I have a vision that I call Gesamtkunstbefreiung: liberating myself and those on the margins of identity from the brain cell up, creating a new language and philosophy through which to humanize ourselves. In my end vision, this language and philosophy have to be enacted through the very bodies that they seek to liberate. This is where my dance and performance art projects are situated – in the space where the permanence of text, the ephemeralness of movement and the boundaries of our identities meet. The end point is an aesthetic one: creating a desire to live from within our bodily existence from the brain cell up, despite the darker political truths about our vulnerable brains.
“The Air is a Wall: Moving through patriarchal oppression” Bullet Plaza, Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei, December 2021
This is part of a series of improvised dance pieces that I created during my time at Treasure Hill Artist Village, exploring the state of women’s bodies in Asian societies. Before each piece, I walked the streets of Taipei, looking for bodily gestures or movements that I deemed submissive to the Taiwanese patriarchy. The dance is a study of the movements, with an attempt at eventual liberation.
“Nodding myself into submission: Neck and head studies of patriarchal oppression” Bullet Plaza, Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei, December 2021
This is part of a series of improvised dance pieces that I created during my time at Treasure Hill Artist Village, exploring the state of women’s bodies in Asian societies. Before each piece, I walked the streets of Taipei, looking for bodily gestures or movements that I deemed submissive to the Taiwanese patriarchy. The dance is a study of the movements, with an attempt at eventual liberation.
“Coming home and jumping windows: Hip and arm studies of patriarchal oppression” Half-Floor Plaza, Treasure Hill Artist Village, December 2021
This is part of a series of improvised dance pieces that I created during my time at Treasure Hill Artist Village, exploring the state of women’s bodies in Asian societies. Before each piece, I walked the streets of Taipei, looking for bodily gestures or movements that I deemed submissive to the Taiwanese patriarchy. The dance is a study of the movements, with an attempt at eventual liberation.
“The morning after: Liberated feet and arms” Wall Mural, Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei, December 2021
This is part of a series of improvised dance pieces that I created during my time at Treasure Hill Artist Village, exploring the state of women’s bodies in Asian societies. Before each piece, I walked the streets of Taipei, looking for bodily gestures or movements that I deemed submissive to the Taiwanese patriarchy. The dance is a study of the movements, with an attempt at eventual liberation.
Geschlechtsköcheleien 性粥 (Taipei, Oct 2022)
Can gender be cooked into stew? Can a cisgender woman transfer her body’s patriarchal liberation to a transgender woman? How can an oppressed woman’s movement become raw and free? How do musical strings unravel in the cultural ambiguity of pentatonic scales? A performance art project in which I infused 30kgs of rice with anti-patriarchal dance movement, and then preceded to massage, cook and feed the rice into the body of Suan6酸六, one of Taiwan’s foremost transgender performers. Music by electroacoustic composer Christoph Punzmann and cellist Ying-hao Lee.