Balance and Provocation – Contemporary art in Burma/Myanmar
Group exhibition
Main hall, Färgfabriken
Artists: The Maw Naing, Kolatt, Yadanar Win, Ma Ei
Färgfabriken produces a big exhibition with four contemporary artists from Burma / Myanmar. After 50 years of military repression the country is now facing major social changes and in line with the political development an energetic art scene has emerged. Since 2013, Färgfabriken has worked on various projects in Burma / Myanmar and established an extensive network among local artists and architects. Through this we have met several interesting artists with innovative expressions and been introduced to an art movement which have had little representation in the Western art scene. With this exhibition, we want to emphasise the complexities that infuses the national situation, with the difficulties involved in going from a dictatorship to a fragile democracy. The artists who are participating in the fall exhibition will contribute with reflective installations, strong expressive performances and video pieces. The visitor will experience a captivating mix of local traditions, social critique and modern influences; a flow between balance and provocation.
Participating artists
The Maw Naing (b. 1971) is a film director and installation artist. He will participate in the exhibition with the work In and Out of Thin Layers, which includes fifty mosquito nets in different colours, hanging from floor to ceiling. Maw Naings work is much influenced by Buddhism and invites the visitors to participate in the work through meditation. This piece illustrates the view of balance as a tool to achieve stability in the Burmese society.
Kolatt (b. 1987) works with performances and film, his work often concerns LGBT issues, which problematizes the conservative views on gender and identity in Burma / Myanmar. Kolatt has, through Färgfabriken, received a residence scholarship at IASPIS and he will during the opening, 8th of September, hold a performance in the main hall. Kolatt participate in the exhibition with the video piece King and Queen together with the artist Yadanar Win.
Yadanar Win (b. 1990) is a performance artist who through her work explores her own identity and role as a working woman in today’s Burma / Myanmar. In Kolatt and Yadanar Wins collective work, King and Queen, they transform a traditional Burmese wedding ceremony into something else, through play, staging and questioning current roles and expectations.
Ma Ei (b. 1978) is a video and performance artist, working with women’s role in today’s Burma / Myanmar and studies the relationship between the traditional and the prevailing image of what a woman is and is expected to be. To illustrate this Ma Ei experiment with different attributes such as clothes, rumours and sex. Ma Ei participating in the exhibition with her film Strawberry Piece.
Further reading
An art scene in transition
– By Nathalie Johnston
In Burma/Myanmar, the contemporary art scene is experiencing a major transitional shift. Decades of isolation between 1960 and 2010 created an ecosystem of groups who have worked hard to sustain creative outlets without any governmental or international support.
Small galleries and private spaces became home to major movements. In this, a culture of protest grew out of a vision for a better future. Today, with new prospects and support, the shift in the contemporary arts bears witness to a previous struggle with censorship, traditionalism and lack of resources. With growing confidence, artists in Burma can stride into the future knowing that they are the harbingers of change. Similarly, some artists choose performance art, which is transient in its nature, and others will return to figurative or impressionist painting. The media used by artists have been adapted to a local sensibility over the last century.
Burmese artists have been limited by restrictions, but are no longer bound by them. People of multiple generations can witness this transition and create artworks to define this seminal time in the history of the country.
In Balance and Provocation, four artists have been selected for their innovative processes. This includes experimentation with new media, experiences over the past four decades living in Burma and the ability to approach traditional elements of Burmese culture through the lens of contemporary society.
The Maw Naing addresses aspects of Buddhism through his mosquito net installation. In Burma, Buddhism is an ever-present part of life. Whether or not one practices, living in the country means an encounter with the Buddhist faith on a daily basis. It provides peace and balance, as well as separatism and provocation.
Ma Ei explores the expectations on a woman in a conservative and traditional environment. Her lifestyle and artistic approach challenge and provoke the audience.
Today’s national leaders mimic the former kings and queens when they bicker and bargain. Kolatt and Yadanar Win find a humorous tone by playing political roles dressed in traditional costumes.
Through the balance of power, the provocation of politics and the meditative balance of Buddhism, contemporary artists reflect on the on-going transition of Burma.
Nathalie Johnston, curator based in Burma
Yangon, July 2016
Program
The political situation in Burma/Myanmar – Seminar by the Swedish Burma Committée
1 October 2016 14.00
Johanna Kvist from the Swedish Burma Committée will talk about the current political changes in Burma/Myanmar, a country transitioning from military dictatorship into a fragile democracy.
The Monk – Film screening of The Maw Naings feature film
27 October 19.00 Main hall, Färgfabriken
Färgfabriken is screening The Maw Naings award winning feature film The Monk from 2014.
Read more about The Monk
The Monk
Burmese / Czech co-production, 95 min
Language: Burmese
Subtitle: English
The film follows a young boy named Zawana and his life in a Buddhist monastery in a small rural village in Burma. When the monastery’s spiritual leader suddenly becomes ill, Zawana is forced to make a number of difficult and crucial decisions.
This is a story about a young man’s search for identity and making your own decisions in a rapidly changing world.
For about ten years ago a democratization process started in Burma, after 50 years under military rule, and the expectations on the country’s future are high among the population. Burma’s political and social situation carries many similarities with the film’s protagonists, who is also facing an unpredictable future which can both lead to new and great opportunities, as problems and recessions.
Film crew:
Director: The Maw Naing
Author: Aung Min
Photo: Tin Naing Win
Main cast:
Novice Zawana: Nyi Kyaw Thu
Mariar: He Newe Nyein
Abbot U Dahma: Thein Eng Myint
Munk Yawata: San Mow
In Burma it is a common tradition for monks to use mosquito nets to meditate in. The nets creates a separate room for thoughts and reflection with their thin layers. Although The Maw Naing has an ambivalent and complex relationship to religion, he finds the essence of the buddhist practice of meditation as a useful knowledge. In In And Out of Thin Layer The Maw Naing raises issues of existentialism, what it means to be human and how we need to look to ourselves to thrive and to maintain peace.
Guided meditation and practical lecture with Kelsang Jangdom
12 November 14.15
Examine meditation, under the guidance of Buddhist monk, Kelsang Jangdom, held in the exhibition Balance and Provocation, placed inside the installation In and Out of Thin Layers by The Maw Naing.
Documentation
