Disorient Bali presents: BURNING MANTAP 2024

Disorient Bali presents: BURNING MANTAP
Pantai Beraban, Tabanan. Bali - Sat. Nov. 9th, 2024

Burning Mantap is a collaborative art event on a pristine 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.

Description

Burning Mantap is a time and place when Balinese and Disorient cultures come together for a day. Mantap means excellent in Bahasa Indonesia, Bali’s local language. This event is a celebration during which 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.

Burning Mantap is a triennial(1), 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 instrument, helping with the organization, etc.

Burning Mantap is a free event(2)
Dress code: pink and/or orange

Timeline

Before Nov. 9

- Setup organization committee
- Select location
- Secure permit from local authorities (pak Gede)
- Upacara. Link the BM ceremony to an existing ceremony or create new one? (pak Manku)
- Can we bring trucks directly onto the beach to help with delivery and infrastructure?
- Design, fabricate and test the skeleton of Mantap made of wooden beams.
- Prep tools to assemble Mantap on site
- 2 meter ladder
- Define sculpture ignition strategy
- Plan for shade structure on the beach?
- Plan for babi guling setup
- Food Cell: in charge of food prep and organization on beach
- Design and produce BM24 sarong

Nov. 7

Some Committee members meets on beach to determine precise event location

Nov. 9

1:00pm - Start delivery of items to the beach (shade structure, ceremony, cooking, sculpture elements, etc.).

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.

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

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 at sunset.

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. Every participant is invited to meet on the beach to collect items that do not belong there. The goal is to leave our celebratory space better 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 your friend!

Committee

Pak Gede (Village Chief) - Honorable guest
Pak Klian (Banjar Chief) - Honorable guest

The Eye - Director and Producer
Pak Nyoman - Producer
Pak Ferdi - Babi Guling
Pak Manku - Ceremony
Ibu Klian - Ceremony
TBA - Gamelan

Mantap sculpture

The Eye - Concept and Design
Pak Andi - Structure
Arnaud - Assembly Lead

Notes

(1) The first iteration happened in 2021.

(2) If you are in a position to contribute financially please do so here (needs link). 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.