Gorrilaz in Bali

Urbanite Asia organized this years Embassy Club’s Playground Festival. This is the most celebrated dance/indie music festival in Indonesia. For the past four years it has been held in Jakarta however this year it was put on in Southern Bali at  the amazing venue Garuda Wisnu Kencana. This place is a massive park with an outdoor stage encircled by large stone cliffs. Definitely my favorite outdoor concert venue so far. 

The show was great. Gorillaz Sound System consists of a DJ, a percussionist, a drummer and a visual director. The whole concept of the virtual band revolves around a fictional animated universe displayed on huge screens and gigantic natural limestones at the epic Garuda Wisnu Kencana venue.

Sadly this could be the final show where you’ll see 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodles, and Russel Hobbs together live as there’s been talk of killing off the characters. To top it all off, the event also featured a Silent Disco area with 500 wireless headphones with selector switches to three different DJs playing simultaneously. The headphones feature three different light colors indicating which DJ you and your buddies are listening to. Additionally, other top DJs performed on stage before the Gorrillaz came out at midnight. These DJ's included the breakbeat mastery of James Zabiela, George Fitzgerald’s electronica, Marc Roberts’ eclectic style and local favorites: Mahesa Utara and Trigg*r Production’s DJ Mikey Moran and Stan.

Nirvana Batik Courses

This afternoon I was looking through design blogs working on my newest pinterest board when I stumbled on a photo I knew was taken in Bali. The stone, the batik, the stormy beach sky all looked so Bali. After looking into the photo I discovered the design team behind the fabric was an American couple who moved with their 2 children to Bali and started a textile company. What a fun life, drawing and designing fabric patterns, seeing your designs become tangible and shipping your products all over the world. Turns out Batik, the ancient dyeing process is taught in Ubud.  I think I might try this workshop: Learn traditional Indonesian Batik with Ubud artist and teacher Nyoman Suradnya at his Nirvana studio. Courses may be from 1 to 5 days duration. A typical one day course is US $35 and includes: Intro to the story of Batik Materials and tools Learning Batik technique with chanting and brush Hand painting and dip dyeing in sequence Wax removal All resulting in your own, hand made, piece of batik art! Regular Classes are held on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 10am-3pm. Jln. Gautama, Ubud For more information: Tel. 0361 975415 email

West Bali Photography Tour

image via Singapore Trekker

I recently heard about Singapore Trekker a company that offers photography and adventure tours in and around south east asia. The idea is to travel with like-minded photography enthusiasts, explore exciting destinations off the beaten track; learn and share new and advanced photography techniques. And for adventurous types the company offers scenic treks to the Himalayas, Tibet, Bhutan, India and more...

In addition to organizing these tours their beautifully designed site has a number of intriguing guides loaded with great photographs. They are offering a trek in Bali at the end of the month advertised as a way to "explore an unseen side of Bali – The Island of the Gods. Photograph Mt. Batur at sunrise, visit a Buffalo race training camp and explore the less visited areas of Palasari and Rambutsiwi (West Bali)"Might be fun and a good way to get back into photo taking.  Information: info@sgtrekker.com

Film festival in Thailand

The first edition of Film on the Rocks was held on March 9th - 13th, in Yao Noi Thailand. Tilda Swinton,  and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Filmmaker and Winner of the 2010 Palme d’Or will curate the first Film on the Rocks Yao Noi. This year, filmmaker, Lucrecia Martel was the filmmaker in residence. 

Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tilda Swinton have introduced a concept called “Message in a Bottle” where the Programme will be curated from these Messages. Guests are asked to bring their own “message in a bottle” which can be anything, a film, a book, a sculpture, a painting, or even a performance. The book and film will be preserved in the “Message in a Bottle Library.” 

The theme this year is PRIMODIAL “Arriving to a place of origin where roots and nature are embraced.” Four days full of film screenings and workshops brought artists, actors, designers, and journalists together. Waris Ahluwalia of House of Waris held a Batik dyeing workshop. Moviegoers were delivered by boat to a floating movie theater, made of recycled materials, and got to watch the original Peter Pan from 1924.

I would do anything to get tickets to this next year. What a whimsical way to blend art, film and sustainability. Images via Vogue Italia, thanks to honestlywtf  for the heads up!