ARTIST STATEMENT

My collaborator Ms. Tong maintains a distance from technology, refraining from using a mobile phone or the internet, and she always calls me from a landline. It’s been a long time since I got a call from a landline, and it was a bit like a call from another time and space. This aspect added a unique touch to our collaboration, as our approaches to technology were extremely different.

My past works have never used elements of traditional oriental culture, and for me, INK holds significance in cultural heritage. I asked myself, how should Ms. Tong calligraphy dialogue with the limbs of humans and robots, and Ryoichi Kurokawa's images?

We share the desire to maintain a contemporary and dynamic feel, and to challenge the preconceptions of calligraphy as "traditional" and "outdated”, through new media arts and the movement of human and robotic performers.

Ink interprets Ms. Tong's "Silent Music" series, and the abstract nature allows us to focus on the energy, space, and texture of the brushstrokes. The absence of specific Chinese characters eliminates the need for translation, making the calligraphic beauty accessible even without knowledge of Chinese.

When calligraphers finish a work, they typically use a stamp to leave their mark. I asked Ms. Tong if I could use her stamp, as it holds importance in our culture. Ms. Tong happily agreed, considering the culmination of Ryoichi’s audiovisual art, her calligraphy, and the human-machine interaction as a signature of our time.

I’m very grateful for this encounter.

— Huang Yi

ARTIST BIO

Taiwanese dancer, choreographer, inventor, and videographer Huang Yi’s pioneering work is steeped in his fascination with the partnership between humans and robots. He interweaves continuous movement with mechanical and multimedia elements to create a form of dance which corresponds with the flow of data, effectively making the performer a dancing instrument. Named by Dance Magazine as one of the “25 to Watch,” Huang was immersed in the arts at a young age, spending much of his childhood in his parents’ studio watching them teach tango and learning to paint alongside his father. Huang has been Artist-in-Residence of the National Theater & Concert Hall, the National Performing Arts Center, Taiwan, and is widely considered one of Asia’s most prolific choreographers.

Huang’s groundbreaking and award-winning work, HUANG YI & KUKA, in which he and his dancers perform alongside an industrial robot he programmed, has opened the Ars Electronica Festival (Austria), TED Conference (Vancouver), and toured globally since 2015 including in Australia, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the UAE.

Huang Yi premiered Under the Horizon, a hybrid opera, in collaboration with Berlin-based Ryoichi Kurokawa and the Netherlands Chamber Choir, in Holland and Taiwan in 2018. In February 2019 he premiered A Million Miles Away at Taiwan's celebrated National Theater. His latest work, Ink, premiered at the National Taichung Theater and the National Theater in Taipei in June 2023.

Dancers: Hu Chien, Huang Yi, Hsieh Cheng-Yu, Chen Zhao-Li, Chen Yi-Chen, Yeh Huan-Chun, Yu Wen-Pin, Tai Yi-Fen, Tsai Yi-Ting, Chung Shun-Wen, Huang Yen-Lin

Creative & Production Team:
Artistic Direction, Concept & Choreography: Huang Yi
Calligraphy: Tong Yang-Tze
Audiovisuals: Ryoichi Kurokawa
Technical Director: Lin Chia-Liang
Technical Assistant: Chen Yun-Wen
Producer: Wu Min-Fang
Representation: Ichun Yeh, Sozo

Special Thanks to:
Multinational Company Long Dedicated to Community Investment
CANJUNE
Taiwan Top Performing Arts Group Project, National Culture and Arts Foundation (Taiwan)
Hong Foundation
National Center for High-Performance Computing (Taiwan)
Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan)