Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

This work started with a theatrical workshop in Taixi Village, Dacheng Township, Changhua County, and with a distinct sensibility, represented the environmental ethics in Taiwan in a mythological, allegorical manner. From the issue of pm2.5 to the story of NuWa, its script adopted real-life materials and observations, and converted them into a technological imagination of the absurdly phantasmagorical island. Incorporating the energy of experienced performers from the People’s Theater, traditional Taiwanese seven-word poetry singing, body language that partly resembled dancing, testimonies performed live by villagers from Taixi, and its sonorous, vehement live music, the play, performed at a dark and dilapidated, semi-outdoor space, was a powerful and exceptional work that has interwoven artistic creation, social issues, and the theater. (Commentator: Yang Mei-Ying)

Artwork Introduction

This work envisions a virtual, imaginary world in the future, and is about the oldest Chinese mythic tale. It originated in 2014 and has already been developed for half a year. We conducted a field study for South Wind in Taixi Village in Changhua County, where South Wind—Witness Theatre that revolved around the villagers as the subject was formed. The latter is a documentary theatrical production about the harm of PM2.5 air pollution from the Sixth Naphtha Cracking Plant, which has been later adapted into an allegorical play, titled The Transformation of NuWa.

Everyone is familiar with the story of “Nuwa Mending the Sky.” A mythic goddess, the mythic tale of Nuwa’s life comprises two major events: one is her creation of humans by molding clay, and the other, the mending of the sky. In the case of the former, the goddess is the mother to humanity, and in that of the latter, she is the mother to the earth. 

However, in this fable featuring the future world, the goddess faces a different fate: in a city where memories of suffering are converted into a resource for tourism and consumption, she is infected with a virtual computer virus called “Unknown.” Later, at a seaside village on a petrochemical island, she discovers that she has a cancer known as “Ruins.” Both factors eventually lead to her transformation. Since then, innumerous people who have carried out resistant actions as results of the history of violence and plunder are said to be the mutant descendants born after her transformation.

This project explores the method of writing and the expression of poetry through the theatrical body. It further contrasts allegorically an ancient mythic tale and the contemporary issues of air pollution and sacrifices of the lower social stratum through bodily actions in a theatrical setting, thus conveying the theatrical aesthetics of the human society. The Transformation of NuWa utilizes bodily action, and intentionally avoids the aesthetics of Eastern exoticism amidst a ritualistic setting. Contrarily, it features the grassroots body language commonly found in Taiwanese folk temple fairs as a form of facilitating connection and rebellion. Whereas the former focuses more on rebirth, the latter is closely associated with post-humous desire, highlighting the interdisciplinary aesthetics of the theatre. 

In addition, from February 27 to 28, 2016, the production included Counteraction in the Hometown—The Story of Taixi, and will be staged in Taixi Village, which has been severely polluted by the Sixth Naphtha Cracking Plant. The performance will include: 1. Taixi villagers—South Wind: A Witness Theatre; 2. Hsu Cheng-Tang—Hometown: A Photography Exhibition; 3. We Are in the Same Boat—Be Gone, Air Pollution, a parade puppet theatre; and 4. Assignment Theatre—The Transformation of NuWa. 

About the Artist 

The Assignment Theatre Group was founded in 1996. The founder, Chung Chiao, has begun collaborating with numerous people’s theatres in Asia and has several times organized collective performances or theatrical exchange workshops. While utilizing training methods and theoretical systems Assignment Theatre parts from reality and then taking into account local history and living experience, the Theatre seeks for performance aesthetics in modern theater. In addition to regularly held community and educational workshops which encourage communities and disadvantaged groups to take part, the Theatre takes part in general exchanges between other Asian people’s theatres as well as artists so as to adapt to the impact of globalization. Its short-term goal is to expand and deepen its interaction between other people’s theatres all around the world.