2015 » China » Section of Countries and Regions

Curator:	Xinglin Liu
Designer / Architect of exhibition:	Zeen Tan
Institution:	China Institute of Scenography/China Center of OISTAT

Fog or Not Fog

1) In one of his well-known poems, Chinese Tang-dynasty poet Bai Juyi wrote:

The bloom is not a bloom, the mist not mist,

At midnight she comes, and goes again at dawn.

She comes like a spring dream – how long will she stay?

She goes like morning cloud, without a trace.

The image of flower and fog is often employed in classical Chinese literary culture to imply the ephemerality of things / life. We chose this image to show our interpretation of the “Weather” theme for PQ'15, tinging it with Chinese aesthetics and perspectives.

2) The “Weather” theme for PQ'15 invites the participating countries and regions to explore the possible implications and inspiration that climate phenomena might offer to artists, and to (re)shape “the permeable borders of the accidental, the unknown and the mysterious.” For instance, fog may well be perceived as “a cloud that touches the ground,” while scenography may be understood as an art by which the imagined is made tangible for a (fleeting) moment.

Weather refers both to the climate of a given place and time, and to atmosphere of scenography created in space and through time. Scenography may work on our perception of space and time, just as changing weather does. “When we talk of weather we talk of atmosphere, of the ephemeral and the intangible, stability and instability – of balance, the rhythms and moods of the seasons, pressure and temperature, movement and transition, and perhaps, the unknown and unknowing, the unintentional and the accidental. When we talk of Scenography our vocabulary is not dissimilar.”

British scenographer Simon Banham, the curator of the “Weather” theme, believes that it is necessary to contemplate upon this theme from national and ethnic perspectives. The theme we propose for the countries and regions section, “Fog or Not Fog”, extends the main theme by adding to it, both literally and metaphorically, a perspective of Chinese culture.

3) The theme of “Weather” strongly coincides with the understanding of the changing world in traditional Chinese philosophy. As Lao Tzu stated in the Tao Te Ching:

Because the eye gazes but can catch no glimpse of it,

It is called elusive.

Because the ear listens but cannot hear it,

It is called the rarefied.

Because the hand feels for it but cannot find it,

It is called the infinitesimal.

These three, because they cannot be further scrutinized,

Blend into one.

Its rising brings no light;

Its sinking, no darkness.

Endless the series of things without name

On the way back to where there is nothing.

They are called shapeless shapes;

Forms without form;

Are called vague semblances.

He described a state that neither begins nor ends, that is ever changing yet is impossible to name, and that always returns to the intangible. In other words, it is a shapeless shape and form without form.

We may also read in his writing lines such as “a hurricane never lasts a whole morning, nor a rainstorm all day”, and “in Tao the only motion is returning; The only useful quality, weakness. For though all creatures under heaven are the products of Being, Being itself is the product of Not-being”, all pointing to the changing yet repeating cycling, like weather. We intend to reveal such qualities and the world view based on them through our theme, “Fog or Not Fog”.

4) Inspirations in the process of artistic creation come and go just like fog or changing weather. The moments are more often than not accidental and unpredictable. Only persistent, sharp-minded and sensitive artists may find and grasp such magical moments. Through our theme we hope to report and reflect these phenomenon and experience. We also try to call attention to historical, cultural and natural factors which, albeit invisible, have a profound effect on artistic creation.

5) Our theme is also about the temporal and elusive nature of theater performance, a nature that we need not avoid or overcome. Theater possesses the same beauty of elusiveness, unpredictability and ephemerality as fog. It is these aesthetic values that provide theater its raison d’être. And it is the artist’s mission to grasp and employ such moments that provide him with possibilities to intensify or amplify the world around us.

6) The functions and meanings of scenography must be carried out in combination with other factors in the process of performance, just as a climate is shaped by various weather conditions. Through our theme we intend to emphasize that scenography should remain open to all theater factors, including performers and audience, as well as other synthetic possibilities, or such factors which are yet to emerge.

7) Weather also refers to the stage directions or requirements found in many famous plays. There may be another interpretation, or another layer of interpretation, of the theme “Fog or Not Fog”. On the theatrical stage, fog, as well as wind, rain, snow and thunder is produced using technical devices. In other words, fog on stage is not fog in reality. The theater audience knows very well that it is only an imitation of the real world, even if a make-believe imitation. This is determined by the performer-audience relationship and the imaginative nature of the stage. After all, the stage is at most a parallel of the real world, rather than the real world itself.