The Balinese use three calendars, one of which tracks weeks in ten dimensions and is unconnected to astronomical time. Instead it creates a structure for the musicality of daily life.

This talk deconstructs the musicality of the Balinese uku calendar using analytical models and simulations. Claude Debussy’s recognition of the polyrhythmic structure of gamelan music in 1889 launched musical explorations which continue to inspire contemporary classical music including Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass.

In Bali, the uku calendar is also used to compose interlocking irrigation cycles, enabling phase transitions that reduce emissions of methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas, from traditional rice paddies.

Using these examples, we probe the dynamics of Bali’s ten dimensional concept of time from a computational, phenomenological and humanistic perspective.

J.S. Lansing, V. Sorensen, Phase transitions in Balinese time, music and irrigation management, Proceedings of the 39th ACM SIGSIM Conference on Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation