Melati Suryodarmo Opens Major Solo Exhibition at Museum MACAN, Discusses Performance as Resistance
This month, Museum MACAN in Jakarta showcases Melati Suryodarmo's inaugural institutional solo exhibition, which includes her durational piece, The Black Ball (2005). The Indonesian performance artist, who spent nearly twenty years in Germany, is known for her extreme physical endurance, exemplified by her practice of remaining seated for eight hours a day over four consecutive days. She trained with Butoh dancer Anzu Furukawa and Marina Abramović, earning her degree in 2002. Her notable works comprise I'm a ghost in my own house (2012) and Exergie – Butter Dance (2000). Suryodarmo has participated in the 50th Venice Biennale (2003) and Manifesta 7 (2008), viewing tradition as a dynamic and evolving concept, emphasizing collective experiences over personal stories.
Key facts
- Melati Suryodarmo opens her first institutional solo exhibition at Museum MACAN in Jakarta
- She is known for durational performance works involving physical endurance
- Suryodarmo lived and worked in Germany for almost 20 years before returning to Solo, Indonesia in 2012
- She studied under Anzu Furukawa and Marina Abramović at Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
- Her father Suprapto Suryodarmo founded the Lemah Putih art centre and developed the Amerta movement method
- Suryodarmo organizes the annual Undisclosed Territory performance art festival in Solo
- She performed at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and Manifesta 7 in 2008
- The exhibition includes documentation of her research on Bugis tradition's fifth gender shamans in South Sulawesi
Entities
Artists
- Melati Suryodarmo
- Mark Rappolt
- Anzu Furukawa
- Marina Abramovic
- Suprapto Suryodarmo
- Mary Wigman
Institutions
- Museum MACAN
- ArtReview Asia
- Van Gogh Museum
- Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig
- Padjajaran University
- Lemah Putih
- 50th Venice Biennale
- Manifesta 7
- Singapore Art Museum
- National Portrait Gallery
- Landesvertretungshaus Niedersachsen
Locations
- Jakarta
- Indonesia
- Solo
- Java
- Germany
- Berlin
- Amsterdam
- Netherlands
- Braunschweig
- Makassar
- South Sulawesi
- Canberra
- Australia
- Japan