Memoirs or Moe Satt's Memoirs
KADIST presents Memoirs or Moe Satt’s Memoirs , a solo exhibition by visual and performance artist Moe Satt. The four-day show features Satt’s performance Memoir Cocktails (2016-ongoing) alongside his photographic series F n’ F (2009) and his single-channel videos Hands Around Yangon (2012) and Frog Fighting (2016). Together, the artworks engage with various meanings and uses of hands in Myanmar from daily secular rituals, childhood games, and cultural implications to political signals. A long-term focus for Satt, hand gestures are central to all aspects of local lives from the moment they carry a newborn baby to the closing of eyes in the final moments of life. They also evoke a particular state of mind of Buddhist deities. On the opening night, Moe Satt performs Memoir Cocktails (2016-ongoing). Satt’s work weaves a story of Myanmar’s politics, culture, and society through preparing and consuming cocktails selected for their historical relevance. The story is divided into four eras significant to Myanmar’s modern sociopolitical history, namely British Burma (1824-1948), the Japanese occupation (1942-1945), military dictatorship (1962–2011) and democratic periods (1948–1962 and 2011-ongoing). The performance setting simply consists of four tables–each corresponding to one time period and its related cocktail– in a dimly-lit modest room. It is performed for the first time in the United States at KADIST. Three performances of approximately 20 minutes each take place at 6:30pm, 7pm, and 7:30pm. RSVP to reserve a space. A limited number of non-RSVP spaces will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Visual and performance artist Moe Satt uses his own body as a symbolic field for exploring self, identity, embodiment, and political resistance. He is part of a renowned generation of experimental contemporary Myanmar artists who overcame government censorship and oppression to engage with conceptual artwork, the body, and identity. Satt initiated the “Beyond Pressure Public Art Festival” (2008-2014) in Myanmar and was nominated for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award in 2015. He has also curated exhibitions for more than a decade and is responsible for raising awareness around the world for the work of Myanmar artists.