The Transformation of Indonesian Action Art : From Awareness Art to Consciousness Art

Abstract

In the early stages of the development of the Indonesian contemporary art world over the past 30 years, there has been a widespread use of English terms that have not been adapted to Indonesian, leading to the issue of how to justify this medium. The terms "performance art" and "performing art" often become blurred in their boundaries and scope. "Performance art" in Indonesian is defined as "seni performa," while "performing art" is defined as "seni pertunjukan However, performance art is often equated with performing art, even though they have distinct histories. The existence of similar media and mutual borrowing of symbols is what then occurs. In the course of its history, it also turns out that the equivalent phenomenon representing the meaning of performance art cannot be concluded solely, but rather the awareness that Nusantara ancestors do have a tendency to express their actions symbolically. Therefore, the author once again aligns the term performance art with action art due to the artistic consequences of this symbolic behavior. In this study, the author will describe the transformation of artistic motifs from Indonesian action art, which was initially thick with Western revolutionary traditions and then on its journey returned to ancestral spiritual traditions. Using qualitative research continued with relational aesthetics approach by Nicolas Bourriaud who views contemporary art not merely as visual objects that stand alone, but as spaces of social interaction in artform. Through observation and historical literature review for over 10 years in the Indonesian and global performance art scenes, this paper will divide this medium into three parts. The first part, awareness art, is a critical action to challenge the establishment within conventional art itself or an artistic act of defense against the hegemony of the ordinate authorities that are considered to be stifling subordinate communities. The second part is a phenomenon of performance art that seeks its authenticity through intuitive body movements. The third is a participatory art movement focused on personal transformation of both the soul and mind spiritually, or what the author calls consciousness art.