he ttle of this article takes its cue from the opening section of the compilation of writings in “Bone, Breath, & Gesture” eclted by Don Hanlon Johnson. In his introduction, Johnson describes the study of embodiment as an alternative to the damination of abstract ideas upon the body, and as a way to focus on notions of boulily intelligence and movement that generally lie at the lesser cend of the value spectrum in socio-political, cultural, and artistic interaction. Embodiment combines felt sense with consciousness, an disjuncture of mind and body functioning -apacities with separate desires. The elusiveness immediacy that denies th as parallel encountered in articulating the nature of embadiment is a reflection not of absence but rather of a paucity of theoretical vocabulary combined with its secondary social valuation, ‘Stucles on practices of embodiment tend towards movement, exercise and other healing techniques targeted towards physical Gentleman Sil performed at Future of ay AnghritAicharvasophon, ination 4 2007 June Yap. ailments, injuries and deficiencies. In an attempt to tap into the logic of the body, one is made acutely aware of the body's, language, and is compelled to become open to a more nuanced form of communication with it. An example of such proponents of embodiment practices is Elsa Gindler (1885-196), a student of Gymnastik, wo created a way of working with experience she called “Human work” or “Unfolding ata later stage of life.” In keeping with the nature of performance, however, she balks at describing it — “itis difficult for me to speak about Gymnastik because the aim cof my work is not the learning of certain movements, but rather the achievement of concentration. Only by means of concentration can \we attain the full functioning of the physical apparatus in relation to mental and spiritual lie.” Other advocates of bodywork include Russian-born physicist Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), a judo practitioner who established the Feldenkrais method, and Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955), the founder of the Alexander Technique, which presents methods of observation for everydayGentleman Simulacra by Angie ‘Aicharyasophon, performed at Future oFimagination 8, 2007 ‘movements like walking, siting, or articulating one’s head or limbs, It is now used to complement dance and performance methods The key to these methods is somatics, or first-person perception. In performance we encounter both first-and third-person perceptions, often simultaneously, although what is generally read is the third- person view of the perfarmer as visually apprehended by the audience. Yet in embodiment practice the first-person experi given primary importance, and, arguably, this somatic experience can nevertheless somehow be translated to apperception within the body of another. The ubiquitous yet enigmatic nature of somatic perception is at times starting, as Charlotte Selver, a student of Elsa Gindler recounts of her first meeting with Gindlet: “I remember when | was forthe frst time with Gindler, I was just a guest, and she asked, ‘Do you feel that you ate going through space?’ ‘Do you feel the air around yout” ‘Do you really want to jump?’ ‘Do you use the floor as a springboard?” | had been studying gymnastics and had never heard such questions. | was amazed!” Proprioception is seldom mentioned in the visual arts; rather ‘empathy, inthe third-person, is used to describe and read performances where audiences feel a certain sympathetic response to 2 particularly demanding act. But proprioception — physical internal feedback about the position of one’s body in space — forms the basis of somatic and bodywork theories where the mind is embodied ‘and the physical and conscious states are inextricably linked. This relationship of somatic reading, awareness and performance, often most apparent in dance, is exemplified in the work of Flemish choreographer Wim Vandekeybus. Described by Alena Alexandrova a “confrontational” in the sense of presenting the body “as itis, inthe extraordinariness ofits feelings, in its ability to be affected, \Vandekeybus' highly expressive work gives tse to the radical yet persuasive question of “how are we subject to, how are we passible Unetlad Solidarity Action by ks Lam, performed st Future of tagination 4, 2007 ty of Chus Chye TeckGentleman Simulara by Angkrit Aeharvasaphon, Performed at Future of to sense?” The question suggests somatics as the fount of mavement rather than the other way around. Atthe less dramatic end of periormance, in performative theory, itis ‘movement that constitutes the everyday activity of being, as argued in Erving Goffmarys "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” (1959). It is the minutiae, usually unobserved, ignored and neglected, that while pethaps less physical or extreme than that found in dance or theatre nevertheless demonstrate the body's permeability In Singapore, performance art became a more common aspect of contemporary art with Tang Da Wu and The Artists Village in the late 1980s, but it continues tobe influenced by a handful of singular