documenta fifteen in Kassel

18 June 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

© documenta-fifteen.de

© documenta-fifteen.de

documenta is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultural Show) which took place in Kassel at that time. It was an attempt to bring Germany up to speed with modern art, both banishing and repressing the cultural darkness of Nazism. This first documenta featured many artists who are generally considered to have had a significant influence on modern art (such as Picasso and Kandinsky). The more recent documentas feature art from all continents; nonetheless most of it is site-specific. The Indonesian art collective ruangrupa serves as documenta fifteen‘s artistic director. documenta fifteen is taking place at 32 locations in Kassel, including the Fridericianum, with the main focus on the perspectives of the “Global South“.   read more…

Theme Week Indonesia – Bali

25 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  16 minutes

Nusa Lembongan - Mushroom Beach © San Andreas/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nusa Lembongan – Mushroom Beach © San Andreas/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bali is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Located east of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. The provincial capital, Denpasar, is the most populous city in the Lesser Sunda Islands and the second largest, after Makassar, in Eastern Indonesia. Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in Indonesia, with 83.5% of the population adhering to Balinese Hinduism.   read more…

Theme Week Indonesia – Sumatra

24 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Berbak National Park © cifor.org - James Maiden/cc-by-sa-2.0

Berbak National Park © cifor.org – James Maiden/cc-by-sa-2.0

Sumatra is a large island in western Indonesia that is part of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island that is located entirely in Indonesia (after Borneo, which is shared between Indonesia and other countries) and the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km² (not including adjacent islands such as the Riau Islands and Bangka Belitung Islands). The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004. The 25,951 km² area of the World Heritage Site includes the National Parks Gunung Leuser, Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan.   read more…

Theme Week Indonesia – Java

23 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Barakuda Beach in Karimun © Midori/cc-by-3.0

Barakuda Beach in Karimun © Midori/cc-by-3.0

Java is bordered by the Indian Ocean on the south and the Java Sea on the north. With a population of over 141 million (Java only) or 145 million (including the inhabitants of its surrounding islands), Java is the home to 56.7 percent of the Indonesian population and is the world’s most populous island. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is located on its northwestern coast. Much of Indonesian history took place on Java. It was the center of powerful Hindu-Buddhist empires, the Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies. Java was also the center of the Indonesian struggle for independence during the 1930s and 1940s. Java dominates Indonesia politically, economically and culturally. Four of Indonesia’s eight UNESCO world heritage sites are located in Java: Ujung Kulon National Park, Borobudur Temple, Prambanan Temple, and Sangiran Early Man Site.   read more…

Theme Week Indonesia – Kalimantan on Borneo

22 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  14 minutes

Banjarmasin Floating Market © Muhammad Haris/cc-by-sa-4.0

Banjarmasin Floating Market © Muhammad Haris/cc-by-sa-4.0

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra. The island is politically divided among three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory (East, South, West, North and Central Kalimantan, Kalimantan). In the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on a small island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, comprises about 1% of Borneo’s land area. A little more than half of the island is in the Northern Hemisphere including Brunei and the Malaysian portion, while the Indonesian portion spans both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The largest Indonesian cities on Borneo are: Samarinda, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, Pontianak, Palangka Raya, Banjarbaru, Tarakan, Singkawang, and Bontang. Borneo is home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world.   read more…

Theme Week Indonesia – Sulawesi

21 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

West Beach in Bira © Kondephy/cc-by-sa-4.0

West Beach in Bira © Kondephy/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes, is one of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world’s eleventh-largest island, situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. Within Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger populations.   read more…

Theme Week Indonesia

20 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  15 minutes

Borobudur, the world's largest Buddist temple © Gunawan Kartapranata/cc-by-sa-3.0

Borobudur, the world’s largest Buddist temple © Gunawan Kartapranata/cc-by-sa-3.0

Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world’s largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands, and at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles), the 14th largest by land area and the 7th largest in combined sea and land area. With over 261 million people, it is the world’s 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world’s most populous island, contains more than half of the country’s population.   read more…

Jakarta in Indonesia

4 October 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  32 minutes

Jalan Jenderal Sudirman © Ecal saputra/cc-by-sa-4.0

Jalan Jenderal Sudirman © Ecal saputra/cc-by-sa-4.0

Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, is the capital and most populous city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the world’s most populous island of Java, the city is the center of economics, culture and politics of Indonesia, with a population of 10.2 million. Greater Jakarta metropolitan area, which is known as Jabodetabek (a name formed by combining the initial syllables of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi), is the second largest urban agglomeration in the world, with a population of 30.4 million inhabitants. Jakarta’s business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from all over Indonesian archipelago, making the city a melting pot of many communities and cultures. Established in the fourth century as Sunda Kelapa, the city became an important trading port for the Kingdom of Sunda. It was the de facto capital of the Dutch East Indies (Dutch East India Company), which was known as Batavia at that time. As the economic and political capital of Indonesia with so many different languages and ethnic groups, it is difficult to describe or define a common culture for Jakarta, as the city attracts many native immigrants, from the vast and diverse Indonesian archipelago, who also bring their various languages, dialects, foods (Indonesian cuisine and Betawi cuisine) and customs.This diversity of origins and languages leads to differences in regard to religion, traditions and linguistic and all in all culture. However ethnic Betawi are considered as the indigenous people of Jakarta. Jakarta consists of five Kota Administratif (Administrative city/municipality), each headed by a mayor – and a Kabupaten Administratif (Administrative regency). Each city and regency again is divided into districts/Kecamatan. The administrative cities/municipalities of Jakarta are:   read more…

Nusa Lembongan in Indonesia

18 September 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Mushroom Beach © fotopedia.com - Jean-Marie Hullot/cc-by-sa-3.0

Mushroom Beach © fotopedia.com – Jean-Marie Hullot/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nusa Lembongan is an island located southeast of Bali in Indonesia. It is part of a group of three islands that make up the Nusa Penida district, of which it is the most famous. This island group in turn is part of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Administratively, the island is part of a subdistrict of Klungkung Regency. Nusa Lembongan is one of three small offshore islands which make up a sub-regency of Klungkung, the others being: Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan. Nusa Lembongan has the vast majority of the tourist infrastructure within the sub-regency and is a popular side destination for visitors to mainland Bali.   read more…

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