03｜Dear John
M.O.V.E Theatre
2013/2015/2022
Installation and live performance
Photo: CHEN Yi-Tang
Photo: CHEN Yi-Tang
Photo: CHEN Yi-Tang
Photo: CHEN Yi-Tang
Dear John was created by Lin Kuei-Ju, Wang Chung-Kun, and Dong Yi-Fen, artists in different creative genres. The work attempts to reconstruct the exhibition/performance space into a sound laboratory filled with the fun of games through “deconstruction, observation, and asking questions.” It allows the production process of sounds to become transparent and to form a dialogue with machine installations, body performances, and the exhibition/performance space. This work also diminishes the hierarchy between the performers and the audience so that audiences can become an “unpredictable element” of the work.
Since its premiere in 2013, this work has been selected as the 12th Taishin Arts Shortlist Award and showcased in a variety of venues including the Kuandu Arts Festival, Tainaner Drama Garden 321 Arts Village, Honggah Museum, OzAsia Festival, Shantou University in China, and Huayi - Chinese Festival of Arts in Singapore. The 2022 family version is inspired by the creatives’ recent life chapters.
The team also continues to organize workshops with themes related to sound exploration, endeavoring to deepen non-professional musical creatives’ perception toward sounds, and the family version allows this mission to reach a wider range of audiences.
11.06 Sun. 15:30 Performance Highlight of Dear John (Family Version)
M.O.V.E Theatre (Production)
M.O.V.E. Theatre was established by the artistic director/director Fu Hong Zheng in the winter of 2006. It gathered artists from various disciplines, including theatre, music and dance. The practice of “Total Theater” is its artistic vision. In their works, the sharing of creative ideas is elaborated and transformed into the mutual gaze between performers and audiences.
12th Annual Short List｜Dear John
LIN Kuei-Ju (Curator, Project Leader, and Music Design)
Ph.D. of the University of California, San Diego. Currently an associate professor at Department of Music, Shih Chien University, a core art member of M.O.V.E. Theatre, and mother to an almost-seven-year-old girl.
WANG Chung-Kun (Sound Installation Design)
Wang graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts Graduate School for Art and Technology and is an expert at creating simple yet intriguing machines with unique aesthetics. Wang’s sound works often deliberately liberate the abstract qualities of “sound,” which are further translated into the more imagery-centered forms of “music.”
TUNG I-Fen (Choreography)
Fascinated with human tendencies and movements in the contexts of “society” and “nature,” Dong explores nature through her creative process, allowing humanity to present itself amid the imaginations of society. Dong is currently a lecturer at the University of Taipei Department of Dance.