Audiences in cosmopolitan Hong Kong are lucky to have the chance to experience new forms of art performance, but without enough previous exposure, we feel lost sometimes. We may come to a performance with expectations got from the artist's previous signature piece. Last year, at Tan Dun's multimedia concert, I witnessed a similar case: After the concert, there was an audience who kept flipping back through the house program to find if there were any hints of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which he might have missed.
This year, some international renowned artists are invited to present their works at the New Vision Arts Festival, among which many are new experiments, e.g. insen by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto, and Exit No Exit by Shobana Jeyasingh. Confined by the length of this article, I would like to make three points here to help the audiences understand and appreciate these new forms of performances.
1. Media no longer plays just a supporting role
As many people are still obsessed by applying media technique in photo retouch or creating virtual actors, some new art works have adopted media as performer. Undoubtedly, dancers and musicians in Exit No Exit play an important role but the projection environment created by Nichola Bruce is also an important performer. As a supporting element, it always indicates new development in the show. Stage set-up of insen is simple and neat: Ryuichi Sakamoto and his piano at one corner, Alva Noto and his workstations at the other, in the middle is the eye-catching LED screen. The large screen is an electronic rail which connects the two of them, forming an impressive unbroken line. It mingles audiovisual elements with performers' movements and stillness. The sound gradually emerges into other elements on the stage that makes audiences' eyes listen and their ears see.
2. Proper attitude towards new work
In recent years, the "branding effect" penetrates in all aspects of our social life. This climate is equally shared in the art world where a handful of famous artists are making their spectacular appearances. For those talented artists, awards are what they deserved, audience should not be led by their glorious past records. Like all creators, artists are uncompromising beings clinging for the constant enhancement of their art, every new piece is taken as another breakthrough. When we see Ryuichi Sakamoto so absorbed on the stage, gazing at the keyboards, at that very moment, he is himself part of his creation. So, let us set him free and don't let the Emmy Award be his burden. insen should be the stage of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto and the LED monitor where the flow of music and time is creatively redefined.
3. Collaboration– the qualitative transformation
Symphony No.5 (Fate) reminds us of Beethoven, The Drunken Concubine is always connected with Mei Lanfeng. In the new high-tech era, crossover emerges between forms of arts. Good artwork should not relate only to one big name, it now represents a new power of collaboration among artists. Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass, Robert Wilson and Lucinda Childs in the 1970's is one good example. The long term collaboration between John Cage and Merce Cunningham also opens new chapters to music, dance as well as multi-media technique.
insen is the theatre version of the album published in 2005 in the same name by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto. Ryuichi Sakamoto's innovative spirit together with popular new media musician Alva Noto guarantee a nice show. Exit No Exit is primarily based on the dancing language of an Indian dance choreographer, accompanied by Michael Nyman's music and projected image by Nichole Bruce through which a floating audio-visual scene is produced , an enlarged imagination space is then unfolded.
The working model of collaboration free artists from the traditional single creative process. The artists do not have to meet often, they are linked by shared artistic visions which inspires new ideas. insen and Exit No Exit represent the transformation of contemporary art, not only in content and technique, but radically from the way the artists work. Collaboration enriches the context from which art work derives, thus make it more powerful and attractive.
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The English translation appears here with permission by International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong). Both this article and its original Chinese version are published in New Vision Arts Festival 2006 Critics' Guide (October 2006) by IATC(HK). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not represent the stand of the presenter, the performing groups of the Festival nor the publisher.
