daniel kok / diskodanny.com





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Choreography / Artistic Research  

bio / C.V.
Home Bound 
ENTANGLEMENTS
Hundreds+Thousands 
Still Lives 
Rules of Engagement 
xhe 
MARK 
Bunny
Tie Massage
PIIGS
Cheerleader of Europe
The Cheerleader (Low Kee Hong)
The Stripper’s Practice
Planet Romeo
ddd
Hokkaido (Or Somewhere Like That)
Q&A
DANCE NUCLEUS
assorted essays










Daniel Kok studied Fine Art & Critical Theory (Goldsmiths College, London), Solo/Dance/Authorship (HZT, Berlin) and Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies (APASS, Brussels). In 2008, he received the Young Artist Award from the National Arts Council (Singapore). 

His artistic research explores the politics of inter-subjective relationality. By drawing a key distinction between spectatorship and audienceship, he highlights the tension between the experience of an individual and that of a group. From 2010 to 2018, he created performances through ‘figures of performance’ - such as the pole dancer, cheerleader, and military commander - each engaging the crowd through specific tools and protocols. 

Since 2014, he has collaborated with Melbourne-based artist Luke George on a performance practice based on rope bondage that investigates collective negotiations of consent and intimacy. Their performances are live experiments in democratic politics and acquiescence, welcoming failure as part of a radical approach to consensus and coalescence. Their work has been presented across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America, including at the Venice Biennale, AsiaTOPA (Melbourne), Singapore International Festival of Arts, and Taipei Arts Festival. Still Lives: Melbourne won Outstanding Contemporary and Experimental Performance and Design/Technical Achievement at the 2023 Green Room Awards.

As Artistic Director of DANCE NUCLEUS (Singapore), Daniel develops capacity for independent artists and builds trans-local partnerships across the Asia-Pacific. He regularly coaches younger artists in the formulation of their praxes across four domains - Research, Creation, Production, and Dissemination - treating independent artistic production as a question of dramaturgy in and of itself. He also curates the da:ns LAB coaching programme and the VECTOR exhibition of performance annually with support from the Esplanade (Singapore).

Daniel Kok is based between Singapore and Berlin.

C.V.

                                                                                   


05.Rules of Engagement, 2019
Daniel Kok
Lecture Performance
Rules of Engagement is a performance-lecture commissioned by Maxim Gorki Theater’s (Berlin) WAR OR PEACE festival in 2018 that commemorates the centennial anniversary of the armistice of the first World War.

The work is based on Daniel Kok’s experiences as an infantry commander in the Singapore Armed Forces. In this performance, he employs the battle procedures of the infantry, such as the infantry commander’s operational orders for his troops to prepare them for a battle and military mission. 

In Version 1 of Rules of Engagement, the Battle of Verdun of World War 1 was the basis of the work. In future iterations of the work, Daniel Kok will readapt the lecture/[erformance to refer to a historic battle that is of relevant to the local audience that he addresses. 

Creator and Performer: Daniel KOK
Creative Assistant: LEE Mun Wai
Dramaturge: Jens HILLJE
Special Thanks to: Mazlum Nergiz, Sergiu Matis