Drafts by Penny Yiou Peng 彭憶歐
Review on Jan Fabre's 24 hours performance Mount Olympus
Books by Penny Yiou Peng 彭憶歐
The Culture Collider - Post Exotic Art, Nov 2018
An entropy-drive rhetoric performance on (post-) exotic landscape
(This is the draft version du... more An entropy-drive rhetoric performance on (post-) exotic landscape
(This is the draft version due to copyright issue)
Papers by Penny Yiou Peng 彭憶歐
Stedelijk Studies Journal Issue #13, 2023
When confronting our post-pandemic human condition, that is, struggling to survive and to create ... more When confronting our post-pandemic human condition, that is, struggling to survive and to create in the capitalist ruins of wars, climate catastrophes, and the sixth extinction of species,[iv] the artist further announces, "Art history needs to be rewritten; modern ways of artistic creation need to be overturned, museums need to be reconstructed."[v] Zheng's statement directs a "callto-action" for recognizing and embodying "morethan-human"[vi] entanglements within the system of art creation, production, and exhibition. More-thanhuman not only refers to the expansive terrain of species and matters such as plants, animals, geological substances, memories, spirits… where humans do not dominate but are part of the assemblage of beings. It proposes a form of worldly engagement that is material, elemental, and inherently toward the process of deanthropocentrism. In this light, we may regard "morethan-human" as one of the interpretations of "wanwu 萬物," the Daoist notion of the myriad happenings. Zheng's calling for wanwu space thus acquires a radical departure from the conventional understanding of museum-according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, a building or a part of a building set aside as a repository and display place for objects relating to art, literature, or science[vii]toward a space that hosts different temporalities and cultivates the liveliness of (not-just-human-)beings. This is not to assume that art museums nowadays are standardized, monolithic organisations. Yet, no matter what kind of aesthetic concepts or social functions they are subjected to, be it Pompidou Metz, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the Rockbound Museum of Art in Shanghai, or MALBA in Buenos Aires, all these museums are, more or less, structured as anthropocentric institutions that celebrate man-made aesthetic narratives prioritizing "ways of seeing."[viii] In Radical Museology, when considering the global panorama of contemporary art museums,
Performance Research, 2023
As China undergoes its digital revolution with the rapid developments of new media and technology... more As China undergoes its digital revolution with the rapid developments of new media and technology on a massive scale, the bodies which used to be the sites for acclaiming for socio-political demands are now shifted to the digital sphere. However, social activists have discovered alternative ways to raise their voices through the virtual and cyber space. They have interwoven a hybrid body of solidarity in games and digital platforms.
This article takes the 2020 Hong Kong resistance in Nintendo game Animal Crossing and the legacy of Covid-19 ‘Whistle blower’ Li Wenliang on Chinese social media as cases, aiming to develop a comprehensive and comparative analysis on the performativity and solidarity that emerge with gamification and playfulness in contemporary Sino-sphere.
Ars for(in) Non(All): A story of encountering wan-wu 萬物, 2022
Deeply rooted in ancient Chinese wisdom, Wan-wu(萬物), translated as “myriad happenings” or “ten th... more Deeply rooted in ancient Chinese wisdom, Wan-wu(萬物), translated as “myriad happenings” or “ten thousand things”, is a way of experiencing the world. Linguistically, “Wan” means ten thousand, and “Wu” indicates objects, things, happenings, phenomena, among others. From a Daoist perspective, “wan-wu” does not simply limit itself within the quantitive account of objects and things. The figure of “Ten thousand” rather refers to “manifold”, “particular”, “manifest”, “emergent”, and even a bit “miscellaneous.”1 Such ambiguity and in-between-ness, often flowing in traditional Chinese language, give space to wan-wu’s interpretation and place it as an open sphere which encompasses every single existence that vibrates in (and in
between) the cosmos. Within this context, if the human creatures are but one of these ten thousand things, or even if each human is only one of a myriad of always emergent objects, things, or phenomena, there are new possibilities of entanglements which enable us, the modern human creatures, to re-consider our relationships with, and among non-human creatures, and to further imagine new ways of living and relating to the one and many vast, unbounded, infinite worlds of wanwu.
In this light, this essay attempts to create a pataphysics of Ars for Nons from the perspective of Wan-Wu. Starting with the simple question of What is Ars for Nons to possible imaginations of what Ars for Nons could be, this essay questions about who is enacting the “Ars” for whom? And what could be considered as the “Nons”? It argues that nonhuman entities shall not be overly romanticised, just like nature shall not be overly romanticised, just like the ‘global south’ shall not be overly romanticised. Because in either ways, such romanticisation out of guilt (be it innocent or not) might ultimately lead to the danger of re-producing and re-enforcing anthropocentrism. Instead, drawing from the practice of wan-wu, this essay suggests that perhaps what we need is simply a certain embodied care and awareness towards the existence of “ten thousand things”, the “myriad happenings”. It proposes a process of unlearning about what one might believe one knows; a process of decomposing the dominate hegemonic anthropocentric understanding of the so called “nature”, “animal”, “technology”...a process of cultivating sensibilities towards our mutual shared differences (from gender, racial, physical differences to species differences, technological differences, material differences...). In this way, this essay argues that Ars for Nons might be a path way, a tunnel, an in-between space that channels the moment where we, the modern human creatures involved in various global catastrophes due to our own ignorance, are standing right now to pulsate futures where live many entangled worlds, the worlds of ten thousand things, the worlds of myriad happenings, the worlds of Wan-wu.
* Based on my own practice of wan-wu and interspecies communication, this essay might also propose some exercises for the readers to practice, as an experiment of a piece of “embodied writing”.
Body, Space & Technology, 2022
Positioned itself in the stance of critical posthumanism, this essay examines the virtual corpore... more Positioned itself in the stance of critical posthumanism, this essay examines the virtual corporeality in Markus Selg and Susanne Kennedy's VR performance I AM (VR). By introducing Zhuangzi's idea of Tenuous self (虛我) and Jean-Luc Nancy's take on the liminal body, this essay asks how do we consider the physical form of the body, assembled in reality-reality within the immersive sharing and exchanging process of virtual-reality? What kind of transformation that the body might experience when it immerses into that otherworldly reality? I Am (VR), as an embodied performative happening of both artistic research and practice of virtual reality, provides insightful perspective in searching for possible answers. Taking this analysis as a departure point, this essay further investigates the possible entanglements between the ‘I’ and the ‘VR'.
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Drafts by Penny Yiou Peng 彭憶歐
Books by Penny Yiou Peng 彭憶歐
(This is the draft version due to copyright issue)
Papers by Penny Yiou Peng 彭憶歐
This article takes the 2