Tell us about your experience in Greece. How did you find the Greek art scene?
NAP: Summer 2022 was a special time for me as, after two years of the uncertain global pandemic, I could fly again to my desired destinations to continue my creative exploration through travel, exchanging cultures to generate my ever-evolving, transformational creativity. This time the experience was even more profound and memorable as I was there for a week to participate and engage with the local artists. My first destination was Athens, with my friend Dimitra Nokolopoulou (artist, curator/facilitator), who personally invited me to experience ancient, philosophical, knowledge-based Greek art and culture. It was an unforgettable memory of learning, knowing, and sharing ideas between two cultures. An educational engagement with the students not only enhanced my knowledge but also gave me a new perspective of thinking. We all went to “Florina” together. Florina is one of the Greek heavenly Islands, which is entangled by Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria. The island is surrounded by the turquoise still, breezy lake Prespa. The teacher and student learn from each other, debate, argue, and immerse. I was in a team of artists, anthropologists, and mentors. We had art talks, performances, and critical conversations on art practice and visited major museums and archaeological spaces. For the first time, I dealt with a wood block to curve its body. While I was curving the shape, my movements were creating new gestures of performance.
What was your learning? How can we incorporate learning for diversity and new possibilities for art in Bangladesh?
Greek culture is one of the ancient civilizations intertwined with history, art, architecture, science, literature, mathematics, philosophy, etc. The anthropological intervention is a vital factor that enables us to understand our history, which is the prerequisite of creating the contemporary perspective of art. The true essence of cultural narration would never be possible if we do not know our cultural background.
History is the core element of Greek culture, and it is in their DNA; they earned and owed these elements of wisdom from their prolific tradition. They have a practice of highly interactive engagement of sharing and seeking from history to build the future of the contemporary art movement. The teachers are the pillars of their knowledge, wisdom, and cultural dimensions. Students are seekers of the mythological background of the generations. Therefore, they co-exist with the ecosystem of authentic identity, cultural heritage, and humanistic nature. I learned it from their behaviour, patience, tolerance, and in-depth sense of history, culture, and education. We in Bangladesh, till date, have not been able to weave that narration into our core education. Without building the bridge of systematic mapping of the historical background, we can never be contemporary as we desire. We should not be a copycat rather, we need to create our own language of expression that we keep on losing in every generation. To have a diverse nation of unlimited possibility, we need to harness the essential Bangla culture, which is our identity regardless of being global or international.
What is overlapping Kassel in Germany? How do you feel about being a part of this performance festival after the long break of the worldwide pandemic?
After my purposeful visit to Greece, I was in Germany for about two weeks to participate in a performance festival ‘Overlapping Kassel 2022. ‘Overlapping Kassel’ was an amazing attempt and courageous movement to overlap Kassel at the same time-sharing sil/ame spaces at the fridericaneum that is the meeting point of audience in general for the prestigious Documenta Fifteen. Artist Qing Cai was the curator of the festival who connected many artists around the globe and bought them together to create, exchange and share. For me, it was another opportunity to meet performance artists from various countries, origins, and genre and know their amazing journeys as performance artists.
At “Overlapping Kassel,” we were more than thirty performance artists from all over the world who met, exchanged, and got involved with each other’s experiences not only in a mere festival format but also to celebrate freedom, to go beyond borders after lockdown. The energy of amalgamation of performance and artist is life and eternity for me, which creates ideas and possibilities. This festival connected all of us together with overlapped establishments to create a new horizon in Kassel for almost two weeks. For me, it was revisiting my body, mind, and spirit to tolerate pain and enjoy pleasure together in the realm of the vivid context of diverse discourses. This engagement was to appreciate the purely physical experience of sharing, and connecting, and to create awareness, the embodiment of a huge transformation from illusion to reality.
What is your art process? Why do artists need to go beyond their comfort zone?
I believe in my own process, as that is the only way I can learn, evolve, and excel. We are at the core of the digital era; we are dealing with AI, algorithms, big data, 4th dimensions, etc. The total context of human civilization has been shifted from one dimension (physical) to another (virtual). We are our own masters as well as monster. Last 25 years, my process was to be creative, innovative, and disruptive as well. I believe in possibilities, and without challenging my ability, I would not be able to give a change to my work to transform it into a new dimension. My highly experimental process taught me to take risks, use various media as new media, and create an opportunity for the next generation. I use emotional intelligence more than my imagination. Hence my art is intuitive and fluid. To me, everything visual can strike our emotional cord, and that is real art. It may be tangible or intangible, but it definitely has a strong presence in reality or our memory.
It is very crucial for me to go beyond my geographical border to know other cultural dimensions, their history, and their story of evolution to research and investigate a sustainable creative process. Since I believe art can do anything in terms of transformation, it is one of the important tools to change the total dynamics of our society. Our values, beliefs, awareness, manners all those soft attributes are parts of creativity and art. My art practice creates a reflection of fundamental human context and rights. Art must create synergy with spaces, time, and individuals. I prefer interventions from different cultures. Hence, my art is fluid and could be in any shape, form, and value.
What was your intention for performance art in Europe in 2022? What provokes you to perform?
I did two performances during the whole festival and one as a collaborative (in front of Frederic Museum) in Kassel, Germany. But it continued to the next subsequent places like Paris, Venice, and Lake Como, as my performances are never one attempt of the act; rather, they create a weave that continues from space to space, time to time. My ritualistic performance has been designed to connect my body, space, and that particular moment of time. So, it is vital for the exploration to investigate a space that defines a certain context. The intervention of space with my body movement discovered a new dimension that is one of the core elements of my act. The intention is to observe surroundings to create new movements, gestures, and images at a particular time. Be it in isolation, collaboration, or interrogation in a public space allows me to challenge my ability to co-create with myself and my audience.
Art is a way of reflecting life by sharpening ethics in a culture that should be projected in each encounter with any subject or object I choose to interact with. My art/performance is about arriving and responding to my inner possibility and ability. They will, in return, respond to me back with their own enabling inherent character. Because it is important to be in impermanence yet share and make a relation for that particular time in that specific space. I might revisit it, but the memory of the performance has had a space that is permanent in my mind. From performance artwork, I realized the essence of myself that for life, we need to look at the matter of death at times. Because performance art is about impermanence and always immateriality, that’s my biggest provocateur of ritualistic moments that ignited conceptualism and influenced me immensely.
You chose different countries to perform in Europe after Overlapping Kassel. How was the experience?
After Greece and Kassel, I arrived at Lake Como in northern Italy, where my body was responding to the space with lots of stones, water, and a melancholic breeze. I was around the shore to search for my lost stone that was near somewhere, I thought. It was a breezy humid day. I was interested in collecting all types of stones and carrying them to another place while balancing on my left arm one by one. The idea was to create an alternative interpretation of external force. “PoroshPathor”(Philosopher’s Stone), a Bengali word, refers to the stone that, when it touches other elements they turn into gold, a great influencer, and catalyst of transformation. Tranquil Lake Como was surrounded by all different kinds of stones, but my repetitive actions of collecting them and putting them on my arms, and positioning them into another spot on the ground was a reminder of our balance, purpose, and goal. The simultaneous action was the metaphor of never-ending thriving and acquiring the strength needed for life.
My last performance of summer 2022 was a collaboration with an outdoor sculpture piece in Venice, Italy, “voyage d’hiver” (the first sun) by the Swiss Artist Ugo Rondinone, in front of the glorious Lombardo, which leads to the complex historic buildings. “Celebrate,” the title of my performance, was not about the investigation or collaboration but rather a celebration of life after all. A trilogy of my body, the golden circle, and the floating dance body formed inside the palazzo of Scuola Grande San Giovanni. This performance was a collaboration, and I was creating a new movement of energy, not repetitive but rather vivid. After all, my art process and practice have taught me bravery with solidarity and compassion. But I learned that we must all surrender to change in the end, which is my manifestation as an artist. And I want to state at the end, “When a friend smiles at you and calls your name, you can’t help but smile to respond once again.”
Photo Courtesy
Istvàn Kovács
Dimitra Nikolopoulou
