How does a theatre touch?
And how do we recognize each other through touch?
#FreeTouch is a street-based artistic practice initiated by Chou Kuan-Jou in post-#MeToo Taiwan, exploring bodily and spatial boundaries. By inviting strangers into one-on-one consensual touch in public spaces, the project questions what "public touch" can mean. It has traveled through 4 countries, touched 13 locations, and 44 strangers. Now, this body—marked by fingerprints, sweat, and shared warmth—faces the strange yet familiar ultimate public body: the THEATRE!
As a body of collective imagination and disciplinary structure, how does touch play out under the gaze of performance?
Free Touch: Staging Presence brings this action into the black box, crossing the divide between performer, audience (and stage manager?), front and back, public and intimate. Driven by tactility, the work reimagines theatre’s body—its devices as organs, systems as digestion, audience dynamics as photosynthesis. The result is a multisensory touch interaction that fuses sight and sound. It is not merely a performance, but a live experiment in bodily politics, spatial power, and sensory negotiation.
And how do we recognize each other through touch?
#FreeTouch is a street-based artistic practice initiated by Chou Kuan-Jou in post-#MeToo Taiwan, exploring bodily and spatial boundaries. By inviting strangers into one-on-one consensual touch in public spaces, the project questions what "public touch" can mean. It has traveled through 4 countries, touched 13 locations, and 44 strangers. Now, this body—marked by fingerprints, sweat, and shared warmth—faces the strange yet familiar ultimate public body: the THEATRE!
As a body of collective imagination and disciplinary structure, how does touch play out under the gaze of performance?
Free Touch: Staging Presence brings this action into the black box, crossing the divide between performer, audience (and stage manager?), front and back, public and intimate. Driven by tactility, the work reimagines theatre’s body—its devices as organs, systems as digestion, audience dynamics as photosynthesis. The result is a multisensory touch interaction that fuses sight and sound. It is not merely a performance, but a live experiment in bodily politics, spatial power, and sensory negotiation.
Chou Kuan Jou X Latent Heat Collective
Chou Kuan-Jou is based in Taipei, Taiwan, specializing in embodied creative practices, performance, movement design, and dance education. Kuan's work also extends into social advocacy, including sex volunteering with Hand Angels. Kuan has devoted time to the artistic practice of the "Lust Body," employing the fluidity of sexuality as a strategy to reframe boundaries. Through practices centered on touch and bodily interaction, this approach expands into a dance-based dialogical space. The methods of practice include, but are not limited to, physical explorations, workshop sharing, and performance art. The work "TOMATO" received five-star reviews and several awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Later, it was invited to perform at The Coronet Theatre in London and the Melbourne Fringe. The UK’s Guardian described Kuan’s work as “unique and provocative,” showcasing their creative force as an emerging choreographer.
Choreographer & Performer / Chou Kuan-Jou
Lighting Designer & Stage Manager / Wang You-Jyun
Sound Designer / PN
Graphic Designer/ 58kg
Ticketing, Front House Manager/ Karen Sung
Lighting Designer & Stage Manager / Wang You-Jyun
Sound Designer / PN
Graphic Designer/ 58kg
Ticketing, Front House Manager/ Karen Sung
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臺北表演藝術中心會員─成癮玩家／團隊玩家9折
