Ubud: Masks and Puppets
In Bali, on the outskirts of Ubud, there is a most remarkable museum: the Setia Darma House of Masks and Puppets.
On arriving at the beautiful estate, it’s not immediately clear where to start. A guy comes over, and offers to show us around. It seems like he’s the caretaker, though his role isn’t exactly clear.
He takes us on the most incredible journey, with the most incredible stories, all told with this low-key, extremely expansive understanding and curiosity for all aspects of performance – and what performance does.
The Project
The owner, a businessman from Java, has taken it on himself to preserve the traditional masks from the village performances in his own island. This grew to include other Islands in Indonesia.
Then, like collections do, it grew beyond Indonesian masks – Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, African, Northern and Southern European, and South American masks are all represented here; a global array of faces worn on top of faces, for all manner of performances, celebrations and rituals.
Many traditions, but, ultimately representing several general areas of concern – protecting people, culture and mythogenesis; bringing about good harvests or hunting; maintaining rapport or protection with the spirit world; popular entertainment with a throughline of cultural instruction and values. Core human concerns.
The scope of the mission – the preservation of a myriad of old methods of cultural storytelling, performance and festival is utterly inspiring – as is its masterful execution.
The best thing about the place is the lack of written explanation – the caretaker weaves explanations and examples about some of the many exhibits into his narrative, though for the rest, we’re left to make up our own minds about what things are, or just wonder. It’s remarkable how refreshing this is.
The empty eyes of the masks ask a very simple question, unspoken but clear:
“What story speaks through you? Or are you just another hungry ghost?”
The Puppets
In addition to masks, the museum has a collection of thousands of puppets. The core of the collection – that we see, at least – is of the traditional Indonesian shadow puppets.
In Indonesia, the art form of shadow puppetry has been an important channel of communication and news, as well as instruction in the myths and cultural stories. With the widespread availability of television, internet and mobile phones, the instances of traveling puppeteers delivering public health announcements or political commentary has decreased, but they still broadcast performances on state television ,and there are still frequent performances.
As with the other exhibits, this one has also grown – a world of puppets are on display, showing dazzling variation within a singular field of human activity.
The Buildings
All of the masks and puppets are housed in traditional buildings disassembled from Java, transported and reconstructed on the site.
Apparently, urban development, intensification and the desire for The New is pushing out these intricately-carved masterpieces. The old stuff is out of favour, so the museum finds them, buys them, and brings them here.
Among the many surprises Bali has is how enveloping the natural landscape is – though the place is only 20 years or so old, it looks as though the estate at the edge of the forest has been there for centuries. The air here is thick and sweet with spirit and story.
The location itself is a massive testament and masterclass case study in effective cultural preservation and transmission.
This remarkable place is holy ground – a deeply organic storehouse for deceptions that teach; barriers purposely put up to mediate and connect.