Hsin-Ju Yeh Session — [Monthly Knowledge Gathering] Season 7

[Why Organize Theatre Company Archives?]

Taiwan—a beautiful island rich in diverse cultures and histories—has an abundance of theatrical creation and activity. Yet the archives of micro-scale works produced by smaller, short-term, or non-continuous theatre teams are undeniably part of Taiwan’s theatre history, and for many reasons have not been written into it. Facing limited resources and manpower—or a weak sense of how their works matter to the broader history of Taiwanese theatre—many groups have not properly preserved or re-activated their materials. If we can recover these missing pieces, we’ll see a truer picture of Taiwan’s theatre landscape.

[Why Build a Cross-Theatre Archival Organizing Team?]

While gathering the materials described above, Center x Center once rescued the working files of a senior Taiwanese theatre practitioner just as they were about to be discarded. If even the records of well-known figures can be lost this easily, then materials from lesser-resourced, little-known, grassroots micro-productions are even less likely to be preserved or seen again. Time keeps moving—we don’t know how many priceless theatre archives lie sealed away and forgotten, or are being cleared out right now.

Therefore, alongside actively building a Museum of Archives to encourage micro-theatre groups to preserve their materials digitally, Center x Center also hopes to rally passionate collaborators to seek out and organize micro-theatre archives scattered across different places. Beyond supporting academic research, we aim to re-activate these works so they can generate revenue through remounts or reinterpretations. For physical materials, if a group cannot or does not wish to keep them, they may authorize Center x Center to preserve and creatively activate them. After all, no matter how small the work, how short-lived the troupe, or how unknown the team, these are real and indispensable parts of Taiwan’s theatre history.

[Sponsor]

Season 7 — It Has Never Been a Phase: Monthly Knowledge Gathering in Its Second Year

Carving the Temporality of Memory: Exhibitions, Digital Archives, and Publication as Acts of Historical Supplementation

This talk takes Hsin-Ju Yeh’s essay, “Carving the Temporality of Memory: Exhibitions, Digital Archives, and Publication as Acts of Historical Supplementation,” as its point of departure, inviting the audience to explore with the speaker both the possibilities and the necessity of exhibitions.

The essay examines “history-supplementing” exhibitions in Taiwan since 2012. Starting from the basic proposition that exhibitions possess their own temporality, it considers how the power of “arguing history through exhibition” competes with time—or even surpasses the inevitably brief duration of exhibition runs—approaching the state Giorgio Agamben (1993) describes as “changing time.” As we sort through art histories from the 1980s onward, how do we preserve, display, and even re-produce “immaterial arts” and “non-visual arts”? How do we expand our view to encompass artists’ social practices? These questions challenge both contemporary collecting mechanisms and research display.

The article thinks back and forth through the limitations of exhibition mechanisms, the acute issue of highly institutionalized research resources, and the ways creative and recording media can shake the boundaries of display and research from multiple angles. It holistically considers the complementary relationship among exhibitions, digital archives, and exhibition publications today, and repositions “history-supplementing” exhibitions as a strategic force within future systems of knowledge production.

Speaker: Hsin-Ju Yeh

Freelance art researcher, producer and curator. PhD student in the School of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts. Her research focuses on art history in 1990s Taiwan, with a specific interest in the DIY spirit and independent artistic practices of that period.　https://hjyeh.com/

Capacity｜Limited to 45 participants
Admission｜Free registration (please sign up as a Center x Center member to claim your e-ticket). On-site registration may be available depending on capacity.

Entry Rules｜ Entry opens at 1:30 PM. Please present your e-ticket upon entry.
(Yes, you really do need to show your e-ticket! Please be kind to the check-in staff!)

Exit Reminder｜ At the end of the event, please take all your trash with you.
(Seriously—everyone needs to take their own trash. Let’s reduce waste together; don’t make things hard for the organizers or the planet!)