“Lologue” is a two-hour durational performance where Suryodarmo dressed in a costume full of bells on a flight of stairs. Moving slowly and then quickly, she re-enacts actions that she observed political protagonists use to consolidate their power. As the bells ring, the viewer is confronted with her masked form, anonymous and forbidding.

Suryodarmo considers the body in the symbolic order in social spaces, and believes that it can act as a channel of power. Tyrannical domination is often emphasised through the protagonist’s body language, which could be in politics but is also prevalent in other areas like domestic life. Through power acts, individuals gain power, and freedom of opinion, but also restrict the fellow man. Interestingly, certain movements or getures remain constant and are mimicked by those who seek to overthrow the tyrants. By mimicking and interpreting the actions that she had observed, Suryodarmo searches for the position of the body within concepts of power and what  people expect such power should look like.

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Melati Suryodarmo: TIMORIBUS