Staging Alterity: Dialogues on Different Worlds / Different Theatres

Curator: Zhao Chuan
Time: Dec.8-11, 2016
Venue: Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum

Organizer: Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum
Superviser: Shanghai International Cultural Communication Association
Initiator: Pro Helvetia Shanghai, Swiss Arts Council
Supporting Organisation: Cultural and Education Section of the German Consulate General in Shanghai

Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum and Pro Helvetia Shanghai, Swiss Arts Council jointly invites Zhao Chuan to curate the “Staging Alterity: Dialogues on Different Worlds / Different Theatres” project fromDec.8-11, 2016. During the 4 days’ activity, theatrical artists, performance artists, and scholars from Africa, Asia, America, Europe and other areas will be invited to meet at the Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum to present, through presentations, dialogues and workshops, creative projects from various regions in the fresh and lively location of Shanghai, exploring various artistic paths in theatre, performance aesthetics, and creative methods under different social conditions in different regions.

Since the 1980s and 1990s, the major transformations on the world stage have been accompanied by significant changes on the small stage. On the global stage, the once dominant western-centric modernization narrative has been challenged by other forms of globalization, postcolonial criticism, counter-hegemonic projects, and multiculturalism. The theatrical scene provides a privileged space in which we can involve ourselves in the process of shaping our individual and collective futures by sharing and discussing regional experiences, in their commonalities and in their differences, and by exploring new possibilities for future collaboration. This project is not simply a response to outside pressures, but is also deeply rooted in particular regions’ internal dynamics.

The creation, experimentation, and production of theater and live performance are linked with these dynamics. For various reasons, however, the dominant concepts, practices, and forms of theatrical and other performances come largely from the West. Nevertheless, Asian, African, and other theatrical and performative traditions, through their acute, vivid, and creative relationship to local and regional society, retain much that is their own.

“Staging Alterity: Dialogues on Different Worlds / Different Theatres”hopes to foster new points of articulation and new opportunities for further sharing and mutual participation, developing different orientationsand horizons for contemporary culture. Even today, Most Chinese theater festivals are dominated by mainstream western theatrical traditions and values. The question is how can we build our own theatrical culture, develop different perspectives, and explore different forms of creativity and aesthetics?

(Image courtesy of the artists, provided by Minsheng Art Museum)

Invited guests for this project are from theatre, dance, live performance and related academic criticism and curation fields, and include: Boris Nikitin (Switzerland/ theatre), Charlie Haffner (Sierra Leon/ theatre), Christopher Connery (USA/ Culture Studies), Dai Chenlian (China/ theatre), David Glass (UK/ theatre), Eisa Jocson (Philippines/ dance and performance art), Fangling Huang (China/ theatre), Hans-Georg Knopp (Germany/ culture strategy), Kai Tuchmann (Germany/ theatre), Kyung-Sung Lee (Korea/ theatre), Marlene Monteiro Freitas (absent, Cape Verde & Portugal/ dance), nunu kong (China/ dance), Ophelia Huang (China/ theatre), Sankar Chindavalap Venkateswaran (India/ theatre), Tao Qingmei (China/ academic and criticism), Tian Mansha (China/ theatre and Sichuan opera), Wadan Wuma (Taiwan /performance art), Wang Mo-lin (Taiwan/ theatre and criticism), Wu Meng (China/ theatre and performance art), Xu Zhifeng (China/ contemporary art), Yu Ji (China/ contemporary art), Zhang Xiaochuan.