple entrances, animate masked-dance and puppet performances, overlook the grounds of offices and homes, and populate the shelves and walls of galleries in the towns and cities. In Java the leather puppets for wayang kulit performances are fastidiously carved and painted so as to cast a lightly tinted, lacelike shadow when held against an illuminated screen. In the Dayak villages of Kalimantan some of the important structures are elaborately and colourfully decorated with dense patterns of intertwined curls. Since the late 20th century, the carved wooden shields, statues, paddles, and drums of the Asmat people in the interior of western New Guinea have gained international recognition.
Indonesia also has an especially rich and varied tradition of textile design. Batik making, practiced almost exclusively on Java, involves a complex wax-resistance process in which all parts of a cloth that are not to be dyed are coated on both sides with wax before the cloth is dipped into the dye. Using a penlike wax holder called a canting, it is possible to create intricate designs. It is a time-consuming process, and batik fabrics that are patterned entirely by hand take several weeks to complete. To speed up the process and lower the cost, a copper stamp (cap) may be used in lieu of the canting to apply the wax. Large-scale production of such stamped batik has become an economically viable business.
On woven fabric, which is made everywhere from Sumatra through the eastern islands, the most characteristic element is the key-shaped figure combined with other geometric figures. The rhombus (an equilateral parallelogram usually having oblique angles) frequently occurs together with straight lines, equilateral triangles, squares, or circles, which permit an enormous number of variations, including stylized representations of human beings and animals. Each island or region has its characteristic patterns, which serve to identify the area in which the cloth is made.
The art of weaving is highly developed. It includes the famous ikat method, in which the thread is dyed selectively before weaving by binding fibres around groups of threads so that they will not take up colour when the thread is dipped in the dyebath. This process may be applied to the warp (foundation threads running lengthwise), which is most common and is found in Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sumba. Weft (threads running widthwise) ikat is found mainly in south Sumatra, and the complex process of double ikat is still carried on in Tenganan in Bali, where such cloth has great ceremonial significance.
Cultural institutions
Although the arts of Indonesia are not—and likely cannot be—documented and preserved exhaustively, a number of museums house notable collections. The Indonesian National Museum in Jakarta not only possesses collections of prehistoric and contemporary arts and artifacts from Indonesia, including textiles, stamps, sculptures, bronzework, and maps, but also contains a major collection of ancient Chinese ceramics. The Wayang Museum, also in Jakarta, contains important collections that chronicle the history and development of the country’s traditions of puppet theatre. Other museums documenting regional culture have been established in major cities (often the provincial capitals) throughout the country.
The Beautiful Indonesia in Miniature Park (Taman Mini Indonesia Indah; “Taman Mini”), in Jakarta, is a “living museum” that highlights the current diversity of Indonesia’s peoples and lifestyles. The park contains furnished and decorated replicas of houses of various ethnic groups in Indonesia; each of these structures is staffed with appropriately costumed “inhabitants.” Completed in 1975, Taman Mini was one of the first such institutions in the region; in subsequent decades similar museums were established in other parts of Indonesia, as well as in other countries of Asia.
An important arts venue in Jakarta, established by the municipal government in 1968, is Ismail Marzuki Park (Taman Ismail Marzuki; TIM), named after a prominent Jakarta-born composer. The centre has generated a fresh approach to both tradition and modernism. While offering regular performances of local and regional arts, TIM also produces modernist theatrical works that typically fuse Indonesian and international idioms. In 1987 the Indonesian government completed the renovation of colonial Schouwburg Weltevreden (1821) theatre to become the Jakarta Arts Building (Gedung Kesenian Jakarta); this institution also hosts major musical and theatrical productions from across the globe. Both institutions sponsor an array of international festivals featuring music, dance, film, spoken word, and other arts.
Sports and recreation
Football (soccer) is among the most popular team sports in Indonesia. Open fields with two goals are common sights across the country, and even in big cities children and other football enthusiasts find space to play. Indonesia has won medals at several Southeast Asian Games.
Many of the traditional sports of the archipelago are forms of martial arts. Pencak silat, which is especially popular on Java and West Sumatra, features weapons, such as knives and sticks. In the Tana Toraja region of South Sulawesi, sisemba is a handless form of combat, in which battlers attempt to kick their opponent into submission. Most spectator sports centre around gambling, and cockfighting is common on Bali and Kalimantan. Madura is known for its bull racing.
Indonesia formed an Olympic committee in 1946 and debuted at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the country won its first medal, a silver in archery. Badminton, the national passion of Indonesia, was introduced as an Olympic sport at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, and the country dominated the events, capturing five medals, including two golds. The gold medals were won by Alan Budi Kusuma and Susi Susanti.
Media and publishing
Dozens of daily newspapers circulate in Indonesia, primarily in Java and Sumatra. Most are published in Indonesian, but there are also a few in the English language. Among the dailies with the widest readership are Pos Kota (“The City Post”), out of Jakarta, Suara Merdeka (“Voice of Freedom”), out of Semarang, and Sinar Indonesia Baru (“Ray of a New Indonesia”), out of Medan. Since the relaxation of government regulations at the end of the 20th century, most major Indonesian newspapers have been accessible through the Internet. The government publishing house, Balai Pustaka, is in Jakarta; numerous private publishers also operate in Jakarta, as well as in other large cities, mainly on Java.
Broadcasting is regulated by the Directorate-General of Radio, Television, and Film in Jakarta. Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) and Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI), the country’s largest radio and television networks, were government-owned until 2000, when they were passed into public hands. Private television stations have been permitted to operate since the late 20th century, and their number has grown rapidly.
James F. McDivitt Thomas R. Leinbach Goenawan Susatyo Mohamad