This year’s Taipei Arts Festival uses theatrical history as a framework to weave together artists’ memoirs and reflect on the aesthetics of their creations. This talk features Professor Wang Chun-Yen, a dedicated scholar of Taiwan's contemporary theater and performance culture, alongside Taipei Arts Festival curator River Lin. Together, they will explore the potential for reimagining and interpreting theatrical history, discussing how history enhances our understanding of the present day.
Wang Chun-Yen
Wang Chun-Yen holds a BA in Chinese Literature and an MA in Drama and Theatre from National Taiwan University, and receives his PhD in Theatre Arts from Cornell University. As an assistant professor of Performance and Cultural Studies at National Taiwan University, Wang teaches various courses, including “Cultural Translation,” “Interdisciplinary Humanities and Contemporary Taiwan,” and “Transnational Chinese Theater and Cultural Criticism.” He is the recipient of the S-An Cultural Foundation Aesthetic Essay Award, Taiwan Merits Scholarships, Fulbright Scholarship, etc. Wang’s research interest lies in contemporary Taiwanese theatre and cultural translation, and has long focused on the relationship between epistemology and aesthetics. In recent years, he concentrates on the interdisciplinary performance of global Chinese. Wang is a regular contributor for Performing Arts Reviews (https://pareviews.ncafroc.org.tw/) sponsored by the National Culture and Arts Foundation.
River Lin
Working with Live Art, dance, and queer culture, Paris-based Taiwanese artist River Lin is Curator of the Taipei Arts Festival, ADAM, Camping Asia and Curatoké: Performance Curator Academy at the Taipei Performing Arts Center. He is also Co-Curator of the Indonesian Dance Festival, Guest-Curator of the 2025 Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, and Guest Co-Editor for the OnCurating's Special Issue. His artistic work has been presented internationally by Centre Pompidou, Centre National de la Danse, Live Art Prize, M+ Museum, and Taipei Fine Arts Museum among others.
