Taiwan-SEA Stage: A New Wave of Performing Arts
Moderators:
- CHUNG Chiao
- Founder of the Assignment Theatre
- TAY Tong
- Director of Arts Network Asia, Singapore
Participants:
- Cholchalathan, Sutida
- Officer, Policy and Development Department,TCDC
- Tangnoi, Nuttawee
- Senior Design and Creative Development Officer, Design and Creative Business Development Department, TCDC
- Lee, Ming-Hong
- Founder, Winder Music Festival
- Lee, Pei-Hsiang
- Executive Secretary, TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan
- Lin, Yatin
- International Master's Degree Program in Cultural & Creative Industries (IMCCI)
- Hung, Iris
- Managing Director, Bamboo Curtain Studio
- Sun, Ping
- Project Director of Fly Global, National Culture and Arts Foundation
- Hsu, Pablo
- Deputy Executive Officer, Quanta Arts Foundation
- Yu, Emily
- Program Associate, Asian Cultural Council Taiwan Foundation
- Wang, Austin
- Director, Taipei Performing Arts Center
- Pramuji, Pitut
- President, Indonesian Student Association in Taiwan
The two moderators expressed their pleasure at seeing a group of people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some work at a grass roots level and are in frequent contact with immigrants in Taiwan; others are based in Europe; still others travel back and forth across the Taiwan Strait on a regular basis. Ping Sun, Project Director of Fly Global at the National Culture and Arts Foundation said that most Asian artists still prefer to go to Europe, so they see each other at art seminars and exhibitions in Europe much more frequently than in Asia. She hopes that in the future there will be more art and culture events and platforms for exchange in Asia and SEA, and that the region will develop its own model instead of copying Western models.
On the topic of international exchange, the group thought that Taiwanese performance artists tend to have a wide field of interest and are eager to learn, so the government should provide more support for visits to SEA regions. Support should also be given to SEA performance artists in order to encourage them to come to Taiwan and experience the unique art environment here. Given its cultural diversity and key geographical location, Taiwan has the potential to become the art center for SEA and to promote art exchanges within SEA. Whether or not Taiwanese artists are involved in these exchanges, the fruits and benefits will certainly be felt in Taiwan, making this country unique and valuable to the whole region. The group discussed how they could assist Taiwanese artists to take part in SEA art performances and how to foster collaboration between Taiwanese and SEA performance artists.
The Taiwanese public still know quite little about SEA, and SEA does not understand Taiwan either. Ming-Hong Lee, founder of the Winder Music Festival, said that although there are hundreds of thousands of SEA migrant workers in Taiwan, prejudice and discrimination against them still exists in Taiwanese society, which makes it difficult for the two sides to understand each other and interact more. He wants to show more people the rich cultures of SEA migrant workers by providing them with a stage at his music festival. In its third year, the Winder Music Festival chose the theme of "Dialogues between communities—You are different, we are the same”. This was the first year they invited migrant workers living and working in Zhongli, Taoyuan, to come on stage and share their music with the Taiwanese public. Also at the festival were activist groups and organizations working on issues related to SEA migrant workers who provided information to inform the public about these workers and the problems they face in Taiwan. Lee said he hopes that in the future these workers will have the chance to perform on a bigger stage.
Moderator Tay Tong asked whether Taiwan is really ready for SEA and said that the government should aim to ground art exchanges between Taiwan and SEA in the diversity of Taiwan's art landscape. He also stressed that the government should avoid the cultural imperialism of seeking to force our own values on others. In this way, creativity can be encouraged and we can have meaningful exchange.
Moderator CHUNG Chiao specifically pointed to the importance of translation and interpretation. He praised the excellent work done by the interpreter in his group, saying that it thanks to the interpreter's expertise that group members were free to speak their minds and did not have to worry about language barriers but could enjoy a delightful and fruitful evening. He said that this made him realize how important high-quality translation and interpretation are for cross-cultural exchange. He suggested that the government include in its SEA policy programs to promote the development of translation and interpreting from and into SEA languages.
Pei-Hsiang Lee, Executive Secretary of the TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan, talked about her experience working at the association. The TransAsia Sisters Association set up its own performance group in 2009. Performance gave group members—all SEA immigrants—the opportunity to touch on serious issues that relate to immigrants and migrant workers, and to call for greater attention to these issues. Last year, they even performed in Singapore and won high praise there. Singaporeans do not like to talk about politics, and were surprised to see how serious topics like this can be expressed with subtlety through performance. She also said that the Ju Percussion Music School, in their quest for artistic development, had frequently collaborated with Southeast Asian artists in recent years. Elements of both Taiwanese and Southeast Asian cultures can be seen in many of their recent works.