The old and the new pack a punch in ‘Political Acts’.
Whilst performance art has an embedded history across Southeast Asia in music, dance and theatre, established practitioners Dadang Christanto (Indonesia/Australia), Lee Wen (Singapore), Melati Suryodarmo (Indonesia) and Tran Luong (Vietnam), carry a weighty authority, having pioneered provocative performance art over a number of decades.
Newcomers Khvay Samnang (Cambodia), Liew Teck Leong (Malaysia) and Moe Satt (Myanmar) are strong examples of the new trajectories that have emerged within the field in the last 15 years. Together the seven leading artists represent its impressive progression – encouraged by a proliferation of festivals in Southeast Asia since the first Nippon International Performance Art Festival (1993).
Khvay Samnang, Rubber Man #3, 2014 Courtesy the artist and SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh
Revealing the interconnections within the art industry in Southeast Asia, ‘Political Acts’ aims to present a dialogue between the artists. Curator, Dr Steven Tonkin outlines, “all of these artists work within performance art, they know each other’s work, there is a network. Bringing together one artist from each country becomes representative of their own culture, but also reveals commonalities between the artists in the way they approach their art.”
Dadang Christanto, Tooth Brushing, 1979, 2015, 2017 Courtesy the artist, Gallerysmith, Melbourne and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney
Displaying video, installation and photographic works, ‘Political Acts’ appreciates the timeline of performance art, presenting a range of earlier and new works from each artist. Dadang Christanto reflects back to the hurt of the 1965 anti-Communist purge in Indonesia in his newly commissioned work Slaughter Tunnel (2015-2017), which immerses the viewer into a narrow U-shaped passageway encased in recycled cardboard and mud. Confronting and evocative, it is an unwavering action by Christanto to expose the truth for the victims of genocide.
With the body as a vehicle and a symbol, the artists collectively embrace the physicality of their work, and the physical response it provokes within the audience. In curating the exhibition, Tonkin realised another visual relationship that emerged, stating, “one of the interesting things I found is the use of colour – yellow, red and black – they are thematic, the artists use them as metaphor.”
Lee Wen, Splash! #7, 2003 Courtesy the artist and iPreciation, Singapore
Indeed the splash of yellow across Lee Wen’s face in Splash #7 and Splash #8 (2003) is a colourful assault upon the senses, and an iconic addition to the exhibition. Describing himself as an “image maker”, his body feels the full brunt of the objects as he creates the poetic performance images. Similarly Vietnamese artist Tran Luong engages with the emotive and political negative connotations of the colour red in Welts (2007). The artist invited the audience to flick his bare skin with a red scarf, creating red marks that represent physical pain and painful memories of the past.
Moe Satt, F ‘n’ F (Face and Fingers), 2008-9 Courtesy the artist
As part of the inaugural Asia TOPA (Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts) ‘Political Acts’ contains confrontational themes of identity, politics, race and religion, the artists address both their own local, as well as a global audience. “The show is a bit like the ocean”, says Tonkin, “it is calm in a way, but underneath the surface imagery is a really forceful comment, and that is political, economic and social issues which are within the artists respective countries and cultures, but also the messages they are addressing are resonant on a global level – issues that we all face.”
Highly engaging and bound to spark a response, brace yourselves for a vivid affront upon your everyday.
Melati Suryodarmo, Sweet Dreams Sweet, 2013 Courtesy the artist
Lucy Stranger is a writer based in Sydney.
Arts Centre Melbourne
Until 21 May, 2017
Melbourne
