The 1st International Symposium on Contemporary Asian Theatre (ISCAT)

Hannah Vogt Hall and Online, the University of Göttingen, Germany

December 8th-9th, 2022

Between Asia and Europe, Between Local Specificity and Global Recognition

Introduction: 

The first symposium on Asian theatre in Göttingen intends to invite practitioners and theorists to engage in a dialogue about contemporary Asian Theatre. The theme of the symposium is “Between Asia and Europe, Between Local Specificity and Global Recognition.” Its speakers are theatre artists, curators, critics, and scholars from Japan, China, India, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Singapore. It also includes Europe-based speakers whose practices, investigations, or research are closely related to Asian theatre. The objectives of the symposium are to generate actionable ideas, including: 

  • initiating new projects of diversity and inclusion for theatre artists from Asian cultural backgrounds
  • creating a plan to improve the onboarding process for Asian art migrants
  • establishing a platform of communication about, within, and beyond Asian artistic communities
  • developing a list of ideas on how Asian artists can raise funds to present their respective works internationally 
  • elaborating possibilities for new ways of celebrating the creative achievements of artists from an Asian background 

The symposium will take place on Dec. 8th and 9th in a hybrid format. It consists of three keynote speeches and two thematic sessions open to registered audiences, with a roundtable to summarize the panel discussions on “local specificity” and “global recognition.” The symposium will provide an online artist forum for Europe-based Asian artists to discuss common issues of interest to them. It will set up an introductory webpage to showcase short biographies and creative works of artists. Scholars from the University of Göttingen and the University of Cambridge will cohost a workshop to explore the possibility of theatre in virtual reality. A film and TV producer based at the University of Heidelberg will demonstrate in a workshop how to establish a theatre archive and digitally restore the 1980s Chinese theatrical art. A scholar and performance artist from the University of California, Berkeley will conduct an online workshop on voice and body in performing arts. 

Topics:

  • Urban Development and Theatre in Emerging Countries
  • Cross-border and Cross-cultural Interaction in Theatre
  • Trans-locality and the Migration of Artistic Communities
  • Ecological Sustainability in Theatre
  • Performative Intergenerational Dialogue 
  • Theatre Arts and Technological Integration
  • Arts Funding and Aesthetic Self-ignition
  • Directing Contemporary Theatre in Asia
  • Traditions and Revivals in Asian Theatre 
  • Tendencies in Playwriting

Apply for Artist Forum:

  • Thank you for being interested in the Artists Forum. If you are an artist of Asian origin and based in Europe, and if you want to participate in the Artists Forum and converse with other artists about common issues through a pragmatic approach, please apply via Google Form and submit the requested materials. The application deadline is Nov. 20th, 2022.

Register for Audition:  

  • Thank you for your interest in the keynote speeches, conference sections, and workshops of the symposium. If you want to physically or digitally join the different parts of the symposium as an audience, please fill in the registration form and submit it. The registration deadline is Dec. 7th, 2022.

Location and Directions:

Speakers:

  • Amelie Deuflhard, Theatre Producer, Artistic Director of Kampnagel Theatre in Hamburg, Awardee of the Theatrepreis Berlin 2022 
  • Nurkan Erpulat, Theatre Director, Writer,  Artistic Advisory Board Member of Gorki Theatre in Berlin, Head of the Directing Department at the Bavarian Academy for Performing Arts in Regensburg
  • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kyoko Iwaki, Critic, Assoc. Prof. of Theatre and Performance Studies, the University of Antwerp, Co-programmer of Theatre der Welt 2023 Frankfurt 
  • Prof. Dr. Xavier Le Roy, Dancer, Choreographer, Performance Artist, and Professor at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies,  the Justus Liebig University in Giessen
  • Xiaoyi Liu, Artistic Director of Emergency Stairs in Singapore, Artist-in-residence at Zuni Icosahedron
  • Aine Nakamura, Singer, Performer, Composer, Ph.D. Program in Composition, the University of California, Berkeley
  • Dan Thy Nguyen, Theatre Director, Actor, and Writer, Manager of the Hamburg festival “fluctoplasma – 96h art discourse diversity,” Artistic Director of Studio Marshmallow
  • Ming Poon, Berlin-based Dancer, Choreographer, and Initiator of the Asian Performing Arts Lab 
  • Prof. Dr. Octavian Saiu, Scholar, Professional Theatre Critic, President of the International Association of Theatre Leaders (IATL), Professor at Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Research Professor at Sibiu University  
  • Assoc. Prof. Deepan Sivaraman, Director, Scenographer, Professor in Performance Art at the School of Culture and Creative Expressions at Ambedkar University in Delhi, Curator of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala – 2023
  • WANG Chong, Theatre Director, Founder of Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental
  • Nick Rongjun Yu, Playwright, Artistic Director of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, Vice President of Shanghai Performing Arts Group
  • Scarlet Yu, Performer, Choreographer
  • ZHAO Miao, Theatre Director, Founder of Theatre SanTuoQi  

Symposium Chair: 

  • Dr. Yumin Ao, Researcher, Theatre Practitioner, the University of Göttingen

Workshop Coordinators:

  • Yinfu Gao, MA student in Applied Theatre, the University of Gießen
  • Aine Nakamura, Singer, Performer, Composer, Ph.D. student in Musical Composition, the University of California, Berkeley 
  • Jing Wang Thomas, Scenographer, Stage Designer, Ph.D. student in Arts and Technology, the University of Cambridge
  • Wei Arianne Wang, Theatre composer, Translator, Founder of Erised Theatre Laboratorium, MA Student in Theatre Studies, Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris
  • Xiaoxin Wang, a PMD-licensed film and TV producer in German-speaking areas, the managing curator of the Greenmotion Film Festival, the Guest Professor at Nanjing University of the Arts, and the executive director of China Animation Art Archive Museum, Ph.D. student at the University of Heidelberg

Organizers:

  • The Journal of Ying Ming Theatre (YMT)
  • The Department of East Asian Studies (OAS), the University of Göttingen
  • The Center for Modern East Asian Studies (CeMEAS), the University of Göttingen

Sponsor:

  • Academic Confucius Institute in Göttingen (AKI)