Activations is an ongoing series of experimental, open-ended, collaborative, improvisational performance art and play sessions. Each iteration features a selected performance artist who guides a workshop to get our bodies, brains, and hearts moving. Every workshop leader draws out of their own experience to bring a unique theme, method, and outlook toward generative insight and problem solving with a focus on connecting the individual to themselves as well as to one another and their environment. Sessions make use of the land and home at Rumah Tangga, delivering a creative mix of body movement, communication exercises, various forms of meditation and insight practices, observation and reflection, and more. Curiosity and a will toward experimentation are key… no other experience required.
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VIEWPOINTS
September 11, 2021 // VIEWPOINTS workshop was led by vibrantly chill, Sis Rummana Yamanie of Mayestik.
Viewpoints is a technique of improvisation that grew out of the post-modern dance world. It was first articulated by choreographer Mary Overlie who broke down the two dominant issues performers deal with – time and space. The Viewpoints allows a group of performers from any discipline, culture, or language to function together spontaneously and intuitively and to generate a bold, compositional work quickly. It develops flexibility, articulation, and strength in movement and makes ensemble playing really possible. At its core it is giving the performer the tools to make choices in Time and Space.
Viewpoints is a training system, like scales for a pianist and the barre for a ballerina. It is not something that is meant to be performed but it makes for more open, vibrant, and committed choices in the act of creation. The Viewpoints are not only a warm up for the body, the voice, and the imagination but it is also a philosophical outlook on how to make creative
work.
The Viewpoints provide a constant practice, in the guise of improvisation, in adjusting to choices in Space and Time and making sure those choices are clear, committed and watchable. Viewpoints open the possibility to connect structure and form to spontaneity and intuition.
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May 22 – 23, 2021 // From Where Does Meaning Arise? Workshop was led by: KP, aka Mr. Crust, aka Pak RT.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” –Rainer Maria Rilke
In this workshop we practiced viewing the world / objects in the form of a question. Participants selected objects from around Rumah Tangga to investigate their origins, and we played a Surrealist game of translated poetry.
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April 3-4, 2021 // HELIOS workshop led by Ferial Afiff.
The idea of using the sun as a theme for this Activations originates from the notion that people carry the energy like a sun. The sun is the light that brightens the earth, bringing fruitful energy, but too much sun can quickly burn and cause fatigue. The sun as a higher power as expressed through religious symbolism and spiritual belief exists in nearly every ancient culture in the world. In the life of ancient Greeks, the god of the sun is known as HELIOS (or Helius). Helios is the god in the heart of the solar system, all seeing and aware of all secrets. The sun as an energy source can also be used to meditate, recharging the body for our daily activities.
In this activation I will bring together skills and ideas I have learned from a variety of sources throughout my own practice. I will share with you some of the techniques I use to awaken my body which aim to embrace the sun’s energy through 4 cycles coordinated with the rotation of Earth.
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photos by Patar Pribadi
Ferial Afiff is a flexible artist who has been actively working for more than 10 years. She currently lives in Bandung. The pattern of her work has no boundaries or specific styles, artistically she often switches roles as facilitator / curator / writer / researcher / producer / etc. Her constant curiosity, bring her to meet lot of people and living conditions that accompanied them, especially environmental / gender / historical themes. Her work was presented in various cities in Indonesia and other countries. Since 2012, she has been a member of Lifepatch, a citizen initiative in art-science-technology. Since 2018, with Putri Wartawati, Ridwan Rau Rau, and the Lingkar Semanggi Foundation (Tangerang) initiated the Expedition Camp, a biennial meeting and sharing forum for performance practitioners throughout Asia. Since 2020 she’s being part of RUcollective (Random Union), a group of friends exploring art & technology, responding Bandung city, and having fun.
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October 5, 2019 our workshop was led by Ridwan Rau Rau, a veteran of the Indonesian performance art world. Rau Rau’s performances are playful works of intuition and insight, and in their simplicity offer fresh new perspectives.
I graduated from Jakarta Pedagogy University, faculty of arts. I have been actively making performance art since 2003. Till today I am an independent performer, organizing festivals in Jakarta (Padjak Festival), and am a member of the Rewind Art Community. I am interested in the exploration of the body and space, working within the connection of the transitory moment. Performance art is a medium to understand the intuition and to give it freedom. I interpret objects and spaces and assemble them into unexpected situations, to guide and mediate the will of the soul to the body, and its surroundings. I believe that performance art can work as a therapy for the thirsty soul, for developing honesty in following the intuition. —Ridwan Rau Rau
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September 6, 2019 featured Putri Wartawati as our beloved workshop leader. The night was really a success… a small intimate group moving fluidly through ideas and expressions until reaching its own natural conclusion. Having come to a pause, the performance jam suddenly gave way to the participants introducing games to play in the field. We could not have asked for a better night. Thank you Putri and all who attended!
Putri Wartawati (born. 1992) is an artist based in Serang, Indonesia, focusing on choreography and performance. She graduated from Yogyakarta State University majoring in Dance. Putri takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work, combining traditional art with contemporary thinking. She is a dance instructor, and has taught in various cities in Indonesia. She actively participates in various performance art events, such as in the Tenth gallery (Jakarta), Expression Expedition (Nepal), CRACK (Bangladesh), Love and Intestine (Japan). Putri is also active in Semanggi foundation as a dance instructor, creating dance performances for Indonesia. She has developed her own method for creating new dance movements called, “What’s Your Name”. This method is not only for professional dancers, but for those who have never had experience creating choreography. Putri is now actively spreading that method through her workshop events.
Rumah Tangga 