events. In 1993-1994 The Artists Village and the artist-run space Sth Passage organized the Artists’ General Assembly (AGA), which saw ‘wo performances that shaped the future of performance att here. Josef Ng's Brother Cane brought performance art to the public arena \when the media picked up on a portion of his performance that ‘commented on the arrest of twelve men for alleged gay soliciting, The apparent cuting of his pubic hair albeit with his back facing the audience, became fantasy tabloid material for the island republic. In the second performance, Shannon Tham butned, swallowed and regurgitated pages from The New Paper, in protest of the sensationalist media coverage of the AGA. As a result of the storm created by the reporting, the National Arts Council suspended funding for performance art, and the police-run Public Entertainment * | IANIARY-FFARIIARY 2008 | [Arte Courtesy of Chas Chye Teck Licensing Unit announced that all future performances would requite prior approval ‘These events framed performance art as “radical,” atleast in the ‘eyes of Singaporean authorities and supporting organizations. In Ray Langenbach’s doctoral thesis, he describes this process of “radicalization” as a composite, a “symbiosis between state organs and civil society initiatives” Referring to the Coffee Talk (1992) performance by Vincent Leow, he sees artists and journalists locked together, where “each scandal becomes the background for future scandals and produces the expectation of continuous transgression in the eye of the public and, significantly, the government.” Future of Imagination is an international performance art event held annually in Singapore, led by the performance artist Lee Wen. t was Inaugurated in 2003, the year when the dle facto ban was lifted. Now in its fourth year, despite suppor by the National Arts Council, the ‘event maintains a sense of wariness and caution. Like other such rnon-institutional public performances, it remains subject to prior government approval — for the organizers, this translates into a sense Of prudence and circumspection so as not to invite any unnecessary ‘concern from the authorities. Ths he tance may diminish in time, a the relationship of performer and authority becomes more nuanced with experience and engagement. In his thesis, Langenbach leseribes Ng’ situation at the 1993-1994 event as an expression of “a simultaneous embrace and deferment of his community's aspirationsfor a participatory democratic polity,” a statement that also aptly characterizes the current state of afais, albeit with a shift in the one experiencing this dissonant state from performer to regulator. The question ofthe need to continue to be “radical,” however, is fone that has to be answered by the artists themselves. Voicing a need for performance to connect with socio-political concerns, Lee Wen describes the present situation as a state of “menopause” and a failure to recognize “a radical avant-garde practice capable of sprouting newer offspring and directions of protest and critique,” ‘A ten-year hiatus of support has left behind not only a sense of lost time, but aso, ironically, compels performance to seek an issue based approach. The problems af such an approach to performance ‘warrants a full discussion, but itis a discussion beyond the scope of this text. Suffice to say, the politcal shadow cast by past events “obscures somatic practices and readings in performance here, i also forms a context for two performances at the September 2007 Future (of leagination event that touched upon notions of embodiment In Untitled Solidarity Action, Kai Lam (1974) was found urging a palmssized fish across the gallery floor. The climbing perch, a member of the family anabantoids found in Asia and Altica, is a freshwater fish commonly found in canals, drains and ponds. The Unique feature of this fish is that itis capable of wandering “cross. country” from one body of water to another, upon spiky gill covers while propped upon its pectoral fins, The audience's initial response. vas simply revulsion at the appalling conditions to which the cute hamster-sized fish was subjected. Only afterwards did the audience leamn that the fish was not in any particular danger, as the species has an ait-breathing organ and is known to be able to survive in unfavourable water conditions. Kai Lam’s performance alludes to parallel situations of state and social control, using the local icon, the merlion — hall-fish, hardly lion, in the form of a tourist figurine and a little toy shark that the merlion seems to be “fishing for" — to correspond with the larger example of the artist in tiger-striped 1 gallery space. The distress of watching the artist gently urging the fish to walk the length of shirt trailing the walking fish around the gallery is confounded by the knowledge of the nature oftheir relationship. According to the artist, he had found the fish about a ‘month earlier after a heavy rain, walking along the sidewalk of a residential estate, when he decided to adopt the creature, Even as the performance ended in a rather visceral manner with the artist cutting