Melati Suryodarmo studied arts at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunscheweig, Germany with a Meisterschüler qualification in Performance Art. Her art practice is informed by butoh, dance, culture studies and history, amongst others. Her work is the result of ongoing research in the movements of the body and its relationship to the self and the world, which are enshrined in photography, translated into choreographed dances, enacted in video or executed in live performance arts.
Along with her art practices, she has been working as the director of Studio Plesungan, an artist’s run space where she curated programmes such as the annual Performance Art Laboratory, the performance art festival Undisclosed Territory, Dance Laboratory Projects, and other art education programmes to empower sustainability in the art ecosystem.
Suryodarmo has presented her work at institutions all over the world, including The National Art Centre Tokyo, Japan; National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea, South Korea and Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland, amongst many others. She has also participated in many international performance arts and dance festivals.