The weekend before the last (15th-17th August 2014) saw a performance carried out over 50 hours in marathon style by visual artist Nikhil Chopra at 72-13 on Mohammed Sultan Road. Trained in fine art, with many past visual performances carried out over extended periods such as Coal on Cotton and La Perle Noir, Nikhil Chopra is to those who know, a maestro in live art, theatre, painting, photography, sculpture and installations. Commissioned for the 37th Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), Give Me Your Blood was anticipated to be presented atypically, and the invigorating art-meets-performance installation piece (much unlike the usual sort of art I have been used to) was indeed not disappointing to me as an audience member who visited him twice for two hours each time throughout the 50 hours.
Having lived in India, and studied abroad in the United States, Chopra mentions that he is sensitive to cultures and therefore always looking for points of intersections between the one he is in and the one he came from. The title of the piece was derived from the exact phrase used by Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian nationalist who was in Singapore in the 1940s on exile from India, recruiting soldiers to fight for India’s freedom from British rule. Within the piece, Chopra plays several characters, and uses Bose’s conflicted politics to tell his story in such an abstract way, so much so that I do feel a little sheepish to say, that without reading the brochure handed out at the reception, I could have actually gotten a little lost.
But later on, one realizes it to be alright that the viewer didn’t pre-read what Give Me Your Blood was meant to be about. I went in there not knowing what to expect, it being the first time I was watching installation art, and boy, did Chopra fascinate me. Every movement, action, be it of him eating, walking, sleeping, painting, wearing his clothes, taking them off, was deliberate. He did it all, seemingly oblivious to the audience gathered around him. Beginning the 50 hours marathon art piece in a large room plastered in white canvas and cladded in only a white cloth covering his loins, Chopra transformed the room (and himself) within a day. He painted forests, planes, landscapes that dominated half of the white walls while projected images of fighter planes screened out in moving images and audio recordings of bombings played on. In one scene, Chopra had himself whitewashed from top to toe, wore a blonde wig, donned a dress, and was utterly unrecognizable (as I had just arrived at that point of time). Immersed in the role (I later learn, was a character named Michelle), Chopra didn’t make eye contact, but kept me (and other audiences) captivated with his frenzied painting. Another particular mentionable scene was one with the night progressing and he prepared for bed by taking a stroll around the room. Chopra moved intently, staring purposefully and intensely at each of us, the scattered number of audience sitting on the floor, as if trying to intimidate, with us not knowing what to expect from him next.
This piece of installation art was an eye opener and I have always been of the opinion that good art makes you feel strong emotions, so hence my verdict that I had viewed an excellent show. Despite the non-mainstream, non-conformist format, Give Me Your Blood intrigued me with its play with time, and the lack of haste throughout the performance. I felt all of relaxed, curious, anticipation, waiting while Chopra acted-painted. What sort of stamina does it take for an artist to do that! Looking at what other reviewers had to say, Huang Li Jie from The Straits Times states that Give Me Your blood was a good appetizer (I interpreted it as in relation to the rest of SIFA offerings) and Mayo Martin from Mediacorp comments that Give Me Your Blood was “restrained and somber, slow and meditative”, “the very experience itself proves irresistible”, all of which I couldn’t agree more. The only regret I have is that I wished that I could have attended the show on the last day, as recommended by the curators, to get a more complete feel on Give Me Your Blood, and this translates into better time management on my part when I watch my next installation art piece.
Images by Shivani Gupta, courtesy of Nikhil Chopra