Aris A Yaacob (Founder of Doo-Lali Group): The Profile & History
(The picture above is taken on 2004 YTL-Penang Arts Festival, Simulacra, performed and designed by Aris A Yaacob)
Doo-Lali Group:
Founded by Aris A Yaacob,
Rozmanshah Abdullah &
Patrizia Adami Suter
The Malay Paradox:
Rereading the mythical life of the Ramayana epic.
(Featuring an animated object performance, ‘Simulacra’.)
Venue: Exeter University in conjunction with ASEASUK Conference
Date: May 2005
A paper presentation prepared by:
Aris A Yaacob
Rozmanshah Abdullah.
Performed by:
Patrizia Adami Suter
Edited by:
Penny Francis (MBE)
Abstract
In this study, we define a new concept of puppetry as ‘A new visual aesthetics of an object in parallel to constructive method of manipulation in a setting derived from the conceptual and visual interpretations. Concept refers to the general idea of source or notion which we classify in two categories as real or unconscious which generate the visual outcomes of the research’
For this study, we take into account the mythical characters of the Ramayana epic (termed as the Epic) with particular emphasis on the main characters: Soorpanaka, Ravana, Sita and Rama. In general, myths and legends are collections of stories by which we explain our beliefs and history. Myths usually confront major issues such as the origin of humanity and its traditions where more often than not myths grant continuity and stability to a culture.
The epic, which originates from the Indian Region and without certain knowledge of its authorship, has become a communality of tales throughout Asia simply because of its universal themes. However, this epic as it was handed from one generation to another became attuned to each whatever community that embraces it and here is our starting point. Of studying the Malay Paradox and reinterpreting it hence rereading the mythical life existentiality of the epic through our animated objects performance of Simulacra.
In essence, myths present guidelines for living. When myths tell about the activities and attitudes of the deities, the moral tone implies society’s expectations for our own behaviour and standards. In myths, we learn and see the archetypal situations and some of the options which can be selected in those situations there for us to apply.
From our own experience in performing, the most fulfilling and satisfactory moment for us is when our conscious mind is provoking an audience and narrating a story, which elevates life to a new dimension, away from the world of reality. This is the concept which we could personally relate to ourselves, to the existence of subconscious forms of life.
‘Simulacra’ is a Doo-Lali group performance, which inquires ‘How puppetry does mutate from one form to another?’. To investigate the evolution of puppetry; animating the inanimate object material.
We have always believed and adopted this idea in our work but were not really certain of its meaning until we read the book Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness by Rupert Sheldrake[1], Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham. Sheldrake stated that ‘There is a present moment, so there is a past and a future, and the window of the present is moving along the time wave[2]. Along the way, the future is being created by the emergence of forms of increasing complexity and increasing integrity. There is another level below, at the bottom of the figure, which I am calling chaos, or the Gaian unconscious. This contains not form but the source of form, the form of form, the material that form is made of.’
In this research, our tools are inspired by the idea above, involving the complexity and integrity of the two worlds. However, our Gaian world is interpreted as the spiritual unconscious which derives from our understanding of The Al-Quran interpretation of forms. In the holy book, it stated that, ‘Man is made of mud, jinn and satan are made of fire and angel is made of light’.
However, this interpretation does not finish here because it is a complex matter which involves the issues of ‘How we feel and relate to the form?’ and ‘How we react to the essence of form?’ . These two issues are very significant to the history of mankind and whether we realise it or not they have subjugated human nature since the first human being, Adam.
So, the statements and debates above which derive from the sources of the
‘real and unconscious’, from the Al-Quran and the latest theory of Science are concepts that we would like to use to deduce a new concept of puppetry.
Artistic Policy:
We are an international group of practitioners who have evolved from different backgrounds and practises ranging from Fine Art to Set Design, from physical theatre to performance installation. We are, naturally, mutual friends who happen to share the same passion and interest in liberating live art & performance art to the greatest height. We have found it inspiring and exciting to share our multiple skills and experiences to work together to create a new form of communication. We aim to challenge ideas and create fresh perspective, and to promote creativity in an open minded and supportive way. And so far we have been actively involved in various theatre performances and sculpture exhibitions throughout England and Malaysia.
Commitment:
Our commitment is in producing live art of the highest standard that consistently illuminates, entertains and challenges. We are also obliged to the engagement of our artistic dispositions with our audiences in syncronize with the development of the art form of theatre. By exploring the different art forms, we seek to inspire a wide audience not only through the aesthetic nature of our work, but similarly through its’ essentially ‘human’ nature. We use workshop as a frame to explore ideas and themes scenographically. As a group, we are fascinated by all elements of performance and performance space.
Live Art:
In our work so far, we strive on employing found objects, sculptures and even the sets on stage to our advantage. We principally stand on the concept of animating the non-animated for the purpose of transmogrification and also on intertwining functionality with physical space. Our performers are trained puppeteers and object manipulators where we intersperse found objects, sculptures and the like with performance into moments of wonder.
Technique:
We believe, that is, in order to substantiate the current definition of live art events globally, new and alternative performing art technique should be encouraged. Therefore we attempt to bridge live art with performance through employing our old age shadow puppet tradition. The original shadow puppet (wayang kulit) concerns mainly on the shadow, not the puppets or even the puppeteer narrating and animating the puppet. In our case, we showcase everything and bringing out all the elements of shadow puppet on stage.
Texts:
So far, we write our own text by means of adapting from local legends or from original story. Texts play second place to our productions, which function more as an excuse for us to animate objects, as impulse for our movements on stage.
Materials:
We employ diverse kind of materials as our ‘puppets’, which mainly comprise polythene sheets, wires, wire mesh, wood, sculptures (our own), and we expect to utilise many more as we develop through our future performances.
[1] Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. former director of studies in biochemistry and cell biology at Cambridge University, is the author of several books including Seven Experiments That Could Change The World.
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ASEASUK Review by Aris A Yaacob Published by kakiseni.com Magazine in June 2005 Edited by Rozmanshah, Pang and K W Mills
Abducted Traditions Uncontemporary art in a contemporary setting: Tradition- based works at a South East Asian Studies conference in UK
by Aris A Ya’acob
Tuesday June 21, 2005
A grey cold April evening had descended on Exeter, England, along with the news of Krishen Jit's untimely demise. I had arrived with an air of sadness and expectation. Before me, stood the grand old building, Crossmead Conference Centre, where over the next few days I shall meet with academicians and artists from Australia, Hawaii, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. The Association of South East Asian Studies (UK) was holding its latest conference, 2005 ASEASUK, here. The event is important (this is its 22nd meet and significant numbers of documentations were to be presented, inspired from the success of previous conferences).
I could not help but wonder about the seriousness of this conference. Particularly with regards to how seriously the Malaysian government takes it. Do we indeed belong to the South East Asian cultural circle? Because time and time again we had proven our inability to rise to the occasion (how many international conferences talk mostly about the Malays, their art, literature and psyche?). Malaysians who participated in these conferences are clearly independent of the state’s endorsement or knowledge. As armies of supporters from other respected countries made efforts to attend the opening night, ours have gone AWOL. Here at the conference, the scholars strut, the artists mingle and the public prods inquisitively at the balloon of ASEASUK. Malaysians voices and spirit quiver to the dominance of other great cultures and arts. Yes, most of the international delegates spoke Malay but it was quintessentially Bahasa Indonesia. I realised how small our impact was in the overall Southeast Asian field of studies. I began to wonder whether this occurrence is from choice or history. If the latter, then it confirms our insignificant part in the role of Southeast Asian studies. I hope it isn’t so.
The conference theme was “Turbulence and Continuity in Southeast Asia”. It highlighted five different categories: 1) Indonesian-Malay Manuscript 2) South East Asia Politics 3) Art & Material Culture 4) Sexuality in South East Asia 5) Contemporary South East Asian Tradition Based Performance.
Being a newcomer to the biennial conference where my paper presentation and performance falls within the fifth group, my enthusiasm and expectation was at a record high. The opening night (they called it a concert), witnessed poetry recitals in memory of the Tsunami tragedy. The poems were recited by Ikranegara, poet and theatre artist from Indonesia. There were also some contemporary interpretations of traditional dance, which sadly did not fit into my frame of reference, but probably served its purpose to others; a mask dance, not much different from any mask dance you had ever experienced; and an ironic yet interesting performance from Zulkifli of his Jjjadi Jawo Jawi routine; along with my own live art performance, Simulacra.
Instead of blowing my own trumpet, let me quote someone else doing it for me. Keith Mills, architect, designer and art critic, who attended the concert for the first time, said this about my group’s performance: “I was expecting some contemporary artistic performances which pushed back the boundaries of Asian theatre, but the piece presented by Doolali Group was the only truly different art form I have seen in recent years. The group’s six minutes live art depicted a scene from the stylized ‘Simulacra’ poetry written by Rozmanshah Abdullah, charged with stylistic and innovative manipulation of ‘inanimate object’, by self taught ‘dalang’ Patrizia Adami and directed by Aris A Ya’acob, guru of the group. The term ‘inanimate object’ replaces the traditional puppet associated with Wayang Kulit and in this scene, a variety of wire sculptures, plastic sheeting and illuminated objects were used in an unusual interpretation of an age old fable. A remarkable, arresting and fascinating experience.”
