Burmese artist Moe Satt presents a live group choreography of face and finger movements. The performers use only their bodies as tools and enact a ritualistic sequence of over 100 ‘hand sculptures’. These are based on gestures observed by the artist in the streets of Yangon, Myanmar. Using a poetic form of communication, the performers explore how meaning changes when hand signs are combined with facial expressions.
This performance was originally developed in 2008. It is also the subject of Satt’s Tate collection video work ‘F n’ F (Face and Fingers). Satt has staged the performance work in different places around the world. The sequence has accumulated additional gestures over time. This latest iteration is devised specially for Tate Modern’s South Tank.
Moe Satt is part of a generation of contemporary Burmese artists who have engaged with experimental practice as a form of resistance to government censorship and oppression in Myanmar. Adopting abstract and conceptual techniques rather than taking direct political action, Satt’s artworks use the body as a site for expression and dissent.
This performance takes place in the context of the exhibition Moe Satt: Rest the Thumbs on the Cheekbones at Delfina Foundation.
Performers: Showmi Das, Takeshi Matsumoto and nick von kleist/nvk
Supported by Jim Amberson, Tabula Rasa Gallery, Tate Performance Activation Fund and Tate Americas Foundation. This performance is organised in collaboration with Delfina Foundation.