Bali an adventure in cultural ecology

INTRODUCTION TO THE WEB EDITION OF THE CATALOGUE BALI In 1972, two young anthropologists who studied art and history in Bali brought art works to the Netherlands for a special exhibition of contemporary traditional paintings from the Klungkung region (a former kingdom on Bali).

Their aim was to present this fast vanishing art to the West and more particular to the Tropenmuseum (The Royal Tropical Institute) in Amsterdam. Amsterdam was the capital of the former Dutch colony of the East Indies and the museum already had similar works of this art in its collection, but more importantly had expertise to analyse and value this collection.

Kosmos was very happy to host the main art works of this special collection and received many visitors from all over the World.

At the end of the exhibition, all art works were sold: to the Tropenmuseum. The museum obtained a first hand collection, that may have been the last available ever.

Looking back to the days of this exhibition, we can see that there was a great interest in old – new religions and its expressions. Amsterdam was a real station for young people traveling from West to East and vice versa. And with these travelers came a variety of artifacts of foreign and intriguing cultures, soon followed by teachers, artists and authors representing these living and sometimes dying cultures.

For us this was of an unknown richness and splendor, for a good part fueled by our own romanticism. But it also became clear that old traditions can only stay alive when people continue to study and practice its teachings.

And so Kosmos became a stage where one could find all kinds of esoteric sciences, spiritual art and classes, seminars and schools for yoga, martial arts, natural healing and midwifery, zen, astrology, Tibetan Buddhism and much more, accompanied by a health food restaurant, a specialised library and bookstore, and a tearoom and sauna for relaxation.

In this environment, the Bali exhibition flourished: showing several thousand years of traditional Hindu stories in colorful paintings representing their cosmology.

Eckart Dissen, 2014 See for other publications about the Kosmos Center (1969-1992) in Amsterdam: http://issuu.com/kosmos.nederland

Bali Klungkung Royal Palace