Hong Kong in Transition Programme
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Hong Kong in Transition Asian City-to-City Collaboration and Performing Arts Exchange 1997-2017 SOAS University of London, 9-10 September 2017 Sponsors: • Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange • Sino-British Fellowship Trust • SOAS China Institute • SOAS Faculty of Languages and Cultures • Jiangsu Arts Fund 2017 Annual Exchange and Promotion Project -- “Tradition and Avant-garde” Kunqu Cultural Exchange 江 苏艺术基金2017年度传播交流推广资助项目 – “最传统” 和 “最先锋” 昆曲文化交流 Conference Organizers: SOAS China Institute Rossella Ferrari (SOAS University of London) Danny Yung (Zuni Icosahedron, Hong Kong) Conference Assistants: Ke Meng (PhD student, SOAS University of London) Dandan Wang (MA student, SOAS University of London) Tian Brown-Sampson (BA student, SOAS University of London) Co-presented by the SOAS China Institute and Zuni Icosahedron, this programme marks the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from the UK to the People’s Republic of China with a series of events focusing on transnational networks, intercultural exchange, and city-to-city collaboration in the Asian performing arts. Participant will reflect on Hong Kong’s cultural exchanges with London and several Asian cities in the past two decades, and discuss proposals, strategies, challenges, and opportunities for the future. 2 Saturday 9 September 2017 Academic Symposium Hong Kong Theatre in The symposium will explore aspects of Transnational Perspective: theatre production in Hong Kong in the post-1997 period from a transnational New Directions and perspective, including intercultural Discourses since 1997 and intergeneric collaborations with Sinophone and Asian performance cultures from Taiwan, China, Singapore, Paul Webley Wing, Senate Japan, and their diasporas, experimental House, Alumni Lecture Theatre and political performance, and (SALT), 9:00 am – 5:00 pm intersections between indigenous and foreign performing arts forms. Programme 09:00 am Registration (Room S113, Paul Webley Wing, Senate House) 09:20 am – 09:30 am Welcome and Opening Remarks Rossella Ferrari, SOAS University of London Danny Yung, Zuni Icosahedron 09:30 am - 11:00 am Panel 1: Aesthetics and Politics Of Experimental Xiqu In Hong Kong Chair: Rossella Ferrari, SOAS University of London 09:30 am – 9:50 am “Danny Yung’s One Table Two Chairs (Yizhuo liangyi) Shows: A Theatrical Manifestation of ‘One Country Two Systems’ (Yiguo liangzhi)?”, Joseph Lam, University of Michigan 9:50 am – 10:10 am “Interweaving Digital Media with the Materiality of Traditional Xiqu: Taking Danny Yung’s Experimental Performance The Outcast General as Example”, Chen Lin, Freie Universität Berlin 10:10 am – 10:30 am “Operatic Minimalism Rescues Subjectivity”, Daphne Lei, University of California, Irvine 10:30 am – 11:00 am Questions/Discussion 11:00 am – 11:30 am Tea Break 11: 30 am – 1: 00 pm Panel 2: Post-1997 Theatre and Hong Kong Identity Chair: How Wee Ng, SOAS University of London 11:30 am – 11:50 am “Know Thyself: Edward Lam Dance Theatre’s Art School Musical (2014)”, Lia Wen-ching Liang, National Taiwan Normal University 11:50 am – 12:10 am “East Wing, West Wing: Local Identity in a Global City”, Whit Emerson, Indiana University 12:10 pm – 12:30 pm “One Country Two Systems: Danny Yung’s Postmodern Chinese Complex and Augustine Chiu-yu Mok’s Anarchist Response to China”, Jessica Yeung, Hong Kong Baptist University 3 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm Questions/Discussion 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch (Room S113) 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Panel 3: Transnational Connections and Collaborations Chair: Barbara Leonesi, University of Turin 1:30 pm – 1:50 pm “Zuni Icosahedron’s Pre- and Post-1997 Transnational Explorations”, Wah Guan Lim, Bard College, New York 1:50 pm – 2:10 pm “Imagining Revolution China: The Hong Kong-Singapore Intercultural Sinophone Production of One Hundred Years of Solitude 10.0 – Cultural Revolution”, How Wee Ng, SOAS University of London 2:10 pm – 2:30 pm “Mobility and Residency: Some Reflections on Transnational Currencies and Transactions in Recent ‘Global’ Performance Cultures”, Uchino Tadashi, Gakushuin Women’s College, Tokyo 2:30 pm – 3:00 pm Questions/Discussion 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm Tea Break (Room S113) 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm Panel 4: Hong Kong Theatre, Diaspora, and Mobility Chair: Mary Mazzilli, University of Essex 3:30 pm – 3:50 pm “Theatrical Touring and/as Exchange: Hong Kong Theatre Productions in Mainland China”, Mirjam Tröster, Goethe University Frankfurt 3:50 pm – 4:10 pm “From Hong Kong to London: Cantonese Opera Practice amongst the British Chinese Diaspora”, Ashley Thorpe, Royal Holloway, University of London 4:10 pm – 4:30 pm “The Relevance of Gao Xingjian to the Contemporary Hong Kong Theatre Scene”, Michael Ka Chi Cheuk, SOAS University of London 4:30 pm – 5:00 pm Questions/Discussion Performance Flee By Night from the Traditional to