himself with fragments of bone, this strangely tencler yet torturous relationship with the fish suggests an unspoken physical and psychic dependency, and the necessities of a certain subjection of wills that creates a sense of unease A second performance of note is an extension of an installation, The Perfect English Gentleman, exhibited in 2006 in Bangkok by ‘Angkrit Ajchariyasophion (1976) from Chiang Ral, Thailand. The artist, dressed in suit, tie, and hat, with a black umbrella in tow, “if you want to be a contemporaty artist, you need to become Western.” In the 2007 performance, as it was his frst time in Singapore and assuming the audience would not recognise him, Ajchariyasophon invited a young Thai to stand in for him. In the ‘German Simulacrs by Angkit Alearivasaphan, performed at "ture of Imagination 4, 2007 CCourtey of Chua Chye Teckperformance, Ajchariyasophon walked in and dressed his double in the costume ofthe perfect 19th century English gentleman, exchanging clothes, and eventually shows the Thai migrant how to play a violin. Asin Kai Lam’s performance, the effect of the performance is notin the act ofthe exchange of garments. Rather it is found inthe fleeting expressions ofthe Thai migrant who was not briefed as to what he ‘was supposed to do, but happily played along, The artist found his cco-performer at a karaoke lounge in the Golden Mile Complex in Little Thailand, where he was working as a paid companion to a sg70up of older Thai women. The young Thai's readiness to please and! trusting nature is the key tothe performance; his surrender tothe unfamiliar part he was to play and earnest performance provided a convincing portrait ofthe incongruites ofthe identity he was putting ‘on and the effortlessness by which it could be assumed, inviting light humour as he altemated parodying and attending at being an English Gentleman, Exergie (Butter Dance) by Melati Suryodarmo (1965) from Indonesia, presented at Theatreworks’ Flying Circus Project 2007 i another performance that carries on the somatic thread. In this piece, which she has performed almost annually since 2000, she dances on a platform of twenty bars of butter that iowly melt and cisintegrate Causing her to slip and fall repeatedly. Suryodarmo’s performances reflect her experience under Marina Abramovic, a5 well as Butoh and her personal practice of sumarah. The performance that starts Cut farcical and comic gradually becomes almost painful to watch, ‘knowing that each time she picks herself up, it will soon be followed by another fll. Her goal is not to stay on her feet, presumably impossible, but rather “to seize the right moment during the fall to protect one from being hurt.” Though the performance appears punishing, it can also be read as leaning how to fall, of drawing the body into states of tension and release. Nevertheless, forthe audience it remains a stressful experience. As Johanna Householder observes, “Suryodarmo appeals directly to our nervous systems, bypassing, » Unatleg Solent Action by Kal Lam, performed! st Future f imagination & Soo? habitual thought to speak directly body to body: “Another event that underscores the importance of performance in contemporary practice today isthe Performance Studies International Conference held concurrently withthe PERFORMA biennial in New ‘Yorkin November 2007. In her introduction to the catalogue on the first PERFORMA held in 2004, founder RoseL.ee Goldberg writes, “Art that allows us ta think less about money and more about visceral encounters, that engages a a high level of content, that unbalances sensibilities yet provides a quit place for thinking about the rough times in which we ive, is a welcome antidote to the business of object-based art.” In response, the Performance Studies International conference acknowledged the wealth of performance history and activity in New York by calling its session Happening/Performancey ‘Event, and in focusing on “the questioning and the enactment of the event: a subject that takes us back to the beginnings of periormance and lve act in the Happenings and straight into questions ofthe nature ofthe present.” Enactment implies 2 certain consciously prepared performance thats experienced anew and it relates to ‘embodiment as it reflects presence and examines the connection between the act of doing - conscious action, and the doing ofthe act — proprioception [An artist who has presented embodiment in dance and visual expression is Trisha Brown (1936). Her movements have inspired drawings — as well as this article — and the drawings have stimulated movement, in works such as [fs A Draw (started in 2002) with charcoals and pastels held with hands and feet. Describing. her art as “structured improvisation,” Louise Neri observes that “for Brown, the body is a mnemonic instrument; through decades of choreographic questioning and advanced physical studies, she has proved that its muscles and bones store memories that can be brought back either through repetitive movements that function as cues, oF through improvisatory techniques that allow past experiences to surface spontaneously and abstractly." In