NEZAKET EKICI (A+++++++++++++++)

Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre is holding ASIATOPIA this month. You can see the program of ASIATOPIA here:
http://www.asiatopia.org/

PERFORMANCE ART IN ASIATOPIA I SAW TODAY:
(I don’t know the titles of most performances, so I put the names of the performers here)

1.10 YEARS OF PERFORMANCES AND INSTALLATIONS (Nezaket Ekici, Turkey, A+++++++++++++++)

This is one of my most favorite performances of all time. Very unique. I think this performance lasts about three and a half hours. I saw the last 90 minutes of it. In this performance, Ekici tells us about her works during the last 10 years in the friendliest way. It is not like watching a performance. It is like talking to a new friend. Ekici also creates a map of her travels during the last 10 years while performing. She only uses a giant white board, a red thread, nails and a hammer to create this map. This performance needs real strength and power. How can she talk incessantly for more than 200 minutes and also react to the various reactions of the audience, asking them questions from time to time? She also notes down the summary of the things she needs to talk by writing it on her body. She looks up at the note on her body to see where and when she used to perform in the past, then she puts a nail on her white map to make the audience understand where that city is situated in the world, then she wraps a red thread around that nail, tells the audience what she performed in that city, then she reads the note on her body, puts another nail on the map, connects the red thread from the last nail to the next one, etc. To see this performance is one of the greatest experiences for me.


2.Arai Shin-ichi (Japan, A+++++++++++++++)
Truly shocking


3.Helmut Lemke (Germany, A+)
I don’t understand this performance, but its strangeness makes me think about Alexander Kluge’s films. I guess a part of this performace may be about a guy who listens to the sound of ice dripping, or the sound of ice, or the sound of the surrounding, or the sound of something, then tries to decipher that sound into some writings.


4.Yeh Tzu-chi (Taiwan, A+)
In this performance, we watch a woman wrapping her upper torso with black tape and put a T-shirt over her eyes and her hair. Then the woman sits still on a chair for 30 minutes, and her head bends down very very very very very slowly. After 30 minutes of watching this woman sitting (almost) still, she falls down from her chair onto a table and starts crawling down from the table onto the floor.


5.Melati Suryodarmo (Indonesia, A)

6.Andre Stitt (Wales, A)

--Big thanks to Gao-eey-mee-panak who makes me understand these performances much better.

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This is my comment in Konmongnang’s blog:
http://konmongnang.exteen.com/20081106/city-of-angels


--ข้อสังเกตของคุณคนมองหนังน่าสนใจมากๆเลยครับ โดยเฉพาะเรื่องงานเฉลิมฉลองของกรุงเทพในปี 2525 ผมลืมนึกถึงเรื่องนี้ไปเลย

--อีกสิ่งหนึ่งที่ผมชอบมากใน CITY OF ANGELS (1983) ก็คือการเล่นกับ STEREOTYPE ของแนวคิดทางเพศ ในฉากที่มีพระยืนอยู่นิ่งๆ แล้วก็มีเด็กสาวยืนอยู่ใกล้ๆพระ พร้อมกับมีงูพันอยู่ที่นิ้วมือของเธอ ผมไม่แน่ใจว่า Marina Abramovic มีจุดประสงค์อะไรในการสร้างฉากนี้ขึ้นมา แต่มันทำให้ผมนึกถึงแนวคิดเหยียดเพศที่มีอยู่ในหลายชาติและหลายศาสนา ที่มักมองว่าหญิงสาวเป็นอุปสรรคหรือศัตรูของความดีงามหรือการบรรลุธรรมหรืออะไรทำนองนี้