the Contemporary: A Journey through the Art of Kunqu SOAS University of London, Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm An evening of traditional and experimental kunqu performances curated by Danny Yung, co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron, with performers from the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Kun Opera Theatre (Nanjing). Producer: Wong Yue Wai, Zuni Icosahedron. Programme Excerpt from Flee By Night. Performed by Ke Jun Visiting the Garden. Performed by Sun Jing and Yang Yang, directed by Danny Yung Intermission Excerpt from Flee By Night, Contemporary Experimental Version. Performed by Sun Jing, Yang Yang and Ke Jun, music by Steve Hui, video by Benny Wu, directed by Danny Yung Post-Performance Dialogue and Q&A 4 Sunday 10 September 2017 Practitioners Forum City-to-City Cultural Artists, arts managers, producers, Exchange, Collaboration, legislators, and educators will examine recent cultural exchange initiatives, and Performing Arts arts policies, and collaborations Development between Hong Kong, London, Nanjing, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore, and other SOAS University of London, European and Asian cities, assess current Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, strategies, and discuss future proposals 10:00 am – 5:00 pm for city-to-city cultural exchange and performing arts development. Programme 09:30 am Registration 10:00 – 10:20 am Opening Remarks Rossella Ferrari, SOAS University of London Steve Tinton, Board of Trustees, SOAS University of London Danny Yung, Zuni Icosahedron 10:20 am – 12:00 pm Forum One: The Policymakers Cross-Cities Cultural Exchange Policies Moderator: Uchino Tadashi 10:20 am – 10:30 am Kok Heng Leun, Member of Parliament, Singapore 10:30 am – 10:40 am Jason Hsu, Member of Parliament, Taiwan 10:40 am – 11: 10 am Commentators: Lee Li-heng, Tommy Chung Yin Kwan, Cedric Chan, Minli Han, Liu Xiaoyi, Ke Jun 11:10 am – 11:30 am Discussion/Q&A 11:30 am – 12:00 pm Tea Break 12:00 – 1:30 pm Forum Two: The Artists Cross-Cities Arts Collaborations Moderator: Joseph Lam Speakers: 12: 00 – 12: 20 pm Nanjing-London: Ke Jun and Leon Rubin on A Shakespearian Handan Dream Translator: Ke Meng 12: 20 – 12: 30 pm Hong Kong-Taipei-Zurich: Cedric Chan on Zuni Icosahedron’s creative education laboratory collaboration project 5 12:30 – 12:40 pm Hong Kong-Singapore-Tokyo-Nanjing: Liu Xiaoyi on Emergency Stairs and the One Table Two Chairs Festival in Singapore 12:40 – 1:10 pm Commentators: Uchino Tadashi, Kok Heng Leun, Jason Hsu, Kason Chi, Lee Li-heng, Li Xiaoju 1:10 pm – 1:30 pm Open Discussion/Q&A 1:30 – 2:30 pm Lunch 2:30 – 4:00 pm Forum Three: Managers and Researchers Cross-Cities Cultural Programmes and Arts Projects Moderator: Rossella Ferrari Speakers: 2:30 – 2:40 pm Hong Kong-Shanghai-Taipei-Shenzhen: Lee Li-heng on arts festivals in four Asian cities 2:40 – 2:50 pm Hong Kong-Shanghai: Kason Chi on Zuni Icosahedron and the Shanghai Theatre Academy’s collaboration on China’s Belt and Road Initiative 2:50 – 3:00 pm Hong Kong-Singapore: Minli Han on the TTXS (Tian Tian Xiang Shang) project in Singapore 3:00 – 3:15 pm Hong Kong-Nanjing-Suzhou-Taipei: Li Xiaoju on a comparison of two kunqu collaborations Translator: Ke Meng 3:15 – 3:40 pm Commentators: Joseph Lam, Kok Heng Leun, Tommy Kwan, Cedric Chan, Ke Jun 3:40 – 4:00 pm Open Discussion/Q&A 4: 00 – 4: 30 pm Tea Break 4: 30 – 5: 00 pm Closing Roundtable: The Way Forward Moderators: Danny Yung and Rossella Ferrari 6 Biographies Organisers She is the author of Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China Danny Yung is a founding member and co- (2012), and is currently completing a monograph Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron, a leading on trans-Asian intercultural collaborations and performing arts group in Hong Kong. A pioneer performance networks. She is the Regional of experimental arts in Asia, over the past forty Managing Editor (China) of The Theatre Times. years Yung has worked across several media including theatre, cartoon, film, video, and Academic Symposium visual and installation art. He is the recipient of Hong Kong Theatre in Transnational Perspective: numerous awards, including the Hong Kong Arts New Directions and Discourses since 1997 Development Awards 2015 for Artist of the Year (Drama), the Fukuoka Prize – Arts and Culture Prize (2014), and the Music Theatre NOW Award Abstracts and Biographies of the International Theatre Institute of UNESCO Danny Yung’s One Table Two Chairs (Yizhuo (2008). In 2009, Yung was bestowed the Cross liangyi) Shows: A Theatrical Manifestation of of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic “One Country Two Systems” (Yiguo liangzhi)? of Germany in recognition of his contributions to cultural exchange between Germany and Hong Kong. Since 1997, he has initiated several Joseph Lam culture and arts networks, such as Asia Arts For twenty years, Danny Yung, the director Net, the Asia Performing Arts Network, and the of Zuni Icosahedron of Hong Kong, has been World Culture Forum.