Java art as new myth translated by Andrée Coconnier. 

 

Java, a faraway place at the crossing of chance and coincidences. Where the earth and the sky bump and blaze up. That island is a continent, both immense and fragile. Time does not exist there, it took a fancy to space.

They act together to define an art of living and culture, making them rich and mysterious. In November and December 2011, I crossed the Equator to travel down to the depths of my beliefs. A complete upset around an artistic project launched by Julien Friedler: the Forest of Souls.

 

That project is mostly articulated around the necessary meeting of other peo- ple, the encounter between the Other and myself. Of course, meetings in that faraway land have another form and unfold on a different tempo.

From Jakarta to Yogyakarta, from congested ring roads to Merapi heights, you must not get out of breath. Art is mixed with shamanism, religion, cooking... Art is in turn magic, craftsmanship, invention, environment. It is continuously escaping to reappear with another mask. Might it be a myth? A legend starting again and again? 

 

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