5th Arts & Humanities Conference, Copenhagen

TARAIYIL (GROUNDING THE BODY)

CHANDRASEKARAN S

Abstract:

Taraiyil (Grounding the Body) In the work of “Bleeding in Circle” , I approach Miko to assist me in piercing the metal hooks on the back of my body before the performance. After a short period, Miko came forward and said, ‘Maafkan saya, saya mau salawatt’ (I am sorry, I need to pray). Then, he proceeded with an act of salam, and went behind my body to recite a short prayer, quoting some Arabic verses from the Koran. After reciting the short prayer, he stood for a moment in silence and then proceeded with the act of piercing. But, it is regarded by most Islamic scholars to be forbidden for a Muslim to return the salam greeting of a non-Muslim in full . Not forgetting, Miko is a Muslim, and I am a Hindu. Such form of contradictions will be discussed in this paper through various performance artworks as a crux to redefine the primacy of performance art in Southeast Asia. Anthropologist Rob Boyd (2012) calls culture the “engine of human adaptation,” a site that human can adapt to various forms of socio-political situations. In relation to Others, the body as a cultural being is constantly been challenged with various forms of belief systems, and at time, it even negates Others. It is within this site of construal, I am introducing the concept of Taraiyil . The concept of Taraiyil explores how performance artist interacts with Others as a cultural being, and how the ‘body’ has to be grounded in order to adapt with cultural contradictions of Others. This process will be investigated by cultural ethnography research thinking process that has been enacted in real time at the site of the performances.

Keywords: Performance Art, Asian Thinking, Asian Body

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