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Architecture of Bali: A Source Book of Traditional and Modern Forms. By Made (Michael White) Wijaya. Honolulu: University of Hawai Press, 2002. 224 pp. \$50.00(cloth).
Mary-Louise Totton
The Journal of Asian Studies / Volume 63 / Issue 02 / May 2004, pp 566 - 568 DOI: 10.1017/S0021911804001615, Published online: 26 February 2007

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0021911804001615 How to cite this article: Mary-Louise Totton (2004). Review of Made (Michael White) Wijaya 'Architecture of Bali: A Source Book of Traditional and Modern Forms' The Journal of Asian Studies, 63, pp 566-568 doi:10.1017/S0021911804001615 Request Permissions : Click here

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undoubtedly agree that the great strength of his scholarship lies in his vision. At his best, although he may not footnote every thought, each paragraph contains the seeds of a PhD dissertation. So, graduate students and Wang Gungwu fans take note: at times in this volume, he is indeed at his very best! L IAM C. K ELLEY University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

Architecture of Bali: A Source Book of Traditional and Modern Forms. By M ADE W IJAYA (M ICHAEL W HITE ). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2002. 224 pp. $50.00 (cloth). Made Wijaya, also known as Michael White, has put together a gorgeous visual experience. The photographs of architectural details are organized in the spirit of Balinese compounds, which imbues a lush gardenlike openness to this book’s design. The book’s author and designers may also be highly praised for their organizational plan. This book is arranged into eight chapters, which begin with the large concept of the Balinese village and then progress into its components (courtyard, pavilion, courtyard elements, pavilion elements, building materials, and ornamentation), to end finally on another large scale concept: architectural hybrids. Thus, the reader, or better yet, the browser, makes his or her way into the topic of Balinese architecture from its so-called traditions, discovers its basic elements in a step-down-to-details approach, and then emerges into the contemporary world of today’s hybrids. As a source book for designers and architects who want to have light references to the great wealth of Balinese architecture, this is a great and beautiful book. But from the point of view of a scholar who is familiar with many of the concepts that are glossed over in the text and captions, there is a lot to be desired. I would like a reconstructed edition to be published, with errors repaired and some tantalizing concepts to be tackled with a little more serious thought. In order to understand the principles of Balinese architecture, it is useful to know the difference between paras and limestone, the various types of thatch, and the organizing principles of Balinese space. A reader can also find himself or herself cringing due to the many opinionated remarks, frustrated with the many omissions and some factual errors, and disturbed by Wijaya’s penchant for pronouncing architectural styles. In the case of the latter, the reader is treated to the following stylistic names (I list just some of the more than sixteen in the text): rustic charm, Bali modern, Bali baroque (also known as “Going for Baroque”), expatriate dream-home movement, Zen end, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, traditional-modern hybrids, New Age Bali, art deco kantor-style, Cappuccino rococo, and ghost-train gothic! Few of these so-called styles are clearly defined or explained. Do they correspond to pure aesthetic, or does a style name define a particular period? Far too often the author just glibly labels the architecture and then races off into another idea. A more methodical approach, akin to the visual layout of the book, would have helped the reader learn a lot more. Raw opinions abound throughout the book. Stricter editing might have saved the text from becoming an authorial tirade. Rather than adhering to the old writer’s rule of “show, do not tell,” the author pontificates and thereby disrespects his reader’s ability to make up his or her own mind. Wijaya gloomily predicts that Bali may never “emerge” from an “architectural Dark age,” bemoans that “Bali is addicted to change,” and awkwardly announces that its “architecture has been in a race car to

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architectural hell” (p. 201). Wijaya is an expatriate romantic who is fond of the concepts of “ethnic,” “aboriginal” (p. 14), and “authentic” (p. 133), just as he detests “decorative excess” and “mannerism” (p. 7). These subjective opinions and his harsh use of adjectives such as “nasty” (pp. 104–5), evolve into Wijaya’s prescription for a sort of architectural macrobioticism (p. 133), which smacks of Orientalism. Why cannot Balinese and other architects who work in Bali experiment with nonlocal materials and forms? If people were not meant to travel and be enchanted with aspects of other cultures, then what is this Australian doing in Bali? Architecture, like other arts, is a fluid expression of the context, events, and experiences of its makers. The cumulative effect of contacts with regional and international peoples has greatly added to the cosmopolitan flair that both disrupts and nourishes the essence of Bali, but that “essence” has never been static, as the earliest extant architecture demonstrates with its relationship to Javanese, Chinese, and Indic forms among others. Errors also reflect the lack of academic rigor upon which perhaps the publisher should have insisted. Most of these failings result from a lack of clarification. For instance, a number of photographs depict the ubiquitous black-and-white-checked cloth that adorns many Balinese guardian sculptures and male ceremonial participants. When Wijaya defines this cloth pattern, poleng, as the “standard of the spirit world” (p. 180), he neglects the most important fact: that it explains the polarity and interdependence of good and evil. Perhaps the author is unaware that Tantri tales are not just Balinese fairy tales but also Balinese versions of the Pancatantra, an ancient literary epic that originated in India and was assimilated throughout Asian societies by the first millennium (p. 173)—a good example of early globalization. When Wijaya mentions that spirit houses are often constructed from scented wood (p. 134), a reader might be further enlightened as to the reasoning behind this choice. Moreover, many readers might wonder why Wijaya (or is it the Balinese?) call some properties or materials “masculine” (pp. 134, 148). He makes no mention of feminine elements or explicates such genderizations. Other errors, primarily about deities and mythological iconography, are more glaring. The tricolor iconography associated with the Saivite Hinduism that took hold in Java and then Bali is not that of the primary colors (p. 188) that most youngsters know are red, yellow, and blue. Wijaya corrects himself (p. 99) as to these tricolors (red, white, and black) but then asserts that they are pre-Hindu colorations, for which I can find no evidence. Even more confusing is the text discussing the deities that he calls Boma/Bhoma (not the child of Durga and Shiva, but the emanation of Shiva’s wrath) and Sai (pp. 79, 194–97). Claire Holt does a much better job of clearly distinguishing these Balinese versions of Kala and Kirttimukha—known in Balinese performances as Barong Keket and Singa Barong— which are conceptual flip sides of the same guardian: the benevolent protector and unrelenting force against evil (Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change [Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967], p. 107). If Wijaya had clarified this, he could have then proceeded to discuss how these concepts inform the Balinese use of their forms on the top of gates and other architectural portals. In other words, how do the Balinese conceive of the interaction of human and architectural structure? Structural errors are few but disconcerting. Although this text is in English, captions reverse the use of italics (Balinese or Indonesian words are in normal font and the English text is italicized). Moreover, a few times, punctuation errors could confuse, for example, “tukang ukir carvers” (p. 85) should read “tukang ukir, carvers, . . . .” Overall, this book is beautifully organized and designed and is a treasure house of images on the topic of Balinese architecture: from the ancient to the contemporary. Architects and architecture enthusiasts have much to gain from this book. Nonethe-

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less, a tension between the text and the images detracts from the whole. Yes, one might be perturbed by certain sized, plain-colored ceramic tiles that Americans, Australians, and Europeans may associate with bathrooms when one finds them used to remodel a temple structure or palace hall—but this reaction is predicated upon a perceptional history. A Balinese cannot be expected to have this same association (p. 164). This “globalization” has been happening for a long time; we just need to learn how best to live with it—now that the world spins so much faster. M ARY -L OUISE T OTTON Florida State University