Indonesia’s Melati Suryodarmo, the featured artist at this month’s OzAsia Festival, is working with Flinders drama students in a special master class this weekend.

Melati, described by the New York Times as “Indonesia’s maverick Indonesian performance artist,” will spend today (Saturday 12 September) with Flinders Drama Centre students in the John Bishop Room at Adelaide Festival Centre.

Flinders University is a sponsor of the 2015 OzAsia Festival where Indonesia is the focus country.

Flinders drama lecturer Dr Will Peterson said the workshop is a great opportunity for students keen to “explore new ways of creating performance”.

“Suryodarmo is known for her durational work in gallery spaces, works that explore the relationship of the human body to the culture in which it lives,” he says.

“Born in Indonesia, Suryodarmo has worked largely in Germany since 1994, giving her work a transnational dimension in the themes it explores.”

Melati Suryodarmo is a protégé of the so-called “Grandmother of Performance Art,” Maria Abramović, famous for her 736-hour work, The Artist is Present, staged at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2010. Find out more at the artist’s website.

Now in its ninth year, OzAsia is a leading festival to encourage Australian-Asian cultural relationships and engaging local communities.

During OzAsia the Gamelan Sekar Laras orchestra which is based at the Flinders Pendopo cultural pavilion will support guest music director Annon Suneko Baksono and dancer Asteria Retno Swastiastuti in a performance of the Ramayana epic at the Space Theatre on 24 September. On 26 September, Flinders Jembatan academic director Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto and senior lecturer Ms F Firdaus will lead a panel discussion on Islam and Diversity in Contemporary Indonesia.

Other OzAsia events include the East by South East short film festival by honours student filmmakers at Flinders University – and participation in the Moon Lantern Festival in Elder Park on 27 September.