Opening: 18th April, 2018. 4 – 9pm
Performance Dates: 18th April, 29th April, 1st May, 2018. From 4 – 9pm
Duration: 19th April, 2018 – 14th May, 2018 (11:00-18:00, Monday Closed)
Address: ShanghART Beijing, 261 Cao Chang Di, Airport Side Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
Contact: infobj@shanghartgallery.com | + 86 10 6432 3202
ShanghART Beijing is pleased to present solo exhibition “I Love You” by renowned Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarmo. This is the first comprehensive exhibition of Melati in China, will showcase her multidisciplinary approach to art, consisting of a variety of works ranging from photography, videography, to what she is best known for – durational performance. The exhibition opens on Wednesday, 18th April, 2018 and runs through 14th May, 2018, with an accompanying live performance by the artist on 18th, 29th April and 1st May, 2018 4pm-9pm.
Melati Suryodarmo’s performances are concerned with cultural, social and political aspects, which she articulates through her psychological and physical body. She thereby compiles, extracts, conceptualizes and translates phenomena or subjects into movement, actions, and gestures that are specific to her performance. Her performances feature elements of physical presence and visual art as a means of talking about identity, energy, politics and relationships between the body and its surroundings.
“I Love You” is a durational performance piece in which the artist moves around, carrying the weight of a large sheet of a glass whilst simultaneously struggling to come to terms with the phrase “l Love you” spoken throughout. The spoken language that represents the background of a human culture, the way of thinking and identity, is a formed structure that we use to communicate with others. ‘I Love You’ is provoking the meaning of a language and the bias of its use.” It was performed first time at Off*Ample, Barcelona in 2007.
For this time, Melati also features videos of her previous performances art works alongside “I Love You”, including her most well-known pieces “EXERGIE- Butter Dance”(2000), “Ugo” (2008), “Eins Und Eins” (2015), and “Transaction of Hollows” which was performed in ShanghART Singapore in January, 2018. Compared with the videos, Melati’s photography seems to be a silent termination of her performance actions and processes. Her recent photography “Tomorrow, As Purposed” series, presents the spirit of intense confrontation and personal anxiety with the dynamic and gestures of body, while”Self Potrait” is related to her recent research on the poetics in performance art and the presence of “poetic action” in her work.
About Melati Suryodarmo
Melati Suryodarmo (b. 1969) is a visual artist currently based in her hometown, Surakarta, Indonesia, having lived and worked in Germany for 20 years. She graduated with a degree in International Relations from Universitas Padjadjaran Bandung, Indonesia, and went on to pursue a degree in Fine Art at Hochschule fuer Bildende Kuenste, Germany. Studying under the tutelage of renowned Japanese Butoh dancer and choreographer, Anzu Furukawa, and acclaimed pioneering performance artist and professor, Marina Abramovic, Melati eventually finished her post-graduate program in Performance Art while gaining the opportunity to perform alongside Abramovic with a group of students at the 2003 Venice Biennale. Known for her long durational performances, often involving highly physical acts and use of the body to convey her ideas regarding cultural, social, and political issues, Melati has performed across the world for 20 years, in festivals, biennials, galleries, and museums. Notable shows include the 52nd Venice Biennale Dance Festival (2007), Luminato Festival of the Arts (2012), Asia Pacific Triennial 8 (2015), Singapore Biennale (2016), as well as helming the Jakarta Biennale 2017 as the artistic director.
