“Theatre of
Everyday Colonialisms”
Multimedia Installation | Variable dimention | 2022
(Video, Wood, Ipad, Tapestry)
Everyday personal objects are anything but innocent, instead carrying complex cultural and political values. Shin Yang explored these in the post-colonial context of contemporary Taiwan.
Numerous interviews and workshops were conducted, inviting people to recall their favourite commodities and objects from childhood before exploring how they are not as neutral and apolitical as first appears. Based on this process, allegorical stories were developed to present in the format of ‘kamishibai’—a type of Japan street theatre used as a propaganda tool during the colonisation of Taiwan. By repurposing and recontextualising this tool, the project seeks to facilitate an open discussion around the embedded politicised values in material enviroments.
Numerous interviews and workshops were conducted, inviting people to recall their favourite commodities and objects from childhood before exploring how they are not as neutral and apolitical as first appears. Based on this process, allegorical stories were developed to present in the format of ‘kamishibai’—a type of Japan street theatre used as a propaganda tool during the colonisation of Taiwan. By repurposing and recontextualising this tool, the project seeks to facilitate an open discussion around the embedded politicised values in material enviroments.
The project contains two parts-
Kamishibai fable stories and the live recording of kamishibai sharing salon held in Taipei, Taiwan.
Through the salon, the Taiwanese daily object based fable stories are able to reach out to their major users- Taiwanese people. The salon invite people to take another perspective on the daily consuming commodities, reflecting and share their own memories. Meanwhile it’s a platform for people to share the similar experience. With the diverse backgroud of different audience, reflecting different generations has share similar complex but with new commodities.
