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NHRM launches Taiwan Human Rights Festival themed around "Echoes of Heresy"

  • Date:2021-11-04
NHRM launches Taiwan Human Rights Festival themed around 'Echoes of Heresy'

The National Human Rights Museum (NHRM) will be launching the "Taiwan Human Rights Festival" titled "Echoes of Heresy" at the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park from Nov. 20 to Dec. 12 to present 18 sessions through music, dance, drama, exhibitions and short film exhibits in conveying the power of human rights and art.

The poet and director Hung Hung (鴻鴻), who curated the event, pointed out that this year's theme "Echoes of Heresy" refers to the past when one could be suppressed, imprisoned and deemed "heretical" if he did not conform to the government’s ideology.

Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te pointed out that he is grateful to the curatorial team, Hung Hung, the musician Ma Shi-fang (馬世芳) for planning the concert, and noted that many young groups carried out a series of human rights-related performances at the event.

Lee said that many artistic endeavors derive from human rights issues, and many basic beliefs and concepts about human rights are also expressed through art such as music and drawing which can be understood by all citizens, audiences and young people.

In this year's program, Ma Shi-fang curated the "Lamp on the Road (提燈上路)" concert, inviting singers Panai Kusui (Barney), Nabu Husungan Istanda (那布), Lin Sheng-xiang (林生祥), and Ken Ohtake (大竹研) to perform.

The two music seminars include "Gramophone's Forbidden Songs (留聲機的禁歌歲月)," which will play precious gramophone records to convey history, and "Silent Oppression (寂靜鎮壓)," a saxophone and piano piece inspired by the February 28 incident.

The plays include "Rules of the Game (遊戲規則)," which will be performed by the Co-coism (明日和合製作所) and the studio Winnowork (沃手工作室); "Echoes (回聲)" which will be performed by Voleur de Feu Theatre (盜火劇團) to reenact literature on the White Terror; and "Shi Yan Shu (逝言書)," which will be performed by Against Again Troupe (再拒劇團) to familiarize the audience with historical sites.

For the dance performances, choreographer Chou Shu-yi (周書毅) and drama worker Cheng Chih-chung (鄭志忠) will perform "A Zhong and I (阿忠與我)" to stir up a dialogue from the perspective of human rights, and explore topics ranging from self, inhibition, and equality.