Negotiating between Tradition and Contemporaneity in International Performing Arts Collaboration
By ARTWAVE - Taiwan International Arts Network
Date : 18 Oct 2019
Time : 10.00 - 12.00
Where : BACC, Room 501
Duration : 2h
Representing : Taiwan and Thailand
Speakers:
I-Wen Chang (Assistant Professor at Taipei National University of the Arts)
Sojirat Singholka (Pichet Klunchun Dance Company/Chang Theatre)
Pawit Mahasarinand (Director of BACC)
The theme of BIPAM 2019 is Eyes Open, and it’s a proposal to look at things with open eyes to recognize the difference and with the aspiration to come together and join hands. Following the theme of BIPAM 2019, “Thailand and Taiwan - Negotiating between Tradition and Contemporaneity in Performing Arts” panel will focus on the performing arts exchange between Thailand and Taiwan. It invites Sojirat Singholka, and Pawit Mahasarinand, to have a discussion with I-Wen Chang (performance critic and professor of Taipei National University of the Arts).
This panel will centre around the international collaborations between Thai and Taiwanese artists, such as pieces “BEHALF” and “Rama’s House,” created by Pichet Klunchun (Thailand) and Wu-Kang Chen (Taiwan), and cases from Chang Theatre’s international connection with Taiwanese artists. The conversation addresses how these iconic choreographers cooperate internationally to rewrite the conflicting history of performance in South East Asia, and how their works reflect a fraught genealogy of corporeal conformity in the context of tradition and contemporaneity in South East Asia. The panel will also concentrate on the institutional aspects of international collaboration between Thailand and Taiwan. It will address practical and administrative issues of international performance collaboration and/or co-production. In sum, “Thailand and Taiwan- Dialogue between Tradition and Contemporaneity in Performing Arts” panel provides an overview of how proximity the artistic exchange can be between Thailand and Taiwan, to serve as examples for future collaboration among Southeast Asian arts.
ทำความรู้จักกับ ARTWAVE แพลตฟอร์มศิลปะนานาชาติโดยมูลนิธิศิลปวัฒนธรรมแห่งชาติไต้หวัน (NCAF) ที่อยากพบปะกับศิลปินชาวไทยและผู้ที่สนใจในวงการศิลปะการแสดงทุกคน ARTWAVE จะมาเราไปรู้จักกับวงการศิลปะการแสดงร่วมสมัยในประเทศไต้หวัน และพูดคุยถึงทิศทางความร่วมมือระหว่างไต้หวันกับประเทศไทย และประเทศอื่น ๆ ในภูมิภาคเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้
About ARTWAVE— Taiwan International Arts Network
Launched by the National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF), ARTWAVE-Taiwan International Arts Network is a global online platform for the connection between the Taiwanese art world and the world. The NCAF was founded in 1996 for the purpose of actively leading, supporting and fostering an ideal environment for the development of culture and arts. In the process of continuously providing grants for art projects, the NCAF has stayed closely in tune with the development all types of artistic creations in Taiwan. In 2014, the NCAF set out to create a global network based on the aforementioned foundation by providing resources for art groups and communities in the private sectors to develop a wide range of international exchange channels. Eventually, in 2018,ARTWAVE-Taiwan International Arts Network is founded.
The name ARTWAVE was inspired by the combination of TW (Taiwan), ART and the word WAVE, which denotes the geographical location of Taiwan where oceanic currents converge and international interactions bloom. In terms of its operation, ARTWAVE not only continues in developing the network formed throughout the years, it also actively seeks collaborations with domestic and foreign arts and cultural organizations in hope of creating a strong brand that promotes Taiwanese artists and their works among the international art communities.
ARTWARE extends open arms to welcome all possibilities of international collaboration, and hopes to excite waves for the collision, integration and convergence of artistic energies worldwide to collectively create a mesmerizing landscape of contemporary art.
Website: https://artwave.ncafroc.org.tw
About the speakers
I-Wen Chang
is an Assistant Professor at Taipei National University of the Arts. She received her PhD in Culture and Performance at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her areas of specialization include salsa dance, Taiwanese theatrical dance, intercultural performance, post-human performance, and contemporary art criticism. I-Wen is the co-author of the book Pina Bausch: Dancing for the World (Taipei: National Performing Arts Center, 2007), Popular Dance Reader (Taipei: Dance Research Society Taiwan, forthcoming), and a performance critic for the Artist Magazine (Taipei) and Performing Arts Review Magazine (Taipei) since 2007.
Sojirat Singholka
is the producer of Pichet Klunchun Dance Company and director of Chang Theatre. She graduated with BA (Second Class Honors) from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University majoring in speech communication in 1995. After graduation, she spent 1 year with an intercultural learning program called “Up with People” to learn more about different cultures and customs through music, volunteerism, international travel, and host family stays. With the experience from the program, which provides exciting and challenging opportunities to develop personal and professional skills while making positive change in the world, Sojirat became more interested in “intercultural communication and intercultural management”. She then continued her master's degree in “Intercultural Management” from the School for International Training (SIT) in 1999.
After finishing her master degree in 2002, Sojirat started work as a PR officer at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University until 2012. In 2003, she began working as Pichet Klunchun’s manager and later became the manager and producer of Pichet Klunchun Dance Company. She has produced several pieces of the company’s work: Chui Chai (2010), Black and White (2011), Tam Kai (2012), Nay Nai (2014), Dancing with Death (2016) and Bird (2018). In addition to her role as manager, Sojirat also works as a director of Chang Theatre.
Pawit Mahasarinand
is a Fulbrighter and an Asian Cultural Council (ACC) fellow, and the director of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), an independently run multi-disciplinary arts centre and the hub of BIPAM, Bangkok Theatre Festival (BTF) and Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB).
Previously, Pawit ran Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, presenting and producing contemporary dance and theatre performances, workshops and lectures by artists from several countries and disciplines, including Pichet Klunchun and Myself, Democrazy Theatre Studio’s Happy Hunting Ground, Hamlet by Shakespeare’s Globe, Compagnie Non Nova’s P.P.P., Pascal Rambert’s Love’s End and A (Micro) History of World Economics (danced), Oriza Hirata’s Sayonara, Metamorphosis (Android Version) and Bangkok Notes and M.O.V.E. Theatre’s Kuang Qi.
The first president of the International Association of Theatre Critics’ (IATC) Thailand centre, Pawit was critic-in-residence at Festival/Tokyo 2011, Asia Pacific Dance Festival 2015 and City Contemporary Dance Festival 2017. His articles can also be found in Greenwood Press’ Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre and Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre. Awarded “chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres” by France’s Ministry of Culture and Communication, he is currently a member of the Southeast Asia Advisory Committee (SEAAC) for Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture.
Venue Information
Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)
Opposite MBK and Siam Discovery, Rama I Rd.
Nearest station:
BTS National Stadium, Exit 3