For the last four decades Taiwan has been one of the world’s most dynamic centres for creative work in the literary, visual, cinematic and performing arts. Films by directors of Taiwan background have won major international awards; Taiwan writers, singers and actors have enjoyed superstar status in the Chinese-speaking world and beyond it; Taiwan artists have earned critical acclaim for the innovative and nuanced quality of their work. Many would suggest that this artistic dynamism has much to do with the intensity of discussion that surrounds questions of identity in Taiwan. Artists, musicians, writers and performers have been profoundly affected by debates about the kinds of identities that people in Taiwan can or should have, debates that are sparked by the complexity of the historical and cultural influences that have affected Taiwan.

This public forum will directly address the relationship between the arts and identity in Taiwan by bringing together leading scholars based in Australia whose work addresses these questions. It aims to explore both the vigour and variety of artistic expression in Taiwan and its relationship to the vigour and variety of ideas about identity in Taiwan. Covering the visual, performing, cinematic and literary arts, it will not only provide contexts for the well-known works produced by Taiwan-based or Taiwan-raised cultural producers but will also introduce works that may not be familiar to those from outside Taiwan.

Speakers:

Professor Jon Eugene von Kowallis, Chinese Studies, UNSW;

Jon Eugene von Kowallis is an internationally-acknowledged authority on Lu Xun, the father of modern Chinese literature, (1881-1936). He has published extensively on modern Chinese literary history (including on literature from Taiwan), with a particular focus on the classical poetic tradition and its relationship to modern culture. His work combines close analysis of literary texts with attention to historical and cultural context.

Dr Phyllis Yu-ting Huang Dr Phyllis Yu-ting Huang, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne;

Phyllis Yu-Ting Huang recently completed her PhD at Monash University on second-generation Taiwan mainlander writings from the 1980s to the 2000s, and this study will be published as a book by Routledge. Her research interests include Taiwanese literature, and cinematic and literary representations of cross-Strait relations, and she has a number of publications in this field.

Dr Wah Guan Lim, Chinese Studies, UNSW;

Wah Guan Lim’s research examines the politics of culture and performance across the Chinese communities in East and Southeast Asia, demonstrating how theatrical performances complicate national or ethno-cultural discourse. He has published extensively in Chinese and English on Chinese theatrical cultures, and is currently completing a monograph on the politics of performance in the Chinese diaspora.

Dr Sophie McIntyre, Creative Industries Faculty, QUT;

Sophie McIntyre is both an academic and curator specialising in the visual arts and museological practice in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region, with expertise in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, covering a wide range of art genres. Her monograph, Imagining Taiwan: the Role of Art in Taiwan’s Quest for Identity was published by Brill in 2018.

Chair: Associate Professor Fran Martin, Cultural Studies, University of Melbourne.

Martin Fran Martin is Associate Professor and Reader in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on television, film, literature, internet culture and other forms of cultural production in the contemporary transnational Chinese cultural sphere, with a specialisation in representations and cultures of gender and queer sexuality.