- The only artist who cared enough to make the effort to get to know each of us individually, really putting into the effort to connect with the audience
- The fact that he asked about access needs – very considerate of the audience
- Similar to what Harshini mentioned, he talked about how it is important to give artist talks because artists don’t think about their work much otherwise, it is a good process to stop and think
- It is nice to articulate
- When artists state that their work is their work and they don’t want to explain it, it is just an excuse to not go deeper into their work
- He has created his definition of choreography: organizing the body in his own time and space
- Loved how he focuses on the audience, especially in the loneliness intervention where he isn’t even on the stage, giving the audience the reins, and creates new experiences each time not just for the audience but also himself
- “The Audience are the performers”
- He’s a courageous person as exemplified by his works such as the undressing room where he is getting as involved in his work as to get undressed in front of his subjects showing all his fears, vulnerabilities, and insecurities to strangers
- I think as compared to the other artists that we’ve met over 2 weeks, he is neither humble nor arrogant: he is very confident about this work and knows exactly what he wants to do but at the same time he’s very inclusive of his audience too
- As someone who’s been a science/CS student her entire life, it was one of the few times that I felt that art has more meaning to it than just aesthetics (no offense to anyone) or making art for the sake of making it, there’s a bigger purpose to it.
- I could never have imagined that dance and choreography could be used for political activism, the amount of depth and courage his entire career trajectory involves is impressive
- “Artists are not protagonists, they are not genius, they are not the center of their work” The audience needs to be involved too and they need to put in something to get something out of the experience
- Even non-participation is participating, the audience and artists need to work in collaboration (not participation as it limits what is expected from the audience)
- He also emphasized a lot on the concept of solidarity and working together as a community, realizing one’s privileges and biases, and working within the best of one’s capabilities e.g. he mentioned how he doesn’t expect artists in China/Singapore to engage in political activism because they don’t have the liberty to without endangering their lives, but he has that privilege so he should acknowledge it and put it to good use
- I also resonated with his argument that before beginning any artistic venture, he asks himself if he is the right person in the right position to get involved in that work, e.g. should he get involved in making art about women’s struggles when he doesn’t know much about it nor can relate to it? Will he mansplain by doing this? The idea is that an artist shouldn’t do everything they find interesting, somethings are not meant to be done by them
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