In the late 1920s, researchers and collectors captured Bali's ceremonies, rituals, gamelan orchestras, and everyday life. They pressed recordings into shellac and stored it all in archives abroad. For decades, this material remained largely inaccessible to the island it belonged to. Arsip Bali 1928 has spent years repatriating it from collections across Europe and the US, restoring it, and returning it home.
Bali 1928: Live Score Cinema resurfaces that footage every month through the end of 2026 — rare archival film with a live score and live narration, each edition a meeting of past and present.
In Bali, cloth is more than fabric — it is a bridge between sekala and niskala, the seen and the unseen. Textiles such as bebali and cepuk are woven into daily offerings, rituals, and ceremonies, carrying stories of spirituality, community, and place.
For this upcoming Feature Friday, we invite you to explore how Balinese cloth traditions continue to hold cultural, spiritual, and communal life together.
An invitation to join us to step into truly magical spaces from 5-7 June 2026! Make sure you’re in Ubud for the fifth edition of Ubud Open Studios to experience the creative pulse of Ubud, where more than 60 local and international artists, designers, and creatives open their doors, inviting you into the intimate spaces where imagination takes shape.
From 13–17 August 2026, Jia CURATED returns to Bali, set within a new beachfront location, marking a bold new chapter for the annual immersive event dedicated to craft, design, and culture. The 2026 edition is presented under the theme Nature Weave, grounding the programme in an exploration of the relationship between nature, material, and making.
The edition builds on its established foundation, with returning programmes expanded in scope and depth—refining existing formats into a more dynamic 2.0 experience. Across exhibitions, dialogues, and community-driven activations, the programme offers richer content, broader participation, and more meaningful engagement.
Set against the backdrop of Osaka Castle, Radit Mahindro from Potato Head will be hosting a session exploring the musical dialogue between Bali and Japan, while spotlighting the hybrid crossovers that link these sounds to other regions. We’ll listen to how the rhythms of Balinese gamelan, rindik, jegog, and kecak were woven into the work of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Haruomi Hosono, and even merged with Japanese noh in the soundscape of iconic anime Akira, tracing how these traditions travel beyond borders and shift into new forms.
Setia Cap Cili and Bumi Kinar Ubud present an exploratory limited-edition handwoven exhibition: 'CACANGKAJA
The Soul under the Oath', under the creative direction of Idon Pande.
Anchored in the Dalem Balingkang narrative, the exhibition reinterprets the figure of Kang Cing Wei, the consort of Sri Aji Jaya Pangus, as a figure shaped collectively by social structures, gender relations, power, and cultural encounter. The presentation brings together seven limited-edition handwoven art pieces alongside collaborative photography by William Giasi, installations, and interdisciplinary pieces.
Pengrupukan is a vibrant, loud, and dramatic Balinese ritual held on the eve of Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence. It occurs on the afternoon and evening before the new moon of the spring equinox, marking the end of the old year and the transition into a new spiritual year.
It is most famous for the Ogoh-Ogoh parade, where giant, terrifying statues representing evil spirits and negative energy are paraded through the streets to the sound of, often, raucous music before being burned.
he core purpose is to chase away Bhuta Kala (malevolent spirits/forces) and Adharma (evil) that exist in the universe and within humans.
Nyepi is the Balinese 'Day of Silence' marking the Saka New Year. It is a 24-hour period of total stillness—no working, traveling, lighting fires, or noise—dedicated for self-reflection, spiritual purification, and cleansing negative energy to start the new year with a pure heart. It also allows the island to rest and restore environmental balance.
This traveling mini-festival across Southeast Asia—initiated by the Goethe-Institut in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines—offers a cross-cultural dialogue between artists and local communities. It features a series of exhibitions, performances, workshops, film screenings, and other satellite programs collaboratively curated alongside two local curators, Savitri Sastrawan and Wayan Sumahardika.
Explore stunning works by well-known artists and local communities that reveal the rich meaning behind Bali’s sacred Nyepi traditions. Whether you’re seeking inspiration, cultural insights, or a peaceful moments surrounded by beauty, the spirit of KASANGA awaits.
