Recently, the Swedish Embassy has participated in the 6th Kuta Karnival and in the 2nd Balinale International Film Festival in Bali.
Kuta Karnival and “SymbioCity – Sustainability by Sweden”
In line with the theme of the event, which was about the environment, the Embassy presented the exhibition “SymbioCity – Sustainability by Sweden” at one of the Kuta Karnival tents which occupied the Kuta Beach in Bali for nine days, from 17 to 26 October 2008.
SymbioCity is the trademark that reflects all knowledge and experience in regard to the Swedish approach to sustainability. In Sweden, where for fifty years the experts have focused on holistic city planning, it means also finding synergies between urban technology systems that save natural resources and cost less.
Besides the SymbioCity exhibition, an array of printed information about Sweden was displayed on the beachside, and have drawn many visiotrs curious about Sweden. Many of them were surprised by how they actually had known many Swedish products and companies: Ericsson, IKEA, Volvo, Tetra Pak, Electrolux or famous people and music groups from Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, The Hives, Roxette, The Cardigans, ABBA…
The publication “Swedish Culinary Classics, REcipes with History and Originality” by Carl Jan Granqvist and Lena Katarina Swanberg had the most attention from visitors. Probably as a result of the fact that the exhibition was located in a tourist-packed area where exotic cuisine always gained much interest.
Kuta Karnival, an event initially established in response to the Bali bomb blast in 2002, is an annual event which aimed at rebuilding the imagae of Bali, looking forward to a brighter and promising future for its people and tourism industry. The nine-day-long event consisted of music festivals, traditional art performances, exhibition and stalls, sports activities and food festival along the Kuta beach. Last year Karnival was attended by around 20,000 persons.
