Watching and Being Watched (Mr. Blank by CCDC - Performance Review)
15 Oct 2018 | Ashley
The question of surveillance is prominent today under the climate of big data, smart technology, and secretive political dynamics. While we enjoy advanced technology and go about our lives, are we aware of the intrusive gaze imposed upon us?
A recent production by CCDC (City Contemporary Dance Company 城市當代舞蹈團) called Mr. Blank (茫然先生) put this question under the limelight. It is an innovative and out-of-the-box production collaborated by multiple artists, with Sang Jijia, acclaimed as "the most perfect dancer", as director and choreographer, Janice Poon for dramaturgy, Dickson Dee for original live music, Oliver Shing for video direction, and so on. As you can already tell, this production is a cross-disciplinary one where dance, drama, music and multimedia elements meticulously intertwined. From their sharing session, we know that this team, despite their differences in specialisation, worked at ease with one another, which I believe, is one of the greatest blessings for any creative process.
Getting back to the performance, I went to their first show on 5 Oct, 2018 at the Studio Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. I was amazed to find that most audience had standing tickets, which was rare. As I remembered, there was no standing area in the studio theatre and therefore, I proceeded to think that I was amongst the unlucky ones who got the "sitting-on-the-stairs" seats because of the popularity of the show. I was wrong. The set of this production had absolutely transformed the theatre, which justified the reason why most people had to stand instead of sit. There were four walls built above what we knew as the stage and most parts of the seats, which at that point, were nowhere to be seen. When we walked in, what greeted us were walls that were extended to about our chests (if you were my height) and an edge which extended from the ceiling, equally forming the same rectangular shape of the walls beneath us. So what was left for us standing peeps was a strip of space to look down from, and down there, was a claustrophobic rectangular space where performers moved in manners detached from one another, desperately and angrily.
We did not only become the "spectators", to which we would always be referred when we see a show, but we had become hyper aware of this identity. As the show progressed, where hidden cameras in the walls of the performing space were revealed, showing in video form on the floor and walls, even on the TV screens hanging around us, the live images of performers, we became the camera. While we observed these people trapped in this space struggle to find a purpose or relationship with one another in this heavily surveilled space, we could not escape from being inflicters of their pain. This power dynamic was completely destructed and contested when, the live images showed not only performers but also the audience. As we observed the uneasy expressions of unprepared audience members looking into the camera, right back at us, the supposedly superior spectators, we realised our own vulnerability in the surveillance situation. We were not only watching, but were being watched as well. This had inflicted on us a sort of horror of the infringement of privacy and personal space. We were not meant to feel safe in this performance, and it had successfully achieved so.
In terms of set and overall performance, I find this production an eye-opening one which challenged usual formats of presentation and engagement. It is also a timely one. If we look closely at Hong Kong and China relations, one might fear the eventual surrender of Hong Kong people's privacy for secret cameras where the party observes and rates each of us by credits, an ongoing phenomenon in the Mainland, which ultimately determines the destiny of your life, including education and job opportunities. As spectators and the "surveilled" of the world, there might not be much we could do to protect ourselves, but at least, we have to be aware of the existence of such power dynamics. Perhaps through performance like this, more people could talk about it, thus some genius amongst us, might figure out eventually the perfect method to counter authoritarian surveillance.
The question of surveillance is prominent today under the climate of big data, smart technology, and secretive political dynamics. While we enjoy advanced technology and go about our lives, are we aware of the intrusive gaze imposed upon us?
A recent production by CCDC (City Contemporary Dance Company 城市當代舞蹈團) called Mr. Blank (茫然先生) put this question under the limelight. It is an innovative and out-of-the-box production collaborated by multiple artists, with Sang Jijia, acclaimed as "the most perfect dancer", as director and choreographer, Janice Poon for dramaturgy, Dickson Dee for original live music, Oliver Shing for video direction, and so on. As you can already tell, this production is a cross-disciplinary one where dance, drama, music and multimedia elements meticulously intertwined. From their sharing session, we know that this team, despite their differences in specialisation, worked at ease with one another, which I believe, is one of the greatest blessings for any creative process.
Getting back to the performance, I went to their first show on 5 Oct, 2018 at the Studio Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. I was amazed to find that most audience had standing tickets, which was rare. As I remembered, there was no standing area in the studio theatre and therefore, I proceeded to think that I was amongst the unlucky ones who got the "sitting-on-the-stairs" seats because of the popularity of the show. I was wrong. The set of this production had absolutely transformed the theatre, which justified the reason why most people had to stand instead of sit. There were four walls built above what we knew as the stage and most parts of the seats, which at that point, were nowhere to be seen. When we walked in, what greeted us were walls that were extended to about our chests (if you were my height) and an edge which extended from the ceiling, equally forming the same rectangular shape of the walls beneath us. So what was left for us standing peeps was a strip of space to look down from, and down there, was a claustrophobic rectangular space where performers moved in manners detached from one another, desperately and angrily.
We did not only become the "spectators", to which we would always be referred when we see a show, but we had become hyper aware of this identity. As the show progressed, where hidden cameras in the walls of the performing space were revealed, showing in video form on the floor and walls, even on the TV screens hanging around us, the live images of performers, we became the camera. While we observed these people trapped in this space struggle to find a purpose or relationship with one another in this heavily surveilled space, we could not escape from being inflicters of their pain. This power dynamic was completely destructed and contested when, the live images showed not only performers but also the audience. As we observed the uneasy expressions of unprepared audience members looking into the camera, right back at us, the supposedly superior spectators, we realised our own vulnerability in the surveillance situation. We were not only watching, but were being watched as well. This had inflicted on us a sort of horror of the infringement of privacy and personal space. We were not meant to feel safe in this performance, and it had successfully achieved so.
In terms of set and overall performance, I find this production an eye-opening one which challenged usual formats of presentation and engagement. It is also a timely one. If we look closely at Hong Kong and China relations, one might fear the eventual surrender of Hong Kong people's privacy for secret cameras where the party observes and rates each of us by credits, an ongoing phenomenon in the Mainland, which ultimately determines the destiny of your life, including education and job opportunities. As spectators and the "surveilled" of the world, there might not be much we could do to protect ourselves, but at least, we have to be aware of the existence of such power dynamics. Perhaps through performance like this, more people could talk about it, thus some genius amongst us, might figure out eventually the perfect method to counter authoritarian surveillance.
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