Abstracts accepted for 7th Annual Conference of Taiwanese Young Scholars in Europe

Whose Another Faces?The Politics of Memory during the White Terror in Taiwan

Ling-yu Agnes Hsiao╱PhD Candidate in Sociology, University of Cambridge

How do political victims recall and deal with their pasts after prolonged grievous state violence? This is a research aims to account for the way in which the politically victimised ones in Taiwan look back on their pasts during the White Terror from the present point. Whilst conducting interviews with the victimised individuals, as former state enemies, informants are prone to conceal their pasts as to their treason crimes, and even tend to deny the pasts in public. The attitude highlights the impasse of transitional justice work in Taiwan, while the society has not provided the former state enemies enough rooms to voice their deeds that had once seemed to be committed crimes. In addition, informants of the research express an emotion of shame that they even have never voiced to the loved ones. Yet, after the fieldwork for years, the informants disclose their unspeakable shame to researcher such as I during interviews. It is salient to denote that the emotion of shame that has intertwined with their memories is not remnants of the state violence or political stigma. In stark contrast, a shame was derived by the depression of not revolting the regime successfully. As the society see these individuals as victims, they tend to see themselves as revolutionaries instead.

The research aims to elicit the hidden context of the collective state of mind of the former state enemy in Taiwan. With in-depth interviews and collected data, the paper manages to analyse the subjectivities of these individuals through their memories. By unraveling the way in which the victimised individuals recall their life stories, the research aims to deliver another perspective of the politics of memory in Taiwan, these victimised individuals another faces during the history.

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An « Ecology of Sounds » in Gérard Grisey’s Work –through the evolution of the relation between material and form

CHOU Chao-Chiun╱PhD Candidate in Musiology, University of Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis

In French spectral composer Gérard Grisey’s early work, material and form are closely related by the use of gradual transformation « process ». Grisey considered the relation between sound objet and process as that between the microscopic form and the macroscopic form of the sound objet itself. Writing in process means that the status of sound objet is raised, becoming an element that can carry the formal progression, instead of being the element to be combined with other objects. Grisey tried to adapt the irreversibility, the continuity, and the dynamic nature of sound phenomenon to a formal context or a formal scale. Hence, the spectral music differs form the formal construction in the western tonal music, characterized mainly by motivic proliferation, development, and variation.

In his early work, the transposition of the microscopic form (the sound objet) to the macroscopic form (the musical form) is made possible by “dilating the time”. Grisey named this dilated temporality “the time of whale”, since it creates a temporality far different from that of the human language. By dilating time, the sound objet is extended as form. Thus, the characteristics of sound phenomenon which make it dynamic and “living-beings like” are able to be showed or, more precisely, “be heard” in music.

Grisey’s early work seems to correspond to Deleuze’s proposition to “make audible the forces non audible”. The construction of the music form is based on the very nature of sound objet, avoiding the non-acoustic, cultural-historical, linguistic references. The intervention of the composer is aimed to show the force of the sound phenomenon. As the musicologist Peter-Nikalas Wilson suggested, these works demonstrate “an ecology of sounds”.

However, in his last work – Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil ( Four Songs for Crossing the Threshold ), Grisey abandoned the procedures used in most of his previous work. The formal construction of the four songs is now closely related and determined by the lyrics, selected respectively from four civilization (Christianity, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greek, Mesopotamia) and all related to the subject of “death”. The musical form is no more carried by the sound object. The transformation of sound object, the process writing, as well as the multiple temporalities are now used as technics or means for creating a sound sphere inseparable with the poetics of the lyrics. As for the instrumental writing, the composer used some connoted technics and orchestration as well. In the end of the last song, which uses “the Flood” chapter of the Epic of the Gilgamash as lyrics, Grisey even added a “lullaby” for “the humanity finally got rid of the nightmare”.

The evolution of the relation between material and form in Grisey’s work seems to show a constant concern and research about the relation between the humanity (writing, culture, history) and the sound (non-human, nature). This evolution shows that the ecology of sounds in Grisey’s work seems to head to a more harmonious or conciliated direction when it comes to the relation between the non-dismissible cultural-historical aspect in music writing and the physical nature of sound phenomenon.

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PERMEABLE  SUBJECTIVITY – study of the territoriality in the artworld and globalization

Hsiang-Pin Wu╱Master student in Contemporary arts and new medias, University of Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis

If studying and writing on arts and culture of a specific region means analyzing the traces of social, political and economic marked on the cultural context construction, researchers may be conscious of the inseparable boundary of territory knowledges of the world. Perhaps, we can consider that the realities of a region as a cloth is wove layer upon layer by the culture, politics, society and economy. Especially, a new reality makes much more complicated the relation among nature, society, and human under the globalization. For examples, the system of economic, political and cultural power is controled by international consortiums and military affairs. Moreover, the equilibration and independance are lost in the economic relation of regions. Furthermore, contemporary cultures are more and more mediocritized and impoverished, and the ecological threat extended already to the global scale.

This thesis is based on my studying experiences in Taiwan and France. It discusses with a theoretical frame constructed by the aesthetic and philosophical researchs in Europe and Asia. Through the viewpoint of artists and cultural researchers, this thesis examines some current events (like 2012 Paris Triennale, 2013 Taiwanese Pavilion in Venice, "Does Europe matter?" exhibition, and artistic interventions in specific social and political activities around the world in recent years). I redefine the position of artist today in order to ponder over the difficulties and the possibilities, and also deepen and enrich the culture of a region in the contemporary era. Thus, the primary question envisaged is: how to build a significant research both theoretically and practically between Taiwan and France (as another place and another knowledge system)? In other words, if France could be a reference of Taiwan, Europe be a reference of Asia, and moreover, the countries in Asia or the different regions in Taiwan be mutually the reference to each others, will the research of the “in-between”, which is developed under this thesis, explore, build, and practice a new epistemological field in cultural conflicts, exchanges, and mixing? However, rather than remain in the “in-between”, I focus furthermore on the question: how could this research “takes root”? In which ground (cultural, social or political) does it grow ? In the meantime, by which status or subjectivity, that we could construct a bridge – a conceptual structure among different cultures?

Without being bound by racism, essentialism or fondamentalism, the discussion of the “root” is to criticize the above-mentioned “root fetichisms”, panism and cultural imperialism throught the theory of deconlonization. Then, I reconstruct the meaning of the “root” by analyzing the “Radicant” expounded by Nicolas Bourriaud, and recontextualize the symbol of “Take root” being familiar to Taiwanese culture. Moreover, by extracting the question of the cultural subjectivity from the “root” discussion, the review of the debate on subjectivity in artworld, the analysis of the theory of Félix Guattari, Gilles Clément, Augustin Berque, and the translation question of occidental culture in Taiwan since the late 1980s will establish a theory of “permeable subjectivity” nowaday from which we could develop a new artistic practice.  

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Taiwanest avant-garde Theatre and Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage

Huang Shu Ping╱PhD Candidate in Theatre, University of Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis

Since 1989 when Liu Ch’ing Min and Chen Wei-Chen have introduced Grotowski’s physical exercises in Taiwan, the avant-garde theatre with its body training turned to be fashionable. The “Body” becomes the most important care for the Taiwanese theatre actors. At the same time, the conscience of the Taiwanese’s cultural subjectivity proved to be more and more lively and outspread in everyday’s life and also reached a crucial political issue. The U Theatre, following this trend, have run a series of cultural activities which are called in short “the Su Project ”. The actors of U Theatre, for the whole three years, took part in the ceremonies of different temples, learned some performance techniques and followed the Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage. 

