Performance Art Central: From Politics to the Poetics
VIEW EVENT DETAILSTALKS X Asia Society - Art Central Series
Discussion 3:00 – 4:00pm
“Our body is not in space like things; it inhabits or haunts space. It applies itself to space like a hand to an instrument; and when we wish to move about we do not move the body as we move an object… For us the body is much more than an instrument or a means; it is our expression in the world, the visible form of our intentions…” Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Mikala Tai, Director of 4A Centre for Contemporary Art and curator of the Art Central Performance program will lead an interactive panel discussion with five contemporary artists from the performance program, each working at the heart of experimental performance. The panel will explore the role of performance art, its role within a commercial art fair and how international trends are shaping and feeding into their art making.
Anida Yoeu Ali is an artist, educator and global agitator. Ali’s multi-disciplinary practices include performance, installation, videos, images, public encounters, and political agitation. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to art-making, her installation and performance works investigate the artistic, spiritual and political collisions of a hybrid transnational identity. Ali earned her BFA from University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute Chicago. Ali resides in Tacoma, Washington and spends much of her time traveling and working between the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S.
Enoch Cheng is an artist, director, performer, writer, independent curator and founder of art collective Interlocutor. Concerned with the everyday subtleties in contemporary urban lives, his works explore recurrent themes of place, travel, fiction, memory, time and destination. He received his MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths, London and BA in English Literature and Art History at the University of Hong Kong. His most recent shows in Hong Kong include You Are Not Alone at Oi! Oil Street Art Space and The Memory of Proximity at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
At the heart of Tobias Gutmann’s artistic practice lies the creation and investigation of encounters – between people, cultures and environments, but also between what we perceive on the outside and what we feel on the inside. His works morph between performance, installation and workshops, and often have relational and participatory aspects to them. His Face-O-Mat, analogue portrait machine, has been traveling the world since 2012 and will feature at Art Central 2017. Previous Face-O-Mat projects include: Museum Haus Konstrktiv, Zurich, Switzerland, Supergraph, Melbourne, Australia and Mudam, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
Amrita Hepi is a Bundjulung and Ngapuhi dancer and choreographer working in the field of experimental dance. Her choreography is rooted in creating movement in transitional spaces, interweaving her urgent cultural heritage and contemporary dance training. Amrita has trained at the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) dance college, New South Wales, Australia and Alvin Ailey American Dance School, New York. She has exhibited and performed at Sydney Opera House, Next Wave Festival, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Australian Centre for Contemporary art, Carriageworks, Sydney, TEDX and Banff Centre, Canada.
Uji Handoko Eko Saputro aka Hahan’s art making is concerned with the tussle between “high art” and “low art,” blurring realism with decoration. Hahan incorporates film, music and street culture into a distinct visual language, creating a sense of movement and spontaneity in what can be described as a topsy-turvy reality steeped in satirical humor. His works have been collected by several art museum including Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Brisbane, Australia and National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Melbourne, Australia.
Mikala Tai is the Director of 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney. She is a curator, researcher and academic specializing in contemporary Asian art and Australian design, who over the past decade has collaborated with local, national and international organisations to strengthen ties between Australia and Asia. Curatorial projects include Closing The Gap: Contemporary Indonesian Art (2011) at Melbourne International Fine Art (MIFA) when she was director; Yang Yongliang (2009) at 45 Downstairs, Melbourne; public programs for Swimming in Sand; Growing Rice under an Umbrella (2014) at No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne.
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