Exhibition17.05.202303.09.2023
ON SHOW
FREE

MELATI SURYODARMO

Passionate Pilgrim

Exhibition17.05.202303.09.2023
ON SHOW
FREE

MELATI SURYODARMO

Passionate Pilgrim

In summer 2023, Ikon transforms its galleries into a platform for performance art, with the first UK exhibition by acclaimed Indonesian performance artist Melati Suryodarmo.   

Melati Suryodarmo is one of Indonesia’s most important living artists, known for her strenuous durational performances that last several hours, testing the limits of the human mind and body. Through live performances from the artist and “delegated works” performed by over 50 associated artists and community activists, the exhibition celebrates her dedication to pushing the boundaries of her own practice and building performance art networks.

Mentored by renowned Butoh dancer and choreographer Anzu Furukawa and performance artist Marina Abramović in the early 1990s, Suryodarmo has, for four decades, created durational performances, installations and films that merge live art with sculpture, drawing and time-based media. Visually spectacular, Suryodarmo’s performances are feats of endurance that interrogate notions of time, labour and identity.   

LIVE PERFORMANCES

All events are free, donations welcome:

Sweet Dreams Sweet (2013) takes place at Ikon Gallery on Wednesday 17 May (2-4pm) and at Handsworth Park in July. In this work, pairs of performers signify tensions between individual and collective identity for women in Indonesia and around the world.

Suryodarmo’s longest work,
I’m a Ghost in My Own House (2012), sees her grind blocks of charcoal with a stone rolling pin continuously for 12 hours. Suryodarmo performs this work at Ikon Gallery on Friday 19 May (10am-10pm).

From Thursday 25 May and for the duration of the exhibition, on Thursday and Saturday afternoons, solo performers re-enact Suryodarmo’s Kleidungsaffe performance (2006).

Ikon debuts the first hybrid performance of Passionate Pilgrim (2010) on Sunday 28 May (2-4pm), which the artist performs with UK-based network and activist group Voice of Domestic Workers.

Present to Presence
, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists, runs Wednesday 31 May – Sunday 4 June

Exhibition Supporters

This exhibition is supported by Bagri Foundation, British Council through the Connections Through Culture grants programme, Birmingham City University, University of Leeds, and the Melati Suryodarmo Exhibition Circle: A.I. Gallery; ShanghART, Tanya Michele Amador and Michiel Verhoeven; and Michelangelo and Lourdes Samson.

It is developed in collaboration with Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN), Jakarta, Indonesia.

FREE

Exhibition Details

Open Wednesday – Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 11am-5pm

Free entry, donations welcome

This exhibition is on our First & Second Floor

Information on Ikon Gallery’s accessibility is available here

For additional access enquiries please contact education@ikon-gallery.org

VENUE

Ikon Gallery

1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham B1 2HS

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Downloads

Document Name
Type
Size
Download
Press Release
pdf
1.4 MB
Exhibition Guide
pdf
3.3 MB
Exhibition Guide - Mobile
pdf
5.1 MB
Exhibition Guide - Large Print
pdf
141.0 kB

Related

Performance17.05.2023 / 2.00pm4.00pm
See more
Sweet Dreams Sweet  
For the opening of Melati Suryodarmo’s first UK solo exhibition, Passionate Pilgrim, her two-hour delegated work Sweet Dreams Sweet (2013) is performed by a group of young women from Birmingham.  
Events/Performance27.05.202331.08.2023
See more
Kleidungsaffe
Kleidungsaffe (Clothes Ape) is a delegated durational performance, first performed and created by Melati Suryodarmo in 2006. For three hours, a performer wraps their legs and arms around a tree of clothes – a 6.2 metres high pillar wrapped in colourful garments donated by Collection 4 Clothes, a West Midlands ethical recycling organisation.
Events/Talk27.05.2023 / 6.30pm7.30pm
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Artist’s Talk: Melati Suryodarmo
Indonesian performance artist Melati Suryodarmo discusses her first UK solo exhibition, Passionate Pilgrim.
Performance28.05.2023 / 2.00pm4.00pm
See more
Passionate Pilgrim Extended
Passionate Pilgrim Extended (2010–23) is a new, 2-hour performance based on Melati Suryodarmo’s original work, Passionate Pilgrim. For the first time, she performs alongside 14 women from The Voice of Domestic Workers, a UK-based network and activist group. 
Events/Performance02.06.2023 / 3.00pm5.00pm
See more
Sinéad O’Donnell
PRESENT TO PRESENCE - PERFORMANCE ART LABORATORY
Sinéad O’Donnell performs in Present to Presence, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).
Events/Performance03.06.2023 / 3.00pm5.00pm
See more
Selina Bonelli
PRESENT TO PRESENCE - PERFORMANCE ART LABORATORY
Selina Bonelli performs in Present to Presence, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).
Events/Performance03.06.2023 / 6.30pm7.30pm
See more
Alastair MacLennan
PRESENT TO PRESENCE - PERFORMANCE ART LABORATORY
Alastair MacLennan performs in Present to Presence, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).
Events/Performance02.06.2023 / 12.00pm12.40pm
See more
Kelvin Atmadibrata
Present to Presence - Performance Art Laboratory
Kelvin Atmadibrata performs in Present to Presence, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).
Events/Talk04.06.2023 / 6.30pm7.30pm
See more
Melati Suryodarmo and Present to Presence artists 
Panel Discussion
Join Melati Suryodarmo and artists who have participated in the Present to Presence performance art laboratory for a panel discussion, during which they discuss their experience of taking part in the project and their concluding performances.  
Events/Performance04.06.2023 / 2.00pm3.00pm
See more
Ratu R. Saraswati
PRESENT TO PRESENCE - PERFORMANCE ART LABORATORY
Ratu R. Saraswati performs in Present to Presence, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).    
Events/Screening01.06.2023 / 6.30pm7.30pm
See more
Marintan Sirait
PRESENT TO PRESENCE - PERFORMANCE ART LABORATORY
Ikon screens a pre-recorded performance by Marintan Sirait in Present to Presence, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).     
Events26.05.202328.07.2023
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Friday Spotlight Tour
Join a member of the Ikon team for a 15-minute spotlight tour focused on a key work in the exhibition.
Events21.05.202330.07.2023
See more
Sunday Spotlight Tour
Join a member of the Ikon team for a 15-minute spotlight tour focused on a key work in the exhibition.
Events/Performance/Artist Laboratory31.05.202304.06.2023
See more
Present to Presence
Performance Art Laboratory
Present to Presence is a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).
Talk01.06.2023 / 3.00pm4.00pm
See more
Alastair MacLennan
PRESENT TO PRESENCE - PERFORMANCE ART LABORATORY
Alastair MacLennan delivers a performance lecture in Present to Presence, a performance art laboratory including Indonesian and UK-based artists. Presented as part of Melati Suryodarmo’s exhibition Passionate Pilgrim (17 May – 3 September 2023).
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