National M Day

I’m declaring today as National M Day. Why? Because we went to visit National Museum, National Monument and National Masjid. It was a refreshing and entertaining way to spend the weekend before greeting Monday.

National Museum

I've always wanted to visit the museums in Jakarta, and finally today I had the chance. My first stop was National Museum. There are two events being held at the museum: an exhibition of Portuguese culture and a solo exhibition by Cai Zhisong, a Chinese artist. I find the latter more inspiring.

The Portuguese exhibition focuses on influences of Portuguese culture on other countries. The most noticeable perhaps on architecture. Taman Sari in Yogyakarta is a good example.

In overall the Portuguese exhibition really impressed me. It gives the feeling of majesty, power and influence. On the other hand, the other exhibition, Cai Zhisong's, shows humility, humbleness and submission.

Cai Zhisong’s solo exhibition really touched me. At first I was stunned by the facial expressions depicted in his art. They show fright, surrender, humbleness (and arousal?). There was one artwork showing a more cheerful expression, I don't know what it means. But all of them look depressing. And the ambient sounds played in the background even gave me goose bumps.

-- Picture on the right side: This is the artwork that I like the most: A knight titled Ode to Motherland Number 4. It looks so manly and not as depressing compared with the other ode to motherland series. Oh, i didn't really touch it, I'm afraid I might damage it. --

For me, the interesting part of it is when I read the artist’s writings displayed beside his art works. He stated that he once thought that art was the most important thing in life but later as he grew up he did realize that it was life itself that matters and the thought he had before was naïve. I believe that all of us think that way when we were young. Work, family, money, hobbies are the things you probably have in mind as important. To feel alive. Ajahn Brahmn has a good analogy in his book that goes together with the artist’s writing. “We want to have a cup of tea then we have tea ritual. Sometimes we forget to enjoy the tea because we focus on the ritual too much.”

The expression that bothers me in the beginning then becomes clear. He wants to show submission to life. Beautiful! Beautiful sorrow if I might add.

National Monument and Masjid

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. Nobody wants to miss that, no? I do love park so from the museum we head to National Monument (Monas). My friend wants to take a few good shots using her new camera, so we head to top f the monument. Too bad it is closed when we arrive. So, we just take a walk and some pictures while looking for bicycle for rent. Every time we ask people where the rent booth is, they show different direction. Finally, we cannot find one. So we decide to get bajaj to take us to Istiqlal, the national masjid.

When I am about to start praying I hear the bell ringing from Cathedral, church across to the masjid. Church bell before a pray, what a beautiful but weird mixture!

(Jun’11. We got Tekko for dinner, a nice place for a vegetarian because they have many options for us. Do try Jamur Crispy Penyet, Terong Penyet and Tumis Kucai. Thanks to Adit for editing.)