Qi-Arising Space: the Embodiment of Qi in Taiwanese Hypermedial Theatre
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Qi-arising Space: The Embodiment of Qi in Taiwanese Hypermedial Theatre Submitted by Yi-Chen Wu to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Drama In November 2015 . o 2 List of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...6 Acknowledgments………………………………………………………...............8 Chapter 1: Introduction ………………………………………………………......9 1.1 The nature of the research inquiry………………………………………….9 1.1.1 Examining the nature of Qi in Taiwanese hypermedial theatre…14 1.1.2 Phenomenology as the strategy of the research inquiry………...17 1.1.3 Performative space as a fundamental issue……………………...24 1.1.4 Aspects involved in the embodiment process of Qi………………28 1.2 The aims of the research…………………………………………………..30 1.3 Taiwanese hypermedial theatre…………………………………………..31 1.4 Research methodology…………………………………………………….37 1.4.1 Western and Chinese theories and philosophies………………...38 1.4.2 Analysis of hypermedial mise-en-scène…………………………..41 1.5 A perspective from the spectator’s position………………………………43 1.6 Format of the thesis………………………………………………………...43 1.6.1 The contents of each chapter………………………………………44 1.6.2 The case studies…………………………………………………….45 Part I: THE WESTERN PERSPECTIVE AND AESTHETIC CONTEXT........48 Chapter 2: Performativity and its spatiality………………………………….48 2.1 Defining performative space in hypermedial theatre……………………50 2.2 Issues relating to performative space……………………………………73 2.2.1 Agency………………………………………………………………..74 2.2.2 Inter-activity…………………………………………………………..84 2.2.3 Embodiment………………………………………………………….96 o 3 2.2.4 Presence……………………………………………………………106 2.3 Summary…………………………………………………………………123 Part II: The Chinese perspective and aesthetic context………………….128 Chapter 3: Qi and its spatial connotations in Confucian thought……...128 3.1 Etymology of Qi………………………………………………………….129 3.2 The perspective of Qi-based Confucian philosophy…………………137 3.3 Self-cultivation of Qi as the embodiment process of Qi……………..151 3.4 The construction of space activated by Qi……………………………159 3.5 Hypothesis: The connection of Qi to agency…………………………164 PART III: TOWARDS A PHENOMENOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR QI-ARISING SPACE……………………………………………………………..169 Chapter 4: Qi-arising Space: a phenomenological approach to the embodiment of Qi in Taiwanese hypermedial theatre……………………169 4.1 The embodiment process of Qi as a phenomenological conception.171 4.1.1 Heidegger’s ‘mood’ as the poetic arising of Qi (hsing) in the world……………………………………………………………….172 4.1.2 Merleau-Ponty’s ‘flesh’ as an experimental field where the body and heart-mind couple with the world via Qi…………………..186 4.2 The poetic arising of Qi (hsing) as a performative act………………203 4.3 Qi-arising Space as a performative space……………………………213 4.4 Qi-transforming inter-activity…………………………………………...228 4.5 Qi-transforming embodiment…………………………………………..233 4.6 Qi-transforming presence………………………………………………239 4.7 Summary…………………………………………………………………244 PART IV: CASE STUDIES FOR THE EMBODIMENT OF QI IN TAIWANESE HYPERMEDIAL THEATRE……………………………………………………..251 o 4 Chapter 5: Case studies………………………………………………………..251 5.1 Case study for the Qi-transforming Inter-activity: Wind Shadow by Cloud Gate Dance Company Taiwan (2006) ……………………….............252 5.2 Case study for the Qi-transforming Embodiment: CHANCEFORMATION of Life: Wind, flowers, snow and moon (2008) by Image in Motion Theatre Company………………………………………………………..266 5.3 Case study for the Qi-transforming Presence: Flow of Qi (2007) by The Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan…………………278 5.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………...291 Chapter 6: Conclusion………………………………………………………….299 6.1 Qi-arising Space in Taiwanese hypermedial theatre…………………..299 6.2 Further development of this research…………………………………...311 Glossary…………………………………………………………………………..320 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..334 List of Figures……………………………………………………………………350 Published Work………………………………………………………………….353 o 5 Abstract This dissertation aims to establish a philosophical framework, described from the spectator’s viewpoint, for the analysis of the embodiment process of Qi in Taiwanese hypermedial theatre works, which subtly convey a traditional Chinese aesthetic of Qi. This traditional Chinese aesthetic based on the idea of Qi suggests that the spectator participates in the development of certain Qi-energy, which is inherent in and continuously transmitted between humans and various other beings or things. The establishment of the spectator-work relation with respect to Qi-energy suggests that there are potential communication pathways between humans and the cosmos. I explore how the world model based on Qi is realised in Taiwanese hypermedial theatre through the spatial configuration of the spectator-work relation. I argue that this world model based on Qi indicates a mode of existence in which both the spectator and the multiple media used in the work are transformed and become certain beings that are cultivated by Qi and originally merge with each other. The spectator’s reactions to a theatre work emerge, as I contend, as performative acts that interact with and continue the flow of Qi. Furthermore, these acts generate a performative space that corresponds to a spiritual and cosmological aspect of Qi. This framework provides a complement to the phenomenological discourses of performative space in the context of new media and hypermedial theatre studies. In Chapter 2, I examine the correlation between the constitution of performative space and the channelling of agency in contemporary Western theatre. Based on this examination, I propose that in the course of such o 6 constitution, three aesthetic actions of agency occur: sharing agency between the spectator and the work leads to the inter-activity between the two sides; meanwhile, it also leads to the spectator’s embodiment and presence in the mixed realms of the physical and the mediated. Chapter 3 elucidates the philosophical concepts, spatial implications, and practices of Qi in the context of Confucianism. I propose a connection between Qi and agency without substituting the latter entirely with the former, as the operations of the two systems respectively lead to different world models. With reference to Chiang Nien-feng’s phenomenological interpretation of the poetic arising of Qi (hsing) and Mathias Obert’s research into Qi’s performative feature in Chapter 4, I explore two issues. First, I examine how the poetic arising of Qi is expressed in the spectator’s performative acts in an encounter with a theatre work; secondly, I investigate how this poetic arising of Qi gives rise to the constitution of performative space through the spatial configuration of the spectator-work relation based on the Qi world model. I then develop a framework of Qi-arising Space for my further analysis of the constitution of performative space in relation to the embodiment of Qi in Taiwanese hypermedia theatre works and discussion of the three aesthetic actions of agency from the Qi worldview. Finally, in Chapter 5, with three case studies in this genre of the theatre, I analyse the similarities and differences between the operations of agency and Qi regarding the constitution of performative space and interrogate the characteristics of the aesthetic actions of agency and Qi. This study proves the value of the knowledge of Qi in the field of hypermedial theatre and offers an intercultural understanding to the existing notions in the field. o 7 Acknowledgments I would not have been able to undertake this research without the help of a number of individuals and institutions: First and most, I would like to thank the Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan) for sponsoring this research project. My sincere thanks go to my supervisors Professor Gabriella Giannachi and Dr. Kara Reilly for their enthusiastic encouragement and support of my research. Their professional knowledge of new media arts has helped me to tackle the research questions of this thesis. I would like to thank Professor Phillip B. Zarrilli, Associate Professor Pao-Yi Liao and Dr. Patrick Campbell who have inspired my research approach of applying Chinese philosophy of Qi in the course of this thesis. I also give my big thanks to the artists Chen Yao, Ku Ming-shen, Ethan Wang and Wu Shu-min for their kind help. They have generously provided me with interviews and a variety of production sources of the performances analysed in this thesis. I feel extremely grateful to my parents and sisters for their generous support and immense love. o 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 The Nature of the Research Inquiry This thesis investigates the embodiment process of Qi and its spatial implications in Taiwanese 1 hypermedial theatre works, indicative of a traditional Chinese aesthetic of Qi. By hypermedial theatre, I mean a performance that emphasises the spectator’s awareness of the interaction between computer-oriented and other media (such as stage props) and the performer.2 As various traditional Chinese classics describe it, Qi is a certain energy or force that combines the physical and the spiritual and operates in between diverse pairs of polarities (e.g., the perceiver and the perceived). Specifically, the circulation of Qi is conceived of as communication pathways between humans and various other beings/things in the cosmos. If the circulation is unblocked, the interaction and correspondence between the two sides are possible. The embodiment process of Qi is originally understood as involving the active participation of humans in their reciprocal symbiosis with various other beings and