Melati Suryodarmo and art naming 奇能: An Intergenerational Conversation on Performance Art Vivyan Yeo
Performance art is heralded as the most direct of art forms. Rather than being a hidden genius, the artist faces the audience as a human who is front and centre. Yet, it is among the most uncommon art forms to be exhibited in galleries and museums. What is it about the body that differentiates it from other mediums? How do performance artists archive their works? Do they need to train their bodies to create performance art? To find answers to these questions, I had a Zoom conversation on 7 April 2021 with pioneering Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarmo and emerging Singaporean practitioner art naming 奇能. In 2020, the two met in Solo, Indonesia at Cinemovement LAB VI, an annual mentorship programme that focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to dance filmmaking. There, art participated in several workshops led by Melati. Meeting on Zoom a year later, the two artists delve into pertinent topics such as the ever-changing nature of the human body, the strange relationship between performing and documenting, the complexities of collecting performance art and the importance of kindness in the art world.
Vivyan: How did you first embark on performance art and what drew you to the medium in particular? art: I started using my body when I performed in theatre about 10 years ago. Back then, I realised that I did not like to talk or use a script much. After a few years, I thought of trying a performance piece and very simply recreated Marina Abramovic’s ‘Rhythm 0’. It was so strange, because people in my school then were like wow, this is “performance art”. But for me, I was just trying it out for the first time, and it suddenly
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