A brief introduction to the reason for your visit to Tainan
I am a UK based dancer/choreographer and I am the director of Centre 151 – an East London independent charity, promoting culture, arts and community inclusion – where my dance company is based. I have been working for many years alongside Taiwanese artist Jeff Hsieh and India/UK based artist Vanessa Maria Mirza, most notably supporting the development of Dance Bridges Festival, a biennial contemporary dance festival based in Kolkata – India.
Following this long-term partnership and friendship between us, Jeff Hsieh contacted me expressing his wish to develop a cultural bridge between Taiwan and the UK. This led to the launch of a new collaboration between Wan Sha Performing Arts Center and Centre 151, offering the opportunity for an international residency exchange. My trip to Tainan is therefore a way to initiate this new partnership as the first resident artist at Wan Sha.
In general terms, what does an artist residency usually entail, and what does it mean to you personally as an artist?
One of the primary advantages of an artist residency is the dedicated time and space it provides for an artist to focus on their work without the distractions of daily life. This environment allows for deep exploration and experimentation, encouraging artists to push beyond their usual boundaries. By removing external pressures, a residency cultivates a sense of freedom, enabling artists to develop new ideas and techniques they may not have considered in their usual settings.
Artist residencies are invaluable opportunities for creative reflection and focused spaces where thoughts and ideas can be expressed without the pressure to produce a show. This period of creative fermentation fosters maturity in thinking, a vast range of directions, the distillation of imagination, and a confrontation with the intersection of inner feelings and expression in the physical world.
I believe networking opportunities are crucial in a residency context. Artists often find themselves among peers, mentors, and local communities, fostering collaborations and exchanges that can lead to new perspectives and ideas. Engaging with others on a similar creative journey can provide support and inspire innovative approaches.
During my residency, I had the privilege of meeting extraordinary artists across different practices. My encounters—chats over coffee and shared dinners—gave me a sense of belonging and an immediate connection to the local arts landscape, as well as a spiritual link to the rich history of Tainan through my interactions with its people.
The setting of my residency, especially within the context of Wan Sha, which has a dynamic history from its initial inception as a music salon to its current multi-arts practice space, has inspired stimulating and fresh ideas. Being in a new environment—whether bustling city, serene countryside, or isolated retreat—can lead to different thematic explorations. This change of scenery in Tainan for me sparked my imagination. I was particularly inspired by the rich history of Tainan and felt a deep connection to the calming rhythm of the city, especially since my research focused on the concept of “peace.” The balance between a dynamic historical past and modernisation, harmoniously coexisting in contemporary times, left a strong impression on me and my work. By nurturing creativity in a supportive environment, residencies like the one I experienced at Wan Sha can empower artists to evolve and thrive in their practice.
Reflections from your time in Tainan. What you have seen, heard, and felt during the residency — observations of daily life and the people here, exchanges with artists, or any thoughts and experiences you wish to share.
During my residency in Tainan, I found myself immersed in a multi-layered space of cultural richness that significantly influenced my work. This vibrant city revealed layers of history and modernity that are both exhilarating and insightful. Walking through its streets, I was captivated by the remnants of the past, with ancient temples and colonial architecture coexisting alongside contemporary structures. This duality between old and new was not just a visual experience, it felt alive, almost as if the past was conversing with the present, inviting me to explore the dialogue between tradition and evolution in art.
Wandering through the narrow alleys and hidden roads of Tainan felt like a perfect metaphor for discovery in my artistic journey. Each turn revealed unexpected sights, sounds, and experiences, mirroring the surprises that come with creativity. These small paths, rich with stories and character, inspired me to embrace uncertainty in my work.
The kindness and generosity of the people in Tainan added warmth to this exploration. Every interaction, from casual conversations with locals to deeper exchanges with fellow artists, enriched my understanding of the cultural landscape. I felt that if I stood still in Tainan long enough, I would eventually encounter the world. Friends and former collaborators from past times seemed to appear magically during my stay—an unexpected and beautiful reunion.
The museums I visited were treasure troves of inspiration, showcasing a dynamic community of thinkers who value the interplay of various art forms. Engaging with traditional Taiwanese music, visual arts, and contemporary installations filled me with a surge of creative energy that reignited my passion for exploration. Each artist’s unique perspective offered new viewpoints on artmaking, pushing me to reconsider my methods and the themes I wished to explore.
In Tainan, I felt that my residency at Wan Sha was not only an opportunity to develop new ideas and reflect on my creative thoughts but also a transformative experience that reshaped my understanding of culture and creativity. The city’s rich history and vibrant present intertwined to create an environment for innovation, fostering connections that will undoubtedly resonate in my future artistic endeavours. My time in Tainan underscored the importance of embracing both the past and the present in my own practice, reminding me that every artistic journey is as much about exploration as it is about creation.
Discuss your performative installation “Poster for Peace” developed during this residency in Tainan.
The original inspiration and conceptual framework
Where this work has previously been taken for experimentation and development — we are curious about its journey so far
Your “Tainan experience” with this work: what unfolded here, both visibly and invisibly
The next steps for this project
Poster For Peace is inspired by Robert Rauschenberg’s work exploring social unity and peace. This work-in-development emerges as a performative installation that transcends the boundaries of disciplines, weaving together contemporary dance and visual arts into a fabric of thoughts. At its core, this piece invites contemplation on the word “peace”, devoid of directive, objective, or agenda. It beckons viewers to engage in an act of meditation on what this term evokes personally and collectively.
Emphasizing the duality of meaning, oversized materials—like a parachute—serve as a poignant metaphor. A parachute can embody the anxiety of foreign intrusion or, conversely, symbolize the hope and assistance that may arrive. A collective act by a community of people endeavours to manipulate, navigate and manoeuvre with urgency the material to keep it afloat throughout the space transforming the object into the central protagonist that envelops the surroundings, ensuring it never touches the floor through a fluid and continual flow of the material back and forth. Every motion and every flow bring the viewer towards a deeper inner state of meditation.
The very construction of this material within the space necessitates communal collaboration, transforming the act of creation into a shared journey. In this way, Poster For Peace becomes not just a performative installation, but a living dialogue, inviting us to reflect on the complexities of peace through movement and shared experience.
The work was initially developed at my company home base Centre 151. My company of 7 dance artists began the initial concept development, investigating context, mapping ideas and thoughts and diving into movement research to underpin the overall theme. Consequently, as a Rauschenberg Residency Fellow 2025, I was fortunate to be invited to spend 5 weeks in residency on Captiva Island in Florida (USA), which was the home for Rauschenberg’s work for the last 30 years of his life. At the residency, I further investigated the component of time and sonic element, examining how a viewer may experience the work over a duration. The piece is conceived as a durational incident, a happening that unfolds across a 3-5 hour stretch, allowing the viewers to release a stream of thoughts and to flow in and out of the space as they ponder the word “peace” free of directive.
As a large-scale performative installation, there are many aspects and components that require in-depth research, exploring clarity of theme and context but equally potential audience experience. For my time as a resident artist at Wan Sha, I had the privilege to have the amazing support from all their team. This invaluable time allowed me to explore a vital element for the performative installation that had not yet been tested. As part of the installation experience, the work is conceived to have an invitational component whereby guest artists from different practices and genres are invited into the space to respond to the theme and provocation. Guest artists supporting the research and development as part of this residency included: sound artists 張惠笙 and Nigel Brown, 吳 岱晏, 陳立凱, 蕭揚玲. Along with seven dancers from Tainan University of Applied Science and Technology 巫謹鳳, 陳宣米, 許綵庭, 許鈊宜,張, 苡馨, 陳芷妍 and 王詠安, the work development revealed a thought- provoking experience allowing the viewers space to meditate and reflect on the theme during the hour-long installation. In retrospect of the cross-collaboration between all the artists, I felt the integration of artists from different traditions of art, sound and practices created a collective human experience that enhanced the theme of “peace”, forming an immediate connectivity between the performers and those observing the installation.
Going forward, we are planning to premiere the performative installation in the UK in 2026 in collaboration with renown British designer/visual artist Es Devlin (CBE) who works in a range of media, often mapping light and projected film onto kinetic sculptural forms.
Finally, if the “universe” were a person, what would you like to say to them at this moment?
If the universe were a person, I would invite them over to my home for a simple, quiet dinner with my friends. Sometimes, it feels wonderful to put down the weight of the world, gather together, and enjoy a home-cooked meal before we return to facing the many challenges in our lives. It’s a moment to breathe, reflect, laugh, and share our stories with one another. Somehow, this makes the load feel a bit lighter and more manageable.