Anupam Saikia: RADICAL BODIES: SLIPPING INTO BEYOND ||| A report

Radical Bodies: Slipping into beyond is a Performance Art project cum workshop. It was facilitated by Dagmar I. Glausnitzer-Smith, Germany, hosted by School of Visual Arts, World University of Design, Sonipat, Delhi NCR from 31st Sept 2019 to 2nd Oct 2019.

This unique program was curated and developed by Anupam Saikia, a prolific painter, with years of experience in performance art also he is a faculty at World University of Design. The School of Visual Arts, WUD always looking for the new methodologies, in teaching that is aimed at inspiring young minds to experience contemporary nature embodied Art as a tool with their personal experiences to know self, body, identities in complex context by exploring Performance Art.

This project was open for the learner, professional in Visual Arts who believe in Performance Art has possibilities to open a window to know the self, also understanding and enhance the medium in the contemporary Indian context. The workshop was beginning with Performance Introduction, exercise, tutorial, planning, and briefing, etc and follow up by movement, action understanding body, and materials with exploration. Indeed, it was focused on Discussion session on problem and possibilities of Performance Art. Where the action flows in context, radically, identically. How Curation happens in Performance art. Its pedagogical aspects and implications. There was a collaborative exercise called “Understanding Materials juxtaposed with body and space” leading by Anupam Saikia. Finally, it aims to appreciate collectively solve the problems, and questions arise from the medium through collaborative engagements rather than individual approaches.

Concept of the Workshop:

a transmaterial connection between physical and mental presence in time and space. Performance Art in a practical and observational context. The body is the medium through which the creative flow enters the world. It could be that the artist is present or is absent. A transmaterial relationship between body and mind means that an active process is based on the idea of matter, which reaches beyond a physical presence. The body can be understood as the anatomical substance, as material, which initiates an action often a reaction. The objective is the practice of creating relationships by connecting the body, object, and space. The movement of the body in space is transitional however the action creates an image, which remains an impression in anyone’s memory.

The workshop implements practical exercises, observations, group discussions, formative feedback, and a final performance art series day which may be open to all. Participants of the workshop will explore the means of a live ‘image’ in space and its compositional aspects and delivery. A composition is being created with the understanding of space, time, texture, contrast, fragmentation, layers, color, and the human body. A composition may be in question and therefore non-directive and intentional aspects are emphasized in the presence of the body as an object. The discussion will lead to an understanding of the ‘foreground’ of an image in space. Through observation of known habits and the analysis of conventional behavior patterns, predictable actions, and re-actions can be placed into the background or they can be displaced. An understanding of ‘Self’ is experienced with an intuitive approach, serious play, and spontaneity.

The workshop takes a practical and critical stance, which will animate the creative process. It is sensitive towards ideas, details, and signals, which implement an unfamiliar way of seeing. Through group conversations, individual ideas are being reflected. The question of where is the ‘art’, ‘the work’ remains at the core of the workshop.

The concept developed by Dagmar I. Glausnitzer-Smith.

The participants were Visual Arts students from the School of Visual arts, WUD, Shanti Niketan, College of Art Delhi, Ambedkar University, Shiv Nadar University, Jamia Milia Ishlamia along with some professional performance Artist. This project is bringing challenges to Dagmar, the workshop facilitator, and professional working with the students who never encounter with the performance art. Likewise, it was an opportunity for the students to work with professionals on the same platform.

Dagmar, Started with the briefing, the introduction of Performance Art. The discourse came into the platform that things can’t be “Just” like Artists are not doing just, it’s a conscious decision by the artist.

Smaudra talks about Performance Documantation

On the first day, Samudra Kajal Saikia talks about the “Problem and possibilities of documentation in Performance art” where he shares different possibilities from his experience. He talked about the documentation happens in a different form, in times documents travel in many ways. Also, he focused on “Live” and in relation to documentation, how "LIVE" is release, recreated in the form of documentation that passes through to the viewer.

The second day, Guillaume Dufour Morin, Canada joined the workshop, talks about his practice, public and he collectively explores the public spaces near WUD with the participants.

Public performance by Guillaume Dufour Morin

Dagmar wrote on this workshop:

Through a range of detailed and professional-led initiations and processes Anupam Saikia organized this workshop, I believe for the students at WUD and furthermore to extend the experience of Performance Art and its productive workshop atmosphere to regional professors and international Artists. This very special and conscious structure of involving a wide range of artists from different backgrounds allowed an expansion to be explored beyond the institutional safety-net. Professional practice in the world and a cultural society demands an engagement, which often is being underestimated. The workshop provided encouragement and the practice of Performance led to a reflective position of student-professional-art-institutional relations. Especially in the methodology of teaching Performance Art in previous workshops within and beyond the University facilities opened existential aspects of self-assessment, confidence, professional practice with formal self-management approaches apart from deepening the focus of self-exploration and idea process and it's necessary evaluation. The workshop furthermore informed the awareness level of differentiating of public places and the laboratory safety-zone of teaching relationships.

The study of the artists’ position within the field-work of Performance Art is immediately exposing the body, its movements, object-relations and foremost the question of time and space. This is introduced via a continuous and the chronological structure of self-experience and practical implementation of mind and body, synchronically working on a layer of reality which often can underestimated in strong task-oriented isolated work practice.

Some of the key elements within the workshop development are:

the free and courageous confrontation with a public or audience situation whilst maintaining authentic intentions for the sake of the artwork.

the engagement with experimental and practical sites, and site-specific situations unique to Nicosia and create geo-philosophical, relations towards ideas of migration, homeland, landscapes, and border cultures

the articulation of intentions, self-value status and meaning of the work

the discovery of intuitive skills coupled with intellectual negotiations to understand and differentiate presentation and representation

The foreignness and cultural differences also apparent during these workshop days very quickly dissolved into a trusting and welcoming atmosphere, which allowed the intellectual jump into the possibility of operating within the linguistic parameters. By far it opened doors of - VISUAL THINKING – and communicating with the idea of images.

Collaborative Exploration leading by Anupam Saikia.

On the third day, Morning Anupam take the lead to develop a collaborative exploration on “Understanding materials juxtaposed with body and space”. In this exploration, he was talking about the obstacles in everyday life which can be read as a frame, that everybody lives within a frame that’s created by us as well as by social or political structure. There is no way out of the frame. With a or many obstacles how we can come out from our comfort zone to understand Performance art, Body and our surrounding materials / Personal objects, etc. For this collaboration, individual improvisation and intervention create chaos first and leading into a choreographic action unconsciously growing in space. What to do or not to do and Artists are performing on a given space and materials without knowing the other person what he or she is going to do. Individual negotiation within a space will help to build up a collective exploration through Materials juxtaposed with text and Body.

The energy of this workshop has a deep effect on participants' enrich them to understand the process of gaining insight to understand “SELF”, with the trust to become aware of the nature of the body-mind relationship with time and space that helps their creative practice in the Visual field. The last day, everybody develops performances and perform at the WUD campus.

Individual and Collaborative exploration by the participants as below: