The first floor of the Nepal Art council is bubbling up with lot of people these days. From the last 5 days (from 18th of Sept to 21st Sept, 2024) an artist has been in a constant performance. The title of the performance is… ‘What you have given me, I set free forever.’ This performance is one of its kind as there are very few people who can muster up courage to sit still for 6 long hours in the name of a performance art.
On the first floor of the council, artist Amrit Karki is sitting in the main hall. With big lights surrounding him. There are a lot of camera person who are constantly clicking the photographs of him. He is seated at in a copper mandala shaped object. The water is constantly flowing in his head and is making his entire body the shape and hues of the colors that he has put in himself. Liberation from this body and making the whatever you have given to him and what he receives only he knows.
Above the head is a Jalahari or the copper vessel where water is kept by every visitors. The way water is poured on him resembles to the mythical story of the lord Shiva given water for bathing. Yet another interpretation is that of a water when it is poured from the head, it purifies the subject itself. On the mythical note, river Ganges falls from the head of lord Shiva in order to give nutrition to all the sentinel beings.
This very concept was given to the art-show happening at the Rubin’s Museum with the title “Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now” where 14 artists from Nepal had participated in the art show happening at the museum space at New-York. Some of the artists made to the Rubin’s Museum, but Amrit couldn’t make it there. So he made the performance here in Nepal itself under the instruction of Marina Abramović.
On the first day, pure water was used and day wise the colors was added in the water. They are yellow, green, blue and red.
The visitors seemed spectacular and spellbound seeing the persistence of the artist. They were in awe seeing him sit motionless and all absorbing for all these five days. One of the visitors, Mr. Suresh Maharjan shared, ‘the performance looked awesome from the day 1, but had they not thrown away the water and let it stagnant until the last day, it would have been more interesting.’
Bhusan Shilpakar, the manager of the entire program here in Nepal, stated, ‘The performance Amrit has mustered at the Nepal Art Council needs a lot of courage. For the first time, when he came to me with the idea, my only question for him was, ‘can you really do it?’ when he answered affirmatively, I managed everything for him from the group of volunteers as well as other necessary equipment for the show. The video document that we produce everyday, would be sent to Rubin’s Musuems for it to play every day. After showing the video in New York, It is going to travel to Chicago.’
Deepak Lama, the production advisor for the performance show stated, ‘The main mandala needed to be made from copper and even the water-tank as well as jug too needed to be made from copper. It was a challenge to make such instrument in a vast scale. But after designing the 3D image of the required materials, we had to ask for one of the shop to tailor-made the necessary things.
Artist Amrit, comes to the council every-day at around 10 and from 12 he sits on the center of on a copper seat with a white cushion beneath him. The show was on till the 21st September.
Jorrit Britschgi, the Executive Director of the Rubin’s museum stated, “The Rubin Museum of Art is very proud to present a durational performance by Amrit Karki to audiences in Nepal and around the world as part of the exhibition Reimagine – Himalayan Art Now. Inspired by ritual cleansing, What You Have Given Me, I Set Free Forever, is a radical invitation by Karki to release our mental burdens by using his body to filter and capture our impurities. It is through collaborations like this performance that the Rubin hopes to draw attention to the rich traditions of the Himalayan region and how they can be a source of inspiration for people around the globe.”
Roshan Mishra, one of the co-curator of the Reimagine – Himalayan Art Now, during the conversation with the Khojpatra team stated, “What a fantastic show! Since the beginning of the exhibition, I have been particularly excited about Amrit’s performance, as this is the first collaboration with Marina Abramović’s institute—an important moment for Nepal’s performance art history. I believe this will bring significant attention to Nepali performance art. Amrit has always been exceptional and is known for taking challenges and risks. This durational piece, “What You Have Given Me, I Set Free Forever,” certainly marks him as one of the most profound and remarkable performance artists in Nepal.
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