Museum MACAN is serving another round of preview before its grand opening on November with “First Sight” program. After its initial success on the first installment back on 12 August, the next round will be held for two days starting from tomorrow, 9 until 10 September 2017. A total of 6 talented artists who specialize in performance art will showcase their work. Those artists are not only from Indonesia but also Singapore, China and Australia. The performances will start from 9 AM to 5PM and make sure to come early to experience the new building installation and you could obtain free tickets and book your place through Museum MACAN’s website. The artists line up that consist of Arahmaiani, Mella Jaarsma, Xu Zhen, Duto Hardono, Heman Chong, and Justin Shoulder will entertain the visitors with their distinctive style of performance art. Arahmaiani, an artist based in Bandung, will showcase her groundbreaking performance from the 90’s called “Handle Without Care”. It incorporates various elements like traditional music, religious chants and prayers, traditional dance to reflect the political, societal, economic, and cultural change that was happening in Indonesia during that era.
Cr: Museum MACAN
Mella Jaarsma who originated from Netherland but has been living in Indonesia since 1984 will present her work called “Dog Walk”. It is described as a humorous and absurd work that looks at the relationship between humans and animals, in a satirical ‘catwalk’ of models wearing cow and sheep skin costumes walking each other using leashes. Xu Chen with his work “In the Blink of an Eye”, combines performance and sculpture. Meanwhile Duto Hardono will direct a group of singers who respond to the Museum’s architecture using only sound and voice on “In Harmonia Progressio”. Singaporean artist, Heman Chong will serve “A Short Story, Somewhere, Out There” in which a 500-word short story written by the artist (and translated into Bahasa Indonesia by Grace Samboh) is exchanged between two people. Lastly, Australian based artist Justin Shoulder will tease your mind and imagination with his fantasy translated in an imaginary figure made of handcrafted costumes and prosthesis which are animated through the artist’s own gestures, a piece that he called “Carrion: Episode 1”.
Cr: MadeIn Company and LongMarch Space
On “First Sight” program that introduce performance art to Indonesian public, Museum MACAN’s director Aaron Seeto says, “For many, our initial presentation of the ‘First Sight’ program in August was the first encounter that many people have had with performance art. As an art form, performance encourages the communication of ideas between artist and audiences in a very direct way. A lot of people have commented that the program has opened up a broader view of the possibility of enjoying art in this city and has already expanded the cultural experiences available in Jakarta.” The performances will be followed by a discussion on 10 September 2017 held in both Bahasa Indonesia and English. Make your weekend well spent with a visit to Museum MACAN!