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Preface

The title of this book succinctly intimates what it is all about—textiles in Bali. It is concerned pre-eminently with the manufacture, use and significance of various textiles which reflect the island's great cultural richness and diversity. We have never ceased to be fascinated by the way in which tangible objects here—namely cloths and textiles of every kind—can become infused with a life of their own. Nor have we ceased to be intrigued by a manner of handling such textiles which, while using their materiality as a medium, never makes it an end in itself. Nevertheless this book has material origins, without which it would never have come into being, namely the renowned collection of Balinese textiles in the Basel Museum of Ethnography, where two of the three authors are curators.

The genesis of this collection goes back to the years immediately preceding and following the Second World War, but there are certain pieces which date from the turn of the century. The criteria observed in its composition are not antiquity, (Western) aesthetics or sumptuous quality. Rather, since it is a collection based on scientific principles, importance has been attached primarily to obtaining a broad variety of examples of the textile craft, with reference to the materials and techniques employed as well as to their regional origins and to their functions and meanings.

For these collections we are indebted primarily to the Basel ethnologist Paul Wirz (1892-1955), the ethnologist and textile specialist Alfred Bühler (1900-1981), and the painter Theo Meier (1908-1982). This "Bali tradition" has continued to flourish at the Museum of Ethnography and the University of Basel down to today. The present volume is a testimony to this.

We have documented these textiles during several visits to the island, and have done so in terms of "textiles in Bali." Urs Ramseyer made a study of geringsing cloths such as are produced only in Tenganan, most of his work being done in 1972-74. All other textiles presented in this book were documented by the three authors between 1988 and 1990.

The book is divided into chapters according to the most important categories of textiles, although these admittedly make up only a cross-section—albeit a representative one—of what is actually a far richer textile life in Bali.

If, as previously mentioned, the collection of the Basel Museum of Ethnography forms the material basis for this book, it does so more especially in the sense that it was the starting point for intensive research. The book represents an initial summing up of this documentary work. It shows how textiles are embedded in the cultural matrix of Bali, and tells by whom and under what conditions textiles are made as well as when, where and how such cloths are used. It shows clearly how the weaving techniques, patterns, dyes and materials used form the "raw material" from which is spun a fine network of cultural significations and interrelated contexts of meaning. Our attempt is to direct the reader's attention from the material to the non-material—to the social and the semiotic. In other words, textiles are presented here as a cultural "language," to the understanding and interpretation of which we have addressed our special attention.

Many of the textiles are works of art in their own right. However, we have refrained from a contemplation of their aesthetics since this would inevitably involve alien, non-Balinese criteria. It is therefore left- to the reader—if he will—to proceed to an aesthetic assessment of the textiles; no hierarchy of values is proposed.

Precisely because of the importance of textiles in Bali, especially in rituals of all kinds, the book was written not only for textile devotees and readers interested in Bali but also for the people of Bali itself. There is no other reference work covering the wealth of their textiles. Moreover, the indigenous textile handicrafts of this island find themselves coming under severe pressure from new and differently—mainly commercially—oriented values, as it has become a holiday paradise for visitors from faraway. The upshot is that the diversity of traditional textiles has begun to diminish and a great deal has already fallen into oblivion. At the same time, however, the textile crafts have received a new impetus and—with the creativity characteristic of Bali—have struck out along novel lines, with astonishing and compelling results.

The documentary work underlying the book has been rendered possible by two factors: support by institutions in Switzerland (Swiss National Fund, Department of Education and Culture of the Canton of Basel City, Voluntary Academic Association) and in Indonesia which made possible our journey and stay, and the people of Bali who met us with never-failing cordiality, allowed us to share their life, and answered all our questions with great patience.

Our gratitude to our friends in Belayu, Beratan, Intaran and Sanur, Kerambitan, Kusamba, Legian, Sidemen, Tenganan and in Nusa Penida is more than we can express with this book.

—B, Hauser-Schdublin

—M. L. Nahholz-Kartaschoff

Sanur, November 1990

Figure 1.1: For an annual temple festival the central shrine, representing a holy mountain, is decorated all over a univers arrayed Sanur.