Contemporary Indonesian-Australian artist Jumaadi will virtually join a discussion with UConn professors Dr. Matthew Cohen and Dr. Macushla Robinson.
As part of the 2023 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host Jumaadi: From Wayang Kulit to Contemporary Art on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs, with artist Jumaadi joining us virtually from abroad. This forum will also be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute).
Ballard Institute director Dr. John Bell will host this Puppet Forum conversation with Jumaadi, a contemporary Indonesian-Australian artist, and UConn professors Dr. Matthew Cohen and Dr. Macushla Robinson.
The discussion will probe a particular aspect of Jumaadi's creative process: how wayang kulit, the tradition of Javanese shadow puppet theater, provides a key source for inspiration and techniques, and how Jumaadi's own shadow puppet plays (performed mainly using overhead projectors and other modern technologies) depart in significant ways from this tradition.
The conversation will consider the nostalgic pull of wayang kulit, conditions of art making in both Indonesia and Australia, and the possibilities opened up through travel and cosmopolitanism. This conversation coincides with the opening of Jumaadi's solo exhibition Migration of Flora at the Contemporary Art Galleries of the University of Connecticut, located at 830 Bolton Rd, Storrs, Conn.
To learn more about the exhibit, visit contemporaryartgalleries.uconn.edu.
To learn more about this forum and the speakers, visit: bimp.uconn.edu/2023/03/21/jumaadi/.
Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. For more information or if you require accommodation to attend a forum, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.
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