In the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden the exhibition Bali – Welcome to Paradise can be viewed up to and including May 26, 2019.Tinker imagineers from Utrecht made the design for an exhibition that shows the beloved holiday resort, but also the other side of the paradise. In addition to the visible world of sparkling white beaches, picturesque rice fields and luxury hotels, the visitor discovers how important the invisible, spiritual world for the Balinese is. Although the Indonesian island is under pressure of the ever-growing mass tourism, the Balinese culture is still alive and kicking.
Discover the true Bali
The exhibition takes you on a journey through Bali: from the arrival on the beach you are making a tour through the interior and across the market. After trips to the colonial past and classical and contemporary Balinese art, you enter a world that remains hidden for most tourists. The highlights of the exhibition are the visit to a temple festival and an introduction to the rituals around life and death that play an important role in the lives of every Balinese person.
In the seven colorful thematic areas you can watch a special collection and via multimedia meetings you can also meet various islanders. Meet market sellers, find out how the Hindu priest preserves the traditions and rituals, and why the Balinese activist artist Made Bayak raises the issue of plastic waste. You can also listen to a resident who is working in the tourist industry which and who sees a future for the island in which paddy fields are supplanted by hotels. Start your visit as a curious tourist and leave the museum with new insights and a more nuanced image of Bali.
Exhibition ‘Bali – Welcome to Paradise’
Museum Volkenkunde Leiden
up to and including May 26, 2019
www.volkenkunde.nl
Photos: Mike Bink, Kirsten van Santen