TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Melati Suryodarmo: The power of the body
JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi“In performance art, the message to be conveyed by the artist is very personal, not always the same as that grasped by the audience, says Melati Suryodarmo
Change Size
JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi
“In performance art, the message to be conveyed by the artist is very personal, not always the same as that grasped by the audience, says Melati Suryodarmo.
“Everybody will automatically be involved in the show, thinking and imagining as well as participating. That’s the special feature and challenge in presenting performance art,” the woman from Solo, also known as Surakarta, who is now living in Germany, explained.
Melati is indeed a familiar name in performance art, which combines visual art with dramatic performance.
She has toured Europe, America and Asia for her performance art shows along with fellow artists from various countries. In Indonesia, she has presented her work at the art centers of Padepokan Lemah Putih (Surakarta), Rumah Seni Cemeti (Yogyakarta) and at the Goethe Institut (Jakarta).
Melati’s childhood was steeped in artistic expression. Her father, Suprapto Suryodarmo, was a noted dancer who not only taught dancing, but also other arts.
As a primary school student, Melati took painting lessons from Sri Warsono Wahono in Sasono Mulyo, the Court of Surakarta.
She also took dancing, tai chi, meditation and aerobic classes.
“I watched my father dance until I was a teenager. Our backyard was always packed with people dancing, playing music, and singing Javanese poetry. I’ve been influenced by this environment,” she said.
Melati studied international relations at Pajajaran University, Bandung. After graduating in 1994, she went to Germany to study performance art and sculpture at the Hochschule fuer Bildende Kuenste (art college), Braunschweig. For eight years, she learned a great deal from Marina Abramovic, a famous performance artist from Yugoslavia and also her lecturer.
“I began to seriously delve into performance art 17 years ago, when I studied in Germany,” said the wife of Reinhaard Lutz, an interior designer.
In Germany, Melati met many performance artists and in her early years of study she even joined several international festivals.
“Besides gaining some stage experience, I also formed networks. I was engaged in discussions and involved in the process of creation with other artists,” said the mother of one.
Fine art (painting and sculpture) considerably helped Melati enter the world of performance art because, according to her, fine art and performance art are closely connected.
“Performance art is a further development of fine art. However, in performance art we use the body a lot more as a medium of art. Before entering performance art, I was active in visual art,” added the woman, who learned dramatic performance and sculpture under the guidance of Anzu Furukawa, a dance maestro from Japan.
One of her discussion partners was Boris Nieslony, who founded Black Market International (BMI), a high-class German performance art group. Through this group Melati expanded her networks with fellow artists from different countries.
Finally, along with a number of Southeast Asian artists, she set up the Performance Art Laboratory Project, a dialogue and creative experimentation forum.
Through this lab, Melati and Boris Nieslony staged Undisclosed Territory #1 in 2007 at Padepokan Lemah Putih, Plesungan, Karanganyar, Surakarta, an art studio owned by none other than her father.
Until its 5th performance in early May this year, the artists performing in Undisclosed Territory came mostly from the US, Germany, Italy, Holland, Ireland, Canada, China and some Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia.
Interestingly, none of the performers are paid in such shows, as many of them are sponsored by founding institutions.
Melati also trains beginners. In 2009, for instance, her performance art students came from the Umea School of Arts, Sweden.
In the following year she gave a workshop and lecture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.
Nevertheless, few people are able to appreciate and understand her performances — and those of her peers. And Melati is well aware of this fact.
“Performance art shows are actually more personal in nature. People watching us playing frequently want to fathom it as they perceive. In performance art this isn’t always the case because not all messages, if any, are conveyed verbally,” she indicated.
Still, in her view, performance art is always related to the cultural, social and political aspects of life, which are articulated through the body both psychologically and physically. Any message in this performance therefore has to be grasped through what is visible and invisible.
“It’s indeed very subjective.
My show, for example, will always be influenced by my life experience and my intimate Javanese, Islamic, Buddhist and Christian spirituality,” said the woman and instructor inseveral art institutes in the Philippines.
One of her films, The Dusk (2010), recounts her traumatic childhood until the age of 30. During the period, Melati experienced moments that forced her to remain silent, speechless. The Dusk was thus born, an artistic silent film with sound effects. The movie is like a poem.
The story isn’t told descriptively and narratively, so it is up to the audience to interpret it.
“Performance art is not a cowboy movie with a clear storyline, a bandit, a sheriff, and then bang, bang… finished. I am not saying cowboy films are bad. It’s only a matter of choice. It has nothing to do with quality,” said the holder of a master’s degree from the art college in Braunschweig, Germany.
