Xiao Jing | 2022 Residency
Switzerland | Theatre
February 3-April 26, 2023 — Theatre
Nationality: China
Residency location: Lausanne
Partner organization: La Grange
Born in 1988, Xiao Jing works as a playwright, director and performer in Beijing. She majored in Literature and Education at Beijing Normal University, and is a member of the New Youth Group. Her plays have been staged and published in Denmark, and the works she directed have been selected for the Beijing Fringe Festival, Hangzhou International Theatre Festival, and Nanluoguxiang Performing Arts Festival, etc. She was a resident artist of “Gazetteer-Novel” 2018.
Xiao Jing is committed to exploring the combination of fiction and non-fiction in theatre, and she hopes to introduce real stories, events and history into the theater. Using theater as a medium, she explores topics such as the status quo of China, the construction of human identity, how people view history and their own physicality, and the history of linguistics. Her works often start from individual experiences, believing that by looking back at the past, the audience can confront the present situation and dilemma. “In my past experiences, I have worked with many people of different identities and different regions, and collected many individual stories. China’s urbanization continues to accelerate, and history has left different degrees of trauma to individuals. I try to discuss the issues that we face together.”
During her residency, Xiao Jing will conduct ongoing research on “documentary theater” and “social issue” theater productions in Switzerland, examining how Swiss artists make documentary theater, how they combine classic plays with contemporary social issues, how they reveal the hidden histories and reconstruct them. From a urban sociological perspective, they will conduct a field research on places in the city and finally finish a work together.
“Like Beijing, Zurich is a modern city with a long history. I would like to see the way Zurich deals with the conflict between old architecture and modern lifestyle, and the way Zurich keeps itself up to date. I would like to investigate the relationship between architecture in the city and the individual, looking for personal narratives that related to the city of Zurich. I will invite an theatre artist who has been living there for a long time, then make a documentary theater piece together.”
