TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — This weekend, Indonesian visual and performance artist Melati Suryodarmo will bring her latest work, “Lapse,” to Taipei, inviting audiences to view chaos not as disruption, but as the seed of a hidden order.

Drawing on years of research into the tension between structure and unpredictability, “Lapse” transforms disorder into a lens for reflection, exploring memory, nature, and the hidden rhythms that shape human life. On stage, dancers portray humans, spirits of tin, and a white-furred creature drifting like a shadow through time, guiding viewers across past, present, and future, according to a Taipei Performing Arts Center press release and CNA.

In this continuous flow of movement and time, moments of apparent disorder reveal subtle patterns that quietly govern how people and communities coexist. Suryodarmo extends her past exploration of endurance performance into group choreography, using striking visual language and sound design to interpret disordered states and uncover the intervals of life within them.

The title “Lapse” evokes oversight, rupture, and temporal gaps, reflecting a world marked by rapid political, economic, and social change. Drawing on her training in Butoh, tai chi, and classical Javanese dance, Suryodarmo guides performers through movements that shift from near stillness to sudden bursts of energy, evoking a collective ritual at the threshold between collapse and renewal.

Inspired by everyday life in Indonesia, she highlights moments where apparent chaos reveals its own order, such as a mother navigating crowded streets with a child, prompting strangers to slow down collectively. Through “Lapse,” Suryodarmo encourages audiences to reconsider these connections and reflect on the fragility of civilization.