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攝影 │王政中
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攝影 │王政中
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攝影 │王政中
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攝影 │王政中
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攝影 │王政中
Human Party─2017 New Points on Stage@Lab
King Kong Wave Production, HUNG Wei-Yao
Venue：Songshan Cultural and CreativePark，Songyan Creative LAB
Comments on the finalist artworks
When audiences walked into the space of SongYan Creative Lab, they were also walking into a party. The party was constructed by several crudely made, yet intriguing installations, which were put together to create a quotidian but somewhat absurd space. Audiences lingered in the space, being seemingly “guided” by the performers’ nonchalant, playful actions, which might even seem a bit tedious. However, when audiences began to let their guard down, the impact became imminent. The audiences on the other side of the high wall were, in fact, peeping at this group of self-assured audiences. Between the act of looking and being looked at, the space was transformed into a “human menagerie” that brought out the boundary between humans and other species, between people, and between an individual and the self. The boundary is a fine line that defines discrimination, the sense of superiority and the defensive mechanism of the human psyche. In a light and easy way, the director has explored a topic that is essentially serious without the boredom of preaching and achieved impactful and touching results through clever approaches. (Commentator: LIN Tsai-Yun)
About the Artwork
This is a fusion performance. The space has been divided into two zones. The audience begins by entering into the Exhibition Zone where they primarily experience and interact with the objects displayed. When they enter the second Human Zoo zone, they will be able to observe the next batch of audience members in the Exhibition Zone through a one-way mirror, who unknowingly become animals on view. Here, the audience dons headsets in order to listen to the commentary and to participate in game-play as they become immersed in the fabricated world of a human zoo.
Inspiration for this work came from the zoo. HUNG Wei-Yao believes that the act of human beings as animals is a fascinating behavior which bypasses various issues to cut to the essential. In the first half, he establishes space and game rules as the major and fundamental basis for the human world, and then he attempts to create an absurd exhibition arena that subverts both. In the Human Zoo for the second half, boundaries and rules are reclaimed, enabling the audience to contemplate the origin of all of these partitions and regulations. Are human beings necessarily the gods on Earth, establishing all laws? In what manner should we ultimately exist, and what are the rules over all? A contemplative and interpretive space is reserved for the audience.
About the Artist
HUNG Wei-Yao
Theater worker and head of King Kong Wave Production, HUNG Wei-Yao is a graduate of the National Taipei University of the Arts School of Theatre Arts. His directorial repertoire includes: Wet Dream Remix (2017, King Kong Wave Production); Wet Dream (2015, Young stars, New Vision); Non-conflicting Era 2.0 (2015 Macau City Fringe Festival).
King Kong Wave Production
King Kong Wave Production was established in 2016 by HUNG Wei-Yao with three co-founders and fellow alumni of the NTUA School of Theatre Arts: WU Yen-Ling, SUN Wei-Jen, and CHEN Yu-Dien; each contributing in their roles and in an ad hoc complementary capacity. The “wave” symbolizes the forward propulsion of the group as it consistently impacts and resounds with the Taiwanese audience. At present, performance works include HUNG Wei-Yao’s Wet Dream Remix, CHEN Yu-Dien’s collaboration with magician Sean CHOU in Animator for the 2016 New Points on Stage@Lab, as well as SUN Wei-Jen’s Return to Life and SUN’s directorial effort in Afterwards for the 2017 Young Stars New Vision.
