There will be two major performance art exhibitions at Museum MACAN starting this weekend, namely Why Let The Chicken Run?by Indonesian performance artist Melati Suryodarmo and Manifesto by German artist and filmmaker Julian Rosefeldt. As stated by the art museum in a statement yesterday, the two exhibitions will provide “a platform to open up dialogue on cutting edge contemporary practice in a way that is rarely seen in Indonesia”.
Melati spent years studying art in Germany, mainly influenced by Javanese tradition and Japanese dance theater Butoh. Why Let The Chicken Run?marks her first solo exhibition in a museum, which features her significant works from a career spanning more than 20 years. She will perform a 12-hour piece titled I’m a Ghost in My Own House (2012) this Saturday, Feb. 29 from 9am to 9pm.
Manifesto (2015) is a 13-screen video installation, which features Academy Award-winning Australian actress Cate Blanchett assuming 13 different roles. In it, Blanchett recites artists’ manifestos of the 20th century, drawing on the writings of Futurists, Dadaists, Suprematists, and other movement or artist groups. This is the first Manifesto screening in Indonesia.
Tickets and full schedule for the exhibitions are available on Museum MACAN’s official website.