Out of Turn

This project draws attention to the practice of performance in Asia and in particular South Asia, gathering a multi-generational group of artists to underscore its evolution over the decades.

Artists have been making performance-based work in South Asia since the 1970s, and earlier in other parts of the continent. Out of Turn presents some moments from that history, pairing materials drawn from Asia Art Archive’s Research Collection with performances commissioned from a diverse range of artists. In juxtaposing live art with various historical documents, the exhibition touches on the paradoxical relationship between performance and the archive.

Performance is generally considered an art form comprising gestures and actions, to be experienced live at a particular place and time. And yet in reality, most people encounter it in a mediated fashion, through recordings and recollections, especially since a performance frequently leaves no trace. In other words, the ephemerality of its practice makes it all the more reliant on the archive for understanding its history. In exploring a performance’s multiple existences and its connection to the archive and the document—whether in the form of written description, photograph, or audiovisual recording—the project expands our understanding of this most elusive of genres.

Date: 15–22 Dec 2018

Time: 10am–6pm

Venue: Old Goa Institute of Management, Goa, India

Live Acts:

Maya Krishna Rao

Priyanthi Anusha

River Lin

Sajan Mani

siren eun young jung

Mutant Salon (Young Joon Kwak and Marvin Astorga)

Asia Art Archive's Research Collection consulted include archives of:

Autonomous Women’s Movement Project of Asia Art Archive in India