Cultural Institution and Institutional Culture from the Transcultural Perspective: What Is the Culture behind the Stage, and What Is the Culture inside a Cage?
Danny Yung
(Hong Kong)
Maciej Szatkowski
szatkowski@umk.plNicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
Abstract
This article presents the profile of the East Asian theatre artist Danny Yung, director of the acclaimed Zuni Icosachedron theatre in Hong Kong. In the first part, Maciej Szatkowski offers a synthesis of his artistic biography, from his early years as a theatre maker in Hong Kong in the 1980s to the creation of a transnational Chinese theatre, which provides a space for artistic encounters of established and emerging artists from the Sinosphere and beyond. The article focuses on highlighting the main areas of Yung’s work and contextualizing them in terms of the realities of Chinese cultural life. The author describes the central distinguishing features of Yung’s activity and its consecutive stages over the years, as well as the impact of his work on theatres in China and Taiwan. The appendix provides a transcript of Yung’s talk at the conference Contemporary Acting Techniques in Eurasian Theatre, Performance and Audiovisual Art: Intercultural and Intermedia Perspective (2021). The guiding idea of the lecture is the role of institutions in shaping theatre policy and connecting artists and ideas. Yung draws on examples from his own experience, describing the process of creating his most recent productions. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration and dialogue between artists, as well as the role of theatre institutions as major actors influencing the development of theatre art in contemporary Eurasia.
Keywords:
Asian theater, Hong Kong, Danny Yung, Chinese theater, cultural policyReferences
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37273-6
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Authors
Danny YungHong Kong
Danny Yung - born in Shanghai in 1943 is an experimental art pioneer and one of the most influential artists in Hong Kong and the Chinese-speaking region. In 1982, he co-founded the Zuni Icosahedron theatre and is also its artistic director. In the past forty years, Danny Yung has worked across many fields, including theatre, dance, film, video installations, etc. He has been involved in over a hundred theatre productions as a director, scriptwriter, producer, and stage designer. His works with Zuni Icosahedron have been performed in many cities in Asia, Europe, and North America. Danny Yung is also the creator of a series of conceptual comics, figurines, and sculptures (his large-scale installation was displayed at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2014, commissioned by the 48th Smithsonian Folklife Festival). Besides his creative work, Danny Yung has been active in cultural and art policy education and cultural exchange. It has led to many cultural exchange initiatives in Asia and between Asia and Europe, where he has served as the chairman and advisor to several institutions working in Hong Kong.He is the recipient of several awards, including the Music Theater award of the International Theater Institute in 2008, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Fukuoka Arts and Culture Prize in Japan in 2009, the Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Artists of the Year in 2015, among many others.
Authors
Maciej Szatkowskiszatkowski@umk.pl
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń Poland
Maciej Szatkowski - sinologist, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Culture Studies of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and director of the Center for Chinese Language and Culture at this university. His research focuses on contemporary Chinese culture and literature, particularly Chinese counterculture of the late 1980s and 1990s, as well as drama translation.
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