In this proposal, I try to describe the actor’s inner conversation between the body and the will when they participate in the pilgrimage of Baishatun Matsu. I will start from these questions: first, why did the intellectuals of the avant-garde theatre chose the Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage as one of their objects of fieldwork? Secondly, how did this pilgrimage turned into a compulsory theatre training? In the end, I will discuss how the staff of the theatre passed from ritual experience to theatre experience.

Through the way the artists think of Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage , through the way they associate the long walk with the body training, we can glimpse, immediately, how they recognize their body as a place of transcendence. Then we can make an advanced inference that sensual experience can be acquired not only through the concrete experience in real events, but also through their thoughts, that’s to say, the incarnation of their concept of the body.

On the other hand, the Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage offers an environment where theatre’s people could behave as a Taiwanese. By participating in the activities of pilgrimage, the actors try to take off the abstract life of the city to be transformed into ‘local people’ ; At the same time,  through their process to be identified as local people, we can realize the break between the young intellectuals and the traditional local culture in Taiwan.

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A primary research of the meaning of Madness

Hsiao-Chun SU╱PhD Candidate, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

What is the “madness”? When we talk about the so called “madness”, does it refer to a kind of mental illness, a kind of absence of the reason, or, can we find out another term to mention of it?

When the French philosopher, Michel Foucault, published his PhD papers, Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, his work about the “madness” encounters the attacks from his adversary philosopher, Jackques Derrida. The conversation based of the lecture of the Meditation I in the Meditations on First Philosophy of Descartes between M. Foucault and J. Derrida represent the most important dispute around the madness in the history of France. Not only in the domain of the philosophy, but otherwise, these analyses of madness of Foucault provoked the disagreements from the other side of the psychiatry. Precisely, we discover at least three elements who symbolize the discords from the side of the science psychiatric.

In this article, I’d like to discuss the meaning of the madness, in the context of the modernity. Where is this conception from and how come? And I’d like to clarify the dissensions between the thinking of M. Foucault and the point of view from the psychiatry.

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The transformation of cinema

Liu Xiao-Wen╱Master student in Contemporary arts and new medias, University of Paris 8 Vincennes 

How to reproduce a film work in a different system of representation? When a film work is transposed into another representation system, how could we identify the presence of cinema? How could we analyze it?

The convergence of film and contemporary art where we can find some artists from other field, like painting or sculpture, choose the film as a medium, such as Robert Smithson, he uses the film language to re-construct his landscape works; also some filmmakers, such as Godard or Akerman, try using the film installation as a form for cinematic writing. Instead of using camera or projection device, there are some artists who seize the cinema special effects, use film genre’s code and film theories in a non-film work. However, these works brought sensory feeling that could evoke cinematic experience: we do not "see" film, but "feel" and "perceive" the presence of film. This means that the film no longer exist on the original support, but deposited below the other heterogeneous perceptive mediums. These lead to visual, auditory and other sensory elements, through the artist's arrangement - like a kind of scriptwriting, can collide each other then that make viewer have psychological projection born with possible meanings, plot and interpretation.

This study will be on Mike Kelly and Janet Cardiff's work as the example to try approaching this transformation of cinema: Mike Kelley who talks a lot about the "detournement" proposed by International Situationist in his work, is interested in using the mechanical special effects as a way of thinking about human psychological mechanism. His work revealed the similarity between film special effects’ work and human psychological operation; furthermore, Janet Cardiff uses the Dolby surround sound system which is born because of the development of cinematic representation system, to guide us seeing the images. Cardiff who is interested in film theory, writes her film with sound, in her work, the line between audience and actors often become blurred in her diegesis. According to Cardiff’s partner, George Bures Miller, what they attempt is creating a "cinema simulator."

Indeed, both two artists take a part of film special effects, and apply film genre’s code to develop their works. In addition, the psychology and film theory become the reference how the mediums could work. Due to the common characteristics of their works as our directions of this study, understanding the constitution of the film representation system and the relationship between psychology and film theory, will help us to explore how film language is translated in the other representation system in cases of these two artists.

In order to grasp how how the translation of film language happened, we shall firstly know what make the film representation system: What are the elements that build cinema? What makes a film have its genre? Clarifying the concepts and the the development of filmic elements and film genre will be the important anchorage point for approaching how Kelley and Cardiff transform film matter into another. The other part, we must come to understand how the film representation system works: How a film works? Through the relationship between psychology and film theory, we shall try to analyze film language’s work. And then, analyzing the dispositif of these two artists would allow us to find out how these transformed cinematic elements work, how this work can operate audience's psychological reaction.

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Watching Theater: On the Precondition for the Transmission of Humanistic Knowledge from Europe into Taiwan

I-Tsun Wan╱PhD Candidate in German Literature, Ruhr University Bochum

The German playwrighter Bertolt Brecht has proposed that the theater must induce the “Verfremdungseffekt (defamiliarization effect)”, aimed at making the theater not only a show, but also an occasion to think and to question: “Why?” The audience must not only watch, but should also be encourged to think and question; the actors, too. But if you try to transmit the Verfremdungseffekt from Europe into Taiwan, I think it would be impossible at the moment. Because the ways, with which the Taiwanese watch theater plays, are reduced to a dichotomy: “either interesting, or boring”. To the au- dience the significance of watching consists only in the stimulation of their senses, and to the actors only in their advantage.

The challenge to transmit knowledge from Europe to Taiwan, remains the same. The audience is the reader, and the actor is the person, who transmits the knowledge. If the knowledge transmitted doesn’t conform with the public anticipation or the ac- tor’s advantage, it will be considered boring, and the author as a freak. “Practicality” seems to be the precondition for receiving the Knowledge. Indeed, the knowledge will become only worthy if it is useful. But it should be reflected what kind of practicality counts. Because if the knowledge is deemed an article of commerce, it will become cheap, and therefore can neither develop nor flourish – neither on Taiwanese ground nor in the Taiwanese mind. Especially in this day and age where the topic of humani- ties is neglected, the transmission of the humanistic knowledge is more difficult.

In fact, “how to apply” is directly connected to “how to watch”. The way of wat- ching – not only the audience’s, but also the actors’ – must be changed if the transmit- ted knowledge should be made possible, and simultaneously keep its conventional and potential worth. It’s a question of enlightenment, which the Taiwanese certainly need. But enlightenment alone can not bring a positive change as the dramatists of En- lightenment had already experienced. At that time, the advocated rationality was un- able to surpass the coveted advantage; the same as nowadays. How to enlighten, but at the same time avoiding the old way of Enlightenment, is namely a question of the pre- condition of transmission of knowledge.

In this text, I assume that the Taiwanese way of watching refers to their thinking about applicability. To discuss the causes of this attitude, I’ll review the provenance of Taiwanese culture on one hand. On the other hand, I’ll talk about whether the Enligh- tenment, completed with new supplements, can really change the audience’s way of watching. I hope the text can contribute an opinion towards the issue. 

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The Development of Contemporary Literary Therapy Genre

Huang, Yen-Chi╱PhD Candidate in Literary Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 

Over the last few decades, a large number of studies have been made on discourses of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and their various implications. There is a long list of contemporary literature focusing on mental disorders, psychiatric healing process and correlated phenomena. Nevertheless, the contemporary shape of the literary therapy writings has not been fully examined as a genre in itself. Hence, this paper gives an overall analysis of the development of literary therapy genre. Taking its starting point from a critical dialogue with literary therapy writings and psychoanalytic theories, this paper explores the thematic development of literary therapy writings and the representation of psychoanalysis in contemporary literary therapy genre. Unlike the theoretical discourses of psychoanalysis, literary therapy genre is a type of creative writings concerning the subject of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis written either by psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, analysands or by authors who are neither psychoanalysts nor analysands. How psychoanalysts, analysands and literary authors turn psychoanalytic knowledge and experience into literary writing via different approaches will be the focus of the research. Following the development of literary therapy genre, I identify my research on the three areas specifically: psychoanalysts-turned-authors and their literary therapy writings of therapy analysands as authors and their writing of the psychotherapeutic experience and (3) other literary writings concerned therapeutic issues written by non-psychoanalyst/analysand authors. Moreover, special attention will be given to the question of under what circumstances do psychoanalysts turn to creative writing, especially therapy writing. While psychoanalytic discourse focuses on theories and clinical cases, with a diversity of narratives, the literary therapy genre describes the psychoanalytic process and the therapeutic interaction between psychoanalyst and analysand. I explore literary therapy writings that address the issue of psychoanalysis because psychoanalysis and literature are often regarded allies on the basis of the importance of narrativity in the talking cure. The study will seek to contribute to issues of how different psychoanalytic conceptions result in different styles of literary therapy-writings, and how psychoanalytic concepts and therapeutic experience have been appropriated, transformed, or complicated by agents of varied fictional narratives in contemporary literary therapy genre.

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Hamas’ political transformation and its resistance discourse (2003-2006)

Hsiu-Ping, Bao╱PhD student in Palestine studies, University of Exeter, UK

The aim of this paper is to examine Hamas’ political transformation by scrutinizing its resistance discourse between 2003 and 2006. Hamas is an acronym of the ‘Islamic resistance movement’, which was founded in 1987. Due to its past record of suicide bombings inside Israel, Hamas has, in the past, been viewed by some Western countries as a terrorist organization. However since the election of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) held in January 2006 Hamas unexpectedly had the capability of forming a government in its own right, since it won the majority of votes.

After 2006, although Hamas has not been recognized by Western countries because Hamas had refused to recognize the legitimacy of Israel and the renouncement of violence against it, as an elected government Hamas has demonstrated its pragmatism and flexibility in response to reality. For example, International law and resolutions agreed by the security council of the United Nations are often raised by Hamas’ leadership in order to justify its right to defend itself as well as to seek moral support from the International community. On the other hand, Hamas has proposed a peace plan to Israel: If Israel evacuated from Gaza, the West Bank and the East Jerusalem and accepted the right of return of Palestinian refugees according to the International resolutions, then Hamas would be willing to cease hostilities and to coexist with Israel in terms of a 10-year truce. In spite of this, the peace proposal has not only been rejected but it has been treated by Israel and others as a strategy that is meant to put in place the ‘destruction of Israel’. But there is no denying that the conflict between Hamas and Israel has dramatically decreased compared with the period between 2003 and 2006, inasmuch as there is no record of suicide bombing undertaken by Hamas. At the same time, Hamas has stressed the necessity and legitimacy of the restoration of Palestinian rights rather than military resistance. 

Many scholars believe that Hamas’ transformation is not accidental. In reality, Hamas has gradually changed its discourse from the intensity of the armed struggle to its political participation in the period from 2003 to 2006. This transformation was considered to be in response to the changes in the external and internal environment. The way that Hamas itself interprets the transition and its implications, is beyond the scope of the existing scholarship.

This paper argues that the ‘resistance discourse’ or the ‘resistance project’ is the means by which Hamas adapted to a new environment. This discourse is prevalent in a large number of Hamas’ leaders’ interviews between 2003 and 2006, which could enable readers to understand further Hamas’ ideology with regard to its rejection of Israel and how Hamas’ perspective on various issues such as: the Israeli occupation, the concept of peace and war and its view on democracy and election. Moreover, this discourse could explain the root cause of Hamas’ decision to participate in politics in early 2004, a move which has also been neglected by academic research.

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“Artificial nature or second nature” - A study of 2012 Taipei Digital Art Festival and2013 French EXIT/VIA/LILLE 3000 International Festival of Digital Innovation…

CHIU, Hsiao-Chen╱PhD Candidate in Arts and Medias, University of Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle

Prometheus brought the fire into the world, leaded the human world from darkness towards light, promoted the civilization went up with a leap. The technology evolvement just like the torch of bringing light, not only changed human lifestyle, but also changed the pattern of the development of Arts, lead us step into an unimaginable world of the hyper senses. The study attempts to explore the interaction of cognitive structure between digital art, technology and the natural environment. Through analysis the phenomena by probe into the relationship of technology and ecology, pursued the hierarchy of needs on contemporaries.

Since the 1980s, the variation of second industrial revolution influenced the civilized consumption, tech products, internet came into our life, the knowledge dissemination device generated human behavior, consumer culture also changed the life style, science and technology expand into all areas of life and entertainments, the development of human computer interaction (HCI) made the digital devices and multi-media closed up to the daily life, upgraded the consumption patterns to the virtual world.

To compare with the two exhibitions of the same title of “Artificial Nature”, we propose to choose as problematic analysis of the link between the arts and sciences and the compartmentalization of knowledge in order to enhance the reflection of the interests and the start up the study of “arts-science-society”. From a sociological point of view, technology is changing our relationship to the world and a possibility of advanced civilization since it is placed at the service of human and his development, representing the microcosm of virtual society and the macrocosm of the world, digital environments also recreate an invisible nation.

However, technological science embodies the human spirit of the time, the relationship between man and technology became coexistence in contemporary society, the scientist or artist can create imaginary worlds and all crossed the dichotomous opposition of Natural and Non Natural. Nature created by digital media has become part of our life, or an extension of the real world, and accompanies human being in his exploration of an artificial nature.

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Reflections of the revolutionary spirit in the contemporary theater – analysis of 1789 and 1793 of Théâtre du Soleil.

Shi-Wei Wang╱PhD Candidate in Théâtre, University of Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle

In the sixties, an international wave of protest, led by the generation of baby-boom, convulsed not only the traditional values, restored since the World War II, but also emphasized the complexity of the revolutionary movements in the twentieth century. The social movements of May 1968 incorporated simultaneously the impetus of the young French leftists, who claimed for the individual liberties and the social equality, and the new revolutionary force, which united the anti-authority students and the working class. Indeed, during the whole May, the streets in Paris became open forums in which heteroclite groups discussed their grievances without fear of official repression. Therefore, the upheaval of conventions and habits forced all the citizens to query about the social system and their political position. A contemporary revolutionary spirit seemed to affect the youth French generation. Although all the strikes and demonstrations of May 68 didn’t provoked the effects upon the economic and political situations as all the demonstrators wished, the aftermath of these sociopolitical movements continued influencing the French society in the seventies, particularly in the cultural domain. 

After the shock of May 68, the Théâtre du Soleil, shaping more and more his political conciseness, decided to be concentrated on the collective creation, different from his artistic direction developing from 1964. For the purpose of exploring the relation between theatrical creations and contemporary society, the members of Soleil tried to approach the working class in the factories on strike for comprehending their socio-economic conditions, but also sought for a new subject of spectacle, able to reflect the evolution of French society since the events of May. In the beginning of 1970, the company completed two historical adaptations, which represented the opposite characters of revolutionary movement: 1789 – the Revolution Must Continue to the Perfection of Happiness (1970) and 1793 – the revolutionary city is from this world (1972). Both spectacles used the popular theater forms and leaned towards the view of people for pondering over the History of French Revolution. However, the former, drawing parallels between the Storming of the Bastille and the mobilization of Parisian citizens in 1968, created a revolutionary festivity and the latter, portraying realistically the life of “sans-culottes”, revealed their determination to radicalize the political position and the crisis of representative democracy. These two productions demystified not merely the patrimony of the French Republic, but offered a revaluation of the democratic development from the end of the eighteenth century til the present.