the work Accumulation(1971, and performed at Documenta 12 in 2007) movements are added to a series that cycles and repeats as it builds to the Grateful Dead's Uncle fobn’s Band (1970), The audience picks up on the rhythm, and through the pattern of mavement begins to associate with the various tensions and releases that go through the body as it performs. Using three basic movements —B extend, flex and rotate —this somatic experience is at once personal and communal. For Trisha Brown the effects of somatic memory were particularly clear during the 1973 Accumulation with Talking performance, which she later related to Yvonne Rainer: “While doing it! said, ‘My father died in between the making of this move and that move,’ which knocked me out. | was amazed that my body had stored the memory in the movement patter... | became silent and composed myself. 1 was ddovastated that | had said that.” The Javanese meditation technique sumarah refers to a condition of total surrender, and, in the context of somatic, proprioceptive readings of performance, it sa similar condition to what i felt by performer and audience and leads to the sense of communion described by many. Performances that deal with the somatic experience do not expect or exact responses of empathy, Rather, the work is an attempt to explore the body experience, as described in the question raised by Alexandrova: “haw are we passible to sense?” These performances reluse the sensational so as 10 be able to share the observation of the body's ability to fll into itself and discaver something anew. Surrendering in this case does not clicit the fear of relinquishing control of the body. Such lo$s of conto is reassuringly not as big a leap as one might imagine. Also presented at PERFORMA was Jerome Bel’s performance at the Dance Theater Workshop, Pichet Klunchen and myself. Described as. “theatrical documentary,” it presents a dialogue and dance ‘demonstration by Bel and Thai traditional dancer Pichet Klunchen, In what is read as a largely conceptual work, the two characters compare differences in culture and dance between contemporary and traditional representation. In one segment of the performance, the two observe the variations in performing “death,” while remarking ‘on the impossibility ofits representation on stage. To the merriment Of the audience, Klunchen illusrates how superstition over death translates 10 an offstage demise, but only after a bout of staggering around the stage to dramatize the run up to the finishing moment; in contrast, Bel performs an unexpected twist on the impenetrabilty of death against an aural backdrop of Roberta Flack’ Killing Me Softly With His Song (1971), Standing motionless, he appears to be gently attentive, taking in the tune; gradually he slumps to the floor, and finally lies facedown on the ground without particular drama Untied Seley Action by Kel Lam, performed st Future ofmagination 4, 2007— though with humor brought about by the double entendre of the Iyries in the conte of the performance. The impassability of death here is experienced from within, as Bel “dies” halfway through the song and forces the audience to experience the rest of the song an their own in the face of an imperviously uneventful stage, perhaps finally mimicking his death as well Bel’s performances are strategies of recovery from the expectations of performance. As he dances in an unexceptional manner to the tune of David Bowie's Dance (1983), he explains thatthe inversion of the dramatic and remarkable in performance creates the possibility fof communion with his audience. Rather than breathtaking feats, his audience in a sense continue breathing noemally. In failing to become ;nsported, they are instead mad to be conscious of the present — aware of their own bodies and their own somatic states, And, in responding personally to the work, the embodied performance is transmitted. Stramming my pain with his Angers, Singing my lite with his words, Killing me sofly with his song Killing me so with bis song, Telling my whole life with is words, Killing me sofy wit besine (Roberts Flack) EXERGIE- btor dance 2005), by Maat Suryodsmo References: ‘Alena Alexandrov, Furious Bodies, Enthusiastic Boles: On the Werk of Win yas for People Whose Lives Ae Fl of Activity reproduced ratte CCelifornia: North Atlantic Books and The Califor 1995 RosaLee Goldberg, A Biennial Of Is Own PERFORMA: New Visual A Performance, New York, 2007 Johanna Householder, imagine that Every Womenis a County in Loneliness in the Boundarae Melat Suryodarme, 2006 Willa Ray Langentach, Perfarming the Singapore Stat 1988-1995, Doctor of Philosophy, Unversity of Western Sydney, Centre for Cultural Research, 703 Lae Wen, The Future is Not Enough, Future of magna Performance Act Even, September 2007, Singapore Louise Nes Trisha Broun: It's a Orow, Antipodes Inside the White Cube, White arlate’ The Sensonry Awareness Foundation Newsh Bone, Breath & Gesture, edited by Don Herlon Johns Beales and The Califor Intitts of Integr! Sts duced from interview wth einer 987, 2. va: North Aantic alto June Yap — Director & Curator, Institute of C: