Fringe Focus Taiwan Presents Cultural Experiences Both Playful and Provocative
1-20 October 2024
Two of Taiwan’s most innovative contemporary and experimental artists will bring their groundbreaking works to Melbourne as part of the international collaboration project, Fringe Focus Taiwan. Now in its 5th year, this unique cultural partnership brings two powerful contemporary dance works to the stage from renowned choreographers SU Pin-Wen and Chou Kuan-Jou.
TOMATO
2 – 5 October, Dancehouse – Sylvia Staehli Theatre
Combining absurdist humour with incisive social commentary, Chou Kuan-Jou’s TOMATO is an audacious exploration of lust, desire, and the sexualised body. Through a playful mix of live performance and live-camera documentation, Chou’s choreography pairs bodily movements with ripe, luscious tomatoes, transforming a mundane fruit into a metaphor for human sexuality and societal expectations.
Chou Kuan-Jou is a trailblazer in contemporary dance and performance art, known for her fearless investigations into bodily politics and sexuality from a feminist perspective. As a multi-dimensional artist, her work spans theatre, choreography, and action design. In her Lust Body series, she explores the fluidity of sexual desire, creating intimate yet public conversations about how sexualized bodies are perceived and performed. TOMATO continues this trajectory, using humour and provocation to loosen societal boundaries around sexual expression. Chou has been celebrated for her avant-garde approaches to dance. She has participated in international events such as CND Camping 2019, Tanzmesse 2022, Tjimur Arts Festival Residency 2022, and da:ns lab 2023 at Dance Nucleus. In 2021, she co-created the Nyu Shu Movement project with artist Chen Yi-Chin, which was showcased at the SEA: Residency in the CLOUD in Taiwan, Loei Art Festival in Thailand, and BUoY Art Festival in Tokyo.
Girl’s Notes
11 – 12 October, Melbourne Recital Centre – Primrose Potter Salon
Blurring the lines between contemporary dance and gender commentary, Girl’s Notes poses the question: how should women behave? In this boundary-pushing piece, SU Pin-Wen collaborates with pianist LIN Mai-Ke, taking inspiration from a 1990s Taiwanese etiquette book instructing women on how to conduct themselves. Through evocative movement and a compelling on-stage presence, the duo dissects the social expectations placed upon women and explores the motivations behind daily actions. SU’s work delves deeply into themes of gender, feminism, and nudity, often disrupting heteronormative ideas to question the power dynamics within intimate relationships.
A Radical Nipple
14 – 15 October, Melbourne Fringe Festival Hub
As a companion piece to Girl’s Notes, A Radical Nipple is a provocative examination of body image, exploring the cultural weight of the nipple while inviting audiences to reflect on how the body is viewed in public and private spaces. Since 2018, SU Pin-Wen has been capturing an unconventional yet deeply meaningful photo archive — nipples. Inviting volunteers of all genders to bare their chests, SU has created an ever-expanding series of images that transform the simple act of photography into a bold commentary on power, consent, and societal perceptions of the body.
On three large-scale LED walls at the Melbourne Fringe Festival Hub, SU’s ever-growing archive of nipple portraits will be displayed, creating a compelling, almost meditative experience. The installation encourages audiences to confront their own perspectives on body autonomy and nudity.
Sign up for a unique opportunity to be photographed by Pin-Wen and join A Radical Nipple.
SU Pin-Wen, Artistic Director of Kua Bo Dance Theatre, is known for his subversive choreography that challenges societal constructs of gender and sexuality, drawing from Taiwanese culture and queer theory. His performance and photographic works, such as Skin Deep and Unbound Bodies, explore body politics, liberation through nudity, and the ways bodies are socially coded. SU’s work has been featured in prominent arts festivals, including London’s Dance Umbrella, Grasstraw Festival and Taipei Arts Festival.
Fringe Focus Taiwan: A Platform for Innovation
Fringe Focus Taiwan continues to showcase the most innovative voices in Taiwan’s dynamic contemporary arts scene. This year’s program examines the fluid boundaries of gender, sexuality, and power dynamics, presenting works that challenge conventional views of the body and feminism. Through the lens of two remarkable artists, Melbourne audiences are invited to experience performances that are as thought-provoking as they are visually compelling.
Melbourne Fringe Festival 2024
1 – 20 October
melbournefringe.com.au
For 20 days each year, the Melbourne Fringe Festival invites audiences to discover the unexpected with a bold and audacious program of art and performance across the city in theatres, galleries, venues, public spaces, homes, studios and everywhere in between. Featuring a curated program of large scale public events and risk-taking art, and an open access program with over 400 events, it is one of the largest multi-arts festivals in the country.
The open access framework means that anyone can register to be part of the Festival, bringing voices from the margins and amplifying them across the city. Melbourne Fringe keeps access and inclusion at its heart, actively working to remove barriers to participation and develop artists skills through First Nations commissioning program Deadly Fringe, Deaf and Disability arts programs, mentorships, workshops, residencies, forums, awards and touring support.
Fringe Focus Taiwan is proudly supported by:
Melbourne Fringe is supported by:
