Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Join MATCHA for excerpts from Makrokosma Bali, a new work from composer Wayne Vitale in collaboration with Sekaa Gong Taruna Mekar—a renowned gamelan ensemble from Bali under the direction of I Made Arnawa—and US-based visual and set designers. The work combines new music for gamelan orchestra with projected video and still imagery, digital-audio soundscapes, and an integrated lighting and set design. Makrokosma Bali contrasts the cultural values and cosmology of Bali with those of Western origin, exploring a range of scales from macro (galaxies) to micro (a human cell). A panoply of video imagery—people, landscapes, cities, rice harvesting, offerings, temples, the forging of red-hot bronze gongs—will be projected onto multiple screens and surfaces, brought to life through the virtuosic playing of Sekaa Gong Taruna Mekar. The full production will premiere the following evening at the museum.