Beyond Pressure - International Performance Art Festival, 4-14 December 2008, Yangon, Myanmar/Burma - Democratization

This was the first time in Myanmar performance art history that a performance art event was officially allowed. This was the first international performance art festival curated by local organizers. The pervious events used to be organized by senior artists. But this time, a large scale event was made happen by a group of eager young artists. From this emerged some new generation performance artists. This is very good for the future of Myanmar performance art scene. As the festival materialized wholly under pressure, this paved way for other Myanmar artists to organize such event in the future. This really made them believe that everything was possible. This was a great opportunity for the local artists since they could exchange ideas with and learn from the foreign artists and vice versa. This helped those foreign artists realize what the Myanmar Cotemporary art scane was about. This was also a bridge for the local artists to access the internationl performance art scene. Link to poster

'Beyond Pressure' is an independent art organization created to contribute towards the expanding of Myanmar art boundaries. It is initiated and run by local artists who work in their communities to create projects that open up spaces, however small, for self-expression and discourse. As an organization, it operates fluidly, utilizing and forming networks according to necessity. It is therefore an organization close to the ground, highly adaptable, connected and efficient in the restrictive social context of Myanmar.