Disorient Bali presents: BURNING MANTAP 2024

Disorient Discord: Local Bali channel

Pantai Beraban, Tabanan. Bali - Sat. Nov. 9th, 2024

Burning Mantap is a collaborative art event that takes place on a black sand beach on the Indian Ocean in Bali.
A wooden sculpture is assembled and burned during this one day outdoor event.
It is a Disorient Unplugged happening which means that no electricity is used at the event.

What

Burning Mantap is a time and place when Balinese and Disorient cultures come together.

The word mantap means excellent in Bahasa Indonesia, Bali’s local language. During this syncretic celebration we focus our intentions on being excellent to ourselves and to others. We express this through different modalities including food, art, sustainability and the sacred.

Mantap is also a shape based on the octahedra which was conceived in 2021 by Geodesic Temple to illustrate the concept of excellence. We assemble, then burn Mantap during the event. Burning a wooden construct has been a symbol of purification manifested by human tribes since the dawn of time.

Burning Mantap is an exercise in sustainability. The decision to not use electricity at the event is rooted in Disorient's desire to become more sustainable which requires profound cultural changes. Disorient Unplugged is a radical cell within Disorient's sustainability efforts designed to imagine a version of Disorient that does not require electricity and explore new possibilities inspired by ancestral cultures. Its goal is an ontological rethink of Disorient since our practice was originally based on electronic arts(1).

So far, Burning Mantap is a triennial(2), volunteer-run, participatory event. Everyone attending BM is encouraged to participate to the happening. This could mean food preparation, transportation of material, drift wood gathering, sculpture assembly, playing an acoustic instrument, helping with the organization, etc.

As we focus on acculturation we cap the number of participants to our 2024 event to 60.

Burning Mantap is a free event(3)
Dress code: pink and/or orange

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Timeline

Before Nov. 7

- Create Disorient Bali Sign
- Print banner
- Continue identifying leads
- Secure permit from local authorities (Pak Gede, Pak Klian and law enforcement)
- Upacara. Link the BM ceremony to an existing ceremony or create new one? (pak Manku)
- 4x4 truck on the beach to help with delivery and infrastructure (Pak Gede can help with this according to Pak Man)
- Design, fabricate and test the skeleton of Mantap made of wooden beams (Pak Candra)
- Prep tools to assemble Mantap on site (2+ meter ladder, wires and rope to attach drift wood)
- Define sculpture ignition strategy. Rags soaked in diesel?
- Plan for shade structure on the beach? Use Banjar's shade (Pak Man)
- Plan for babi guling setup (Pak Man + Pak Ferdi)
- Order Babi Guling (Pak Man + Pak Ferdi)
- Food Cell: in charge of food prep and organization on beach

Nov. 7

5:00pm - Executive Leads meet on beach to determine precise event location

Nov. 8

- Staging at Superstition

- Staging at Bale Banjar Pondok

Nov. 9

10:00am - Load in at Superstition and Bale Banjar (Pondok).

11:00am - Start truck delivery of items to the beach (shade structure, ceremony, cooking, sculpture elements, etc.).

12:00pm - Setup shade structure and drinking water solution.

2:00 to 4:00pm - Installation of the Mantap sculpture on the beach. One group assembles the prefabricated frame while another group gathers drift wood using carts and possibly 4x4 pick-up truck. Everyone wraps the drift wood onto the structure which is then erected. Heavier pieces of drift wood are piled-up inside the bottom pyramid.

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4:30pm - Ceremony organized under the auspices of the village and led by local priest. Gamelan performance and local women choir.

4:55pm - Group photo.

5:00pm - Pork roast prepared by locals according to the babi guling tradition is shared on the beach.

6:00pm - The sculpture is ignited. In case of rain, we wait until rain recedes before we ignite Mantap but we will burn that day/evening. Gamelan performance and local women choir.

Acoustic music with percussion instruments played by members of the village is performed during several sessions throughout the event.

Nov. 10

10:00am: Beach clean-up. Participants are invited to meet on the beach to collect items that do not belong there. The goal is to leave our celebratory space better (less plastic, etc.) than we found it. The more people participate to this communal effort, the faster the task is accomplished and the more rewarding it is for everyone involved. Bring a friend!

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Leads

Guests of Honor

Pak Gede (Village Chief)
Pak Klian (Banjar Chief)

Executive

The Eye - Director and Executive Producer
Pak Nyoman - Producer
Ky (TBC) - Administration
The Eyelash - Finance

Ceremony

Pak Manku - Priest
Ibu Klian - Producer

Music

TBA - Gamelan(4)(5)
TBA - Bedug(6)
TBA - Chorus

Comfort

Pak Ferdi - Babi Guling
Ibu Putu - Production
Erika - Beverage

Mantap sculpture

The Eye - Concept and Design
Lowroad - Design Consultant
Pak Andi - Producer
Pak Candra - Fabrication
Monsieur Arnaud - Assembly
Mandy - Drift Wood Wrapping
Ryan Fix - Burn Prep
The Eye - Burn

Sarong (D24 Diorient Batik Mantap Edition)

The Eye - Concept and design
Bu Seri - Fabrication

LNT

Brinksman - Leave No Trace

References

(1) “I think the problem has to do with technology. Although we think we’re in control of it, it’s more like we’re being controlled. And I’m not talking about Big Brother. I mean we’re being controlled in how we’re consuming things every day. Here’s an example. I remember being in Miami and was at this restaurant that had this amazing melting chocolate dessert. And in no time at all, everyone had it on their menus. Everyone’s just playing catch up and following everyone else. Originality is lost in the process. We need a new balance. We need more organic relationships and finding ways for us to believe in ourselves. People need to take more chances. People need to get back in the driver’s seat with their experiences and not just be controlled by an algorithm. And if we do, we’ll once again become a society that enjoys differences and not just one that homogenizes everything.”
- Ritchie Hawtin (032c - Aug. 22, 2024) https://032c.com/magazine/who-wants-to-be-a-human-jukebox-richie-hawtin

(2) The first iteration happened in 2021.

(3) If you are in a position to contribute financially please do so here. In 2024, portions of your donation will go to the local community to help with the cost of the ceremony and to Sungai Watch, a not-for-profit that organizes volunteers to clean-up rivers with a focus on addressing the plastic problem in Bali and Java.

(4) https://musicbrainz.org/instrument/a26a663e-3add-42e1-ac07-ce289d5f330a

(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan

(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedug