bali 29 neka art museum3
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http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/michaelasanda-1556756-bali29-neka-art-museum3/
29
Suteja Neka
Founder and Director Neka Art
Museum Ubud - Bali
The Neka Art Museum was
opened in 1982 and is
named after a Balinese
teacher Suteja Neka who
collected paintings as a
means of artistic
documentation. Nowadays
the museum has a great
selection of works from many
famous Balinese artists and
expats who have lived here
and influenced local artists.
Tumpek Landep is a special day for Balinese Hindus, when offerings are presented to metal tools and iron
objects, particularly to sharp weapons.
On this day, Balinese Hindus remove their family krises (heirloom knives) from their shrines and wash them with a mixture of
holy water and fragrant perfume before adorning them with fresh coconut leaves and flowers. The family then presents
offerings in front of the heirloom before partaking in a joint prayer. The ceremony usually takes place at the family shrine.
UNESCO has fortified Indonesian keris (a wavy-bladed ceremonial dagger), including Balinese
keris, as a masterpiece of cultural heritage that belongs to the world, that must be preserved (Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity).
“The world has admitted the existence of Indonesian keris and gives international appreciation. That
encourages us to collect hundreds of inherited keris,” said Pande Wayan Suteja, the founder and
manager of Neka Museum at Artist Village Ubud,
Neka Art Museum in Ubud
established for more than 25
years is probably the best
place in Bali to see
contemporary and recent
Balinese art.
In 2007 a new permanent
display of keris was opened at
this museum. This display of
keris is the best collection of
contemporary keris art I have
seen. Anybody who has any
doubts about the vitality of
modern keris art and its place
in Indonesian culture only
need visit this wonderful
museum collection to have
any doubts dispelled.
(http://www.kerisattosanaji.co
m/index.html)
The kris blade is never pulled out horizontally. Hold
the handle with the left hand, raise the scabbard
vertically and pull the scabbard from the blade with
the right hand to show respect. Kris blades can
only be made by men of the Pande caste, who
understand the alchemy of metals.
The blade is made of layers of iron and nickel which is
heated, folded together and then beaten to create unique
patterns. The wavy blade of the kris may have between 3
and 35 curves, always an odd number, and represents a
serpent at rest. The curved kris blade was designed to
do maximum physical damage during warfare.
To check whether the energy of a kris is
appropriate for a new owner, the man measures
four finger widths along the blade; in a perfect
match, there will be no space left over.
Founder of Neka Art Museum, Pande Wayan Suteja
Neka poses with the Keris Bali Bersejarah, a
perennial book on Balinese historical krises he co-
authored with Basuki Teguh Yuwono.
Keris Bali Bersejarah, at 321 pages, is a visual tour
de force and revealing narrative on every
conceivable aspect of Balinese krises. The book is
the clearest symbol of Neka‟s acceptance of his new
role as guardian of a sacred tradition. It took Neka
and another kris aficionado, Basuki Teguh
Yuwono, almost three years to write the book.
Whether created by human
hands or of supernatural
origin, keris are believed to be
physical manifestations of
invisible forces. Forged in fire
but symbolic of water, a keris
represents a powerful union of
cosmic complementary forces.
A distinctive feature of many
keris is their odd-numbers of
curves, but they also have
straight blades. Keris are like
naga, which are associated with
irrigation
canals, rivers, springs, wells, sp
outs, waterfalls and rainbows.
Some keris have a naga or
serpent head carved near its
base with the body and tail
following the curves of the
blade to the tip. A wavy keris is
a naga in motion, aggressive
and alive; a straight blade is
one at rest, its power dormant
but ready to come into action.
Blawong
The blawong or blawongan is a wall plaque
that is used to display akeris upon a wall. It is
usually carved with abstract floral designs, or
withwayang or other figures. The keris that is
usually kept in a blawongan is onewith some
talismanic attribute.
Antique blawong of village style showing a wayang
character, possibly Arjuna (Tosanaji Keris collection)
The stand is called ploncon, they are the
traditional form of keris stand used to both
store and exhibit keris. They have a dragon
at each end supporting a cross bar with holes
in it to accept the keris. (Tosanaji Keris
collection)
A village style blawong showing a wayang
character, Petruk (Tosanaji Keris collection) and a
blawong showing a barong mask
Suteja Neka ritually hammers a new keris being made
for the Pura Pande blacksmith clan temple in Peliatan
in June 2006
Tumpek Landep
is the day when
Balinese prays to
the God of
Heirlooms as
symbol asking for
a sharper mind, in
accordance to
spirituality and
mentality.
This holyday is devoted to Sang Hyang Pasupati, the God of Heirlooms. On this day
Balinese symbolically put the offerings and the prays for metallic equipment, such as
machinery, vehicles, kitchen equipment, and others, on a ceremony that takes place
inside the house, home yard, and temple.
Weapons, such as traditional
krisses, guns, spears, and others, and
metallic equipment are symbolically
worshiped in order that it will bring safety
and fortune to the owner and the user.
Tumpek Landep is basically held to
sharpen mind, to be implemented to do
goodness, because Balinese believe that
the highest level and the greatest weapon
of human being is their mind, which can
bring someone to a better life. And by
sharpen the mind, Balinese hopes that it
will brings more intelligence, to face and
overcome the enemy from inside human‟s
body, such as poverty, stupidity, and many
problems in life.
In Bali, an heirloom keris and other such metal objects are
presented offerings every 210 days on the day called
Tumpek Landep, which means „sharp‟. They are cleaned,
displayed in temple shrines, and presented with incense,
holy water, and red-colored food and flowers to honor Hindu
god of fire Brahma. This is followed by prayers for a sharp
mind to Sanghyang Pasupati, the deity who empowers
sacred objects and defeats ignorance.
The keris is an important family possession
and considered to be an ancestral deity, as
weapons often play critical roles in the rise
and fall of families and fortunes in history.
Heirloom keris have proper names which
describe their power: Ki Sudamala is
Venerable Exorcist and repels negative
forces, Ki Baju Rante is Venerable Coat of
Armor and spiritually protects one wearing it.
Text & pictures: Tosanaji Keris & Internet
Copyright: All the images belong to their authors
Arangement: Sanda Foişoreanu
www.slideshare.net/michaelasanda
Sound: Bali World Music, Gus Teja, Hero