Pralina – A Fire Altar

In 1993, the Goethe Institute organized a project entitled ‘Art and Nature’ in Munduk village in North Bali. After I discussed my idea to create a site for cremations with the local priest and head of the adat (the customary law or the unwritten, traditional code governing all aspects of personal conduct from birth to death), I was allowed to build the first permanent cremation place in Hindu Bali. Normally altars are temporary structures made from banana tree trunks. The villagers accepted my design, which was inspired by a small bone sculpture from India. The only change suggested by the villagers was to change the altar’s position, in order that the head of the corpse would face towards the east when cremated, in keeping with local tradition. With support from the local people, we finished building the altar in three weeks. On the last day of the construction, an elderly woman in the village passed away and thus my cremation sculpture was immediately used. I was asked to light the fire. Until this day ‘Pralina – A Fire Altar’ is still in operation.