Dondon Hounwn & Collaborators

Curatorial Perspective

Derived from a fabricated legend recounted by Dondon Hounwn. HAGAY DREAMING (Research Project) explores technoshamanism and Gaya principle to investigate the natural diversity of gender in a primeval state. The work combines chants, gender swapping, hiking-listening, laser lighting, image projection, plant music, and dance to revisit history and myth, ancestral spirits and rituals, forming a forest-wandering and dream-awakening techno-fantasia guided theater of revival, while utilizing technology to inherit and continue the production of tribal cultural knowledge. Foregrounding the avant-garde in indigenous futurism, showing new technologies of the future as magic from the old times, HAGAY DREAMING (Research Project) transforms the impossible into the visible. The experimentality deriving from the collaboration among Shu Lea Cheang and Dondon Hounwn, together with other artists, as well as the the multilayered possibility of the performance site and aesthetics of their collaboration lie in the “indeterminacy” of the work: Similar to gender performativity, such uncertainty or “indeterminacy” – in particular, the technical indeterminacy – unveils a certain futurism at the indeterminate border. Consequently, the presentation of the work always differs from its previous version. In the Taiwan Art Biennial, The text of the theater work is transformed into seven sculptures with seven sets of videos that document the research and development process and vision of HAGAY DREAMING from 2020 to the end of 2022. The performance takes place inside the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, appearing as a work in progress, comprising a spirit-welcoming ceremony, with ancient chanting and a gender swapping rehearsal, combined with writing of video images, laser projection, improvised live music, and dancers repeatedly rehearsing multiple gender political debates. For the post-performance discussion, four experts in the areas of gender/theater performance/art and technology/social and indigenous policy are invited to participate and provide their analyses. Forums and workshops in the indigenous community are added to emphasize on the indigenous futuristic quality in embodied experiences.

Creation Description

Derived from HAGAY DREAMING, a techno-fantasia guided theatre of revival currently in development towards a large scale theater presentation in 2023, The HAGAY DREAMING Research Project presents the multi-faceted studies and work-in-progress performances of HAGAY DREAMING that dated from 2020 to 2022, and a live event with performance and forum.

Dondon Hounwn recounts a tribal legend -

“A hunter lost in the forest meets a group of gender fluid hagay who transmit the knowledge of rituals, hunting and weaving to the hunter. The hunter returns to the tribe and continue sharing their wisdom.” Combining rituals, chants and dances through forest wandering and dreams awakening, HAGAY DREAMING follows practices of Technoshamanism and Gaya principle to investigate the diversified nature of genders in primeval states and negotiate the conflicts between tribal tradition keepers and the defiant young generations.

The HAGAY DREAMING (Research Project) consists of -

(1) Gallery installation
The center piece consists of seven sculptural pottery blocks, each scribed in Truku language that punctuates the seven act scenario of HAGAY DREAMING. On the wall space – 5 plasma screens showing video documents from the project’s conception with Shu Lea Cheang at LAB KILL LAB (C-LAB, 2020) to performance at Dowmung tribe (June 2022) and STWST48x8 (September 2022) in Linz, Austria; two related films made by filmmaker Tzuan Wu are projected.

(2) An evening of Techno-Fantasia experimentation
Laser artist aka_chang takes on tribal totems for a laser spin. Spectra of laser light beaming “dowriq” totem summons the ancestral spirits to watch over us through an inspiring evening.

(3) An evening of performance and forum
Rehearsal as performance - Dondon Hounwn collaborates with dancer Shih-Min Szu and singer Shan Shan Chen to lead the 5 young tribal performers in rehearsing, performing and discussing selected acts of the scenario. Dialogues in development - the post-performance forum with the performers is joined by readers of tribal culture, gender studies and practitioners of hybrid technology/genres of theatre performance.

(4) Forest weaving workshop
Guided by artist/shaman practitioner Dondon Hounwn and Dowmung tribal elder Kaji Cihung, participants spend two days and a night at Dowmung tribe in walking, weaving the forest, sensing the power of water and nature, sharing knowledge of medicinal plants, learning the indigenous plants with tribal totem design, reconciling issues of gender conflicts facing tribal elders and the young generation. Gathering by the fireside in the evening brings the participants to take part in storytelling and singing together.

Crew list

• A Dondon Hounwn/Elug Art Corner work
• Initiated and Schemed by Shu Lea Cheang
• Produced by Ping Yi Chen/Dimension Plus
• Artistic Direction/Script/Direction - Dondon Hounwn
• Laser: aka_chang
• Choreographer and dancer: Shih-Min Szu
• Vocal: Shan Shan Chen
• Experimental film: Tzuan Wu
• Writer: Ibau
• Pottery sculpture: Cheng-Hsuan Weng
• Dancers: Apu’u Yakumangana, Tumun Buru, Umaw Nguzyok, Marang Kuwah, Pilaw Uraw
• Music producer: Sayun Chang/ Audio engineer: Shih Wei Liu/ Cellist: Jiro Yeh/ Violinist: Yu Hao Chang
• Costume: Big Book studio
• Documentary film: Dgiyaq video studio
• Technical coordination: Chien Huan Hsu
• Executive production: Hsinyu Hsieh

HAGAY DREAMING theater version is funded and supervised by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan