- Date 2014.11.08
- Venue The Multi-Showcase Exhibition Hall, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park
2014 Innovation Series-ReSet in W.A.V.E.
YiLab
Comments on the Finalists
Mythology is a common theme in dancing, and technology has been the pursuit of performance. However, it is rare to see a dance performance like 2014 Innovation Series-ReSet in W.A.V.E. by YiLab that presents technology from a mythological point of view. In the performance, we saw the suspended, changing lighting matrix that almost formed the mystic order of a mythological world, the down-pressing wall of light that embodied the violence of mythology, as well as SU Wen-chi’s fierce body that reminded us of insects or beasts, and which delivered the struggle between human beings and technology. It was precious that SU did not fall into the traditional dichotomy between the artificial technology and the natural body. For instance, as the rays of light glistened more violently and the sounds got harsher, it seemed to announce the moment of destruction brought about by technology; yet, instead of returning to the physicality, the dancers assumed a body that amalgamated mechanical power and ritualistic dancing, which reminded us of a war machine as well as a shaman or a god. The Hindu deity, Shiva, is both the god of dance and the god of destruction. In a way, SU was like Shiva showing the way we have danced with destruction in the technological era. (Commentator / KUO Liang-Ting)
About the Work
ReSet in W.A.V.E. is developed along the thinking about sea waves and waveform as the overall imagery, and attempts to deal with intersecting experiences in contemporary life, including nature and artificiality, reality and virtuality, temporal memory and sensory experience, from which the production then explores the relations surfacing and disappearing between these changes in the state of survival. Su Wen-Chi’s body manifests the subjective expression of the primal force of life, and extends the artistic team’s initial reflection on the co-depending relationship between technology and life through various metaphors in the form of contemporary living space embodied by a mechanical and motorized sound and light installation on the stage. Amidst illusory scenes informed by the changes produced by the sound and light installation, the performer moves through light, shadow and sound, while guiding the audience to vividly perceive the unique qualities emerging from the contemporary life through the virtuality, decay and demise that are inevitable in the contemporary world.
About the Artist
YiLab was established by the director and choreographer SU Wen-chi in 2005. Su has always strived to explore the potentiality of performing arts in the context of new media, extending her inquiry and reflection about the impact of the digital age on contemporary art. The belief of YiLab is that there is not one particular central medium in one work; each participating artist is an individual, who is capable of independent creation and free to adopt different perspectives to explore the subject of the work.