Prior to the concert, the performers had been given some guidance regarding content and format. Matthew Cohen, the convener for the Southeast Asian tradition-based contemporary performances (the concert), had written something about the issues pertaining to it, during which he suggested the following areas for performers to consider:
1. Questions of ownership arising when contemporary practitioners (foreign or local) repackage tradition for contemporary audiences 2. Contrasts and similarities between European and Southeast Asian modernist appropriations of Southeast Asian tradition with contemporary tradition-based work 3. Standards for judging and criticising tradition-based contemporary performance 4. Differences between tradition-based new music, theatre and dance created in ‘diasporic’ contexts and in the ‘homelands’ 5. The politics, economics and legal issues in the production of tradition-based contemporary performance 6. Traditional and non-traditional aesthetics and criticism of tradition-based contemporary performance 7. Tradition-based contemporary performance in television and film 8. Tradition-based contemporary performance and artistic exchange in national, ASEAN and global contexts 9. Forms of ambivalence, resistance and antipathy to tradition-based artistic work; the reception of tradition-based contemporary work by Southeast Asian audiences outside cosmopolitan, urbane scenes.
All of these conundrums from Matthew are nice to read and ponder upon, but what lay behind the reality of the concert performances on that night? The first disturbing issue for me is the word ‘contemporary’. It is apparent from Matthew’s guidelines as listed above that contemporary issues weigh heavier on the audience, and less so on the performances. After my group’s live art performance, as well as Ikranegara’s, Zul’s and others, it dawned on me that the tradition-based contemporary performance genre is very much in its infancy. I can risk saying this because the performances that night were merely safe and grounded works. What is so contemporary about dancers dancing traditionally in accord with their movement and music? What is so contemporary about performers who dress exactly or close to their forefather’s costumes?
The long and often overplayed debate on what is ‘contemporary’ will assuredly produce no end of questions on definitions. As for me, it is all about my personal point of view in relation to time and creation. If a tradition-based contemporary performance relies heavily on the tradition, say, from the inherited movement of hands and gestures right down to the traditional sound accompanying the performance, or even to the context of the whole performance, then sadly the performance is nothing but an empty shell – simply a recreation. Contemporary performances should, to my understanding, be allegorical, even slightly diabolical. According to Craig Owen, historian and art critic, “The pertinent issues dwelling in this kind of traditional based performance should encompass more on critical rather than historical interest.”
The second day followed more academic explanations of various artists’ raison d’etre for their works. They were, nonetheless, interesting for the sheer variety of opinions and presentations expressed by individual members. A highlight of the conference was the presence of Matthew Cohen, resident expert, cultural adviser and senior lecturer in South East Asian studies at University of Glasgow. He studied Wayang Kulit in Indonesia and travelled widely to Southeast Asia to pursue his passion in the genre. Matthew presented a highly condensed, illuminating and fascinating history and background to Wayang Kulit in South East Asia in relation to global context. It was clear from the presentation that this man’s knowledge and understanding of his subject are considerable and probably world class. He stated that:
“Southeast Asian performing art traditions have offered non-traditional artists and art promoters fodder for quotation, appropriation, abduction, and repackaging for more than a century. Southeast Asian traditions famously ‘influenced’ and ‘inspired’ a raft of late imperial European and American composers, directors and choreographers including Debussy, Artaud, Craig, Ruth St. Dennis, and La Meri. Tradition also less famously provided a basis for Southeast Asian modernists, such as choreographer and dancer Raden Mas Jodjana, who reworked Southeast Asian traditions for presentation on elite stages to Euro-American and Southeast Asian avant-garde audiences.”
His pronunciation of local artistic terminology, ‘Wayang Kulit’, ‘Wayang Wong’ etc, was delivered as if he were a local resident of these colourful, distant lands. (No wonder he settled down with an Indonesian lady!) . As convener for the event, though, Matthew had little or no influence over what was to be presented by the various artists. However, if the majority of the offerings fell short of most people’s expectations for a truly contemporary event, it is the ideology of the participants who are to blame and not the convener.
And as for us in Malaysia, our over sensitive powers are always waiting to pick up on our every unconscious thought. As a result, many of our contemporary art practitioners are moving out of the country to find freedom. For eg.- Aida Redza (Netherland), Mavin Khoo (London), Doo-Lali (London) and Huzir Sulaiman (Singapore). Malaysian artists who have based themselves in Malaysia are great and talented but they have to comply with the rules and regulations of the authorities as represented by DBKL, Jabatan Agama Islam, etc. Who then, dare to contemporarise (a terminology borrowed from Krishen Jit) the old for the new? Anything when put into meaningful concentration and attention can produce results of outstanding stature. It is about channelling and repositioning parallel thoughts, assembling it through rigorous regime. It was never order that won. Chaos actually rules.
~ ~ ~
Aris A Yaacob, Malaysian born Scenographer, is the artistic director of Doo-Lali, London. He will be launching his solo 'Live Art: Poetic Painting' exhibition in London at Light Gallery Mayfair from 7-14 November 2005 - Supported by Bluequadrant Design and Jimmy Choo Couture.
Edited by K W Mills and Rozmanshah Abdullah (and Pang)
Copyright @ kakiseni.com Sdn. Bhd.
posted by Aris A Yaacob @ 6:09 AM
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