Schedule October 2012

There are always things that appear on the horizon. As we move towards them, some disappear while others take on more definite form. During the course of the past few months, I have kept tabs on a very dynamic horizon. Yesterday I finally booked my ticket to Indonesia in the expectation that some things will come to pass. Now I feel confident enough to share some things with the world. This is part of my schedule for the next month:

 27 September: Arrival in Jakarta

•    I hope to meet with the designer of my little book about 'Rangsa ni Tonun', the film that I made with MJA Nashir about Batak weaving techniques. The film will be shown in the Tribal Art Fair in Amsterdam on 27 October, and hopefully we will get the book done on time to send some printed copies to Amsterdam to accompany the film.
•   I also plan to go to Jakarta's Textile Museum to initiate the first stage of setting up our exhibition about J.E. Jasper and Mas Pirngadie. Jasper was a colonial civil servant and Pirngadie was a Javanese artist. In 1912, they published a book together entited De Weefkunst (The Weaving Arts), the first detailed survey of weaving in the Indonesian archipelago. It is 100 years later, and I am gratified that the Textile Museum agreed to allow me (together with MJA Nashir and Pang warman) to celebrate this anniversary of the appearance of the book. We have been working hard on this project for many months.

1 October: Pulang kampung in Pekalongan

•    Participate in a 'Pulang Kampung' event in Museum Batik in Pekalongan. My dear friend, Arif Dirhamzah of the Pekalongan Heritage Society, has organized this around a gift, as exciting as it is unexpected, from Stephanie Belfrage in Australia. Inspired by our Pulang Kampung expedition, she wishes to give her beautiful textile collection back to Indonesia (see my blog of  February 25, 2012). There are four batik textiles in that collection that I am giving to the Heritage Society, which, in turn, will give them to the Museum. This is a very special new form of Pulang Kampung and I look forward to the event tremendously.

2 October: National Batik Day in Indonesia

•    We will celebrate the day with a discussion at the University of Pekalongan coordinated by Pak Zahir who is highly knowledgeable about local batik traditions.

3 October: Opening of the annual Nusantara Batik Market (Pekan Batik Nusantara)

•    We will participate in this market and then head back to Jakarta by train.

9-11 October: Bandar Lampung

•     I look forward to participating in a conference on Indonesian textiles together with the staff of the Textile Museum in Jakarta and sharing information about our exhibition in Jakarta.
•   I hope that Lasma Sitanggang will be able to join us to take in the workshop on the care of textiles. (see my blog of 31 October last year)

12 - 15 October: Jakarta

•    Set up the exhibition on Jasper and Pirngadie's De Weefkunst in the Textile Museum

 16 October: Exhibition, Textile Museum

•   Opening of 100 years De Weefkunst in Jakarta's Textile Museum
•   The opening will be followed by a discussion about the exhibition

 27 October: Tribal Art Fair, Amsterdam

• MJA Nashir and I are proud and privileged that our film, Rangsa ni Tonun will be shown.