Marintan Sirait is a prominent female transdisciplinary performance artist based in Bandung, Indonesia. Recognised as one of Indonesia's pioneer female performance artist, she has consistently focused on researching, thinking about and expressing complex relations between the body, self, Nature and spirituality. Her seminal performance art work, Membangun Rumah, is a result of that research and expression, and she has performed it in many countries, biennales and exhibitions. She has also been instrumental in initiating crossart platforms and collaborations involving artists, the youth and different communities in Indonesia.
Background and education
Marintan Sirait was born in Braunschweig, Germany, and based in Bandung, Indonesia. Sirait graduated from the Ceramics Department of Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia in 1987, but was already working as a ceramist-artist before graduation. She found national and international prominence as a performance artist in the 1990s, took a hiatus from the arts in the early 2000s, but returned in 2012 to stage performances again. == Artistic Practices ==
Artistic Practices
Sirait was involved in a theatre group between 1982 and 1983 called the STB in Bandung, and the Endo Suanda Dance Theatre between 1983 and 1985. For the body to be such a conduit, it has to first be transformed, disciplined and its imposes subjugated. In so doing, the body's mind and psyche can then be expanded, allowing her and her audience or collaborators to connect in ritual, and transgress bodily and psycho-spiritual limitations. == Artworks ==
Artworks
Membangun Rumah (1994-2022) One of Marintan Sirait's seminal performance art work is Membangun Rumah (meaning Building a House), She would also sometimes incorporate sound recordings of crickets, dripping water and experimental live music to bring about a visual art/sound/body movement constellation. Sound of the Body (1993-1994) Sound of the Body was a performance artwork created in response to her husband, Andar Manik's artwork, Crackling. This was a performance work where Sirait was completely covered in mud, and moved slowly towards a ring of fire around Crackling, in her own mode of dance/ritual. == Artistic and Community Contributions ==
Artistic and Community Contributions
In 1988, Sirait co-founded Sumber Waras (Fountain of Health) with a group of experimental artists. Together, they explored awareness of the body through movement in relation to the visual arts co-founded Jendela Ide (Window of Ideas) in 1995, a non-profit arts institute and special cultural institution catering to children and youth. They also created an artist-musician family compound, called the Dalemwangi Art Space, which is akin to a laboratory space that seeks collaborations across art forms, and develop shared experiences with them, their participants and audience. Sirait also started Rumpun Indonesia Foundation, a women's media centre focusing on social change, as well as the Kalyana Learning Centre in 2020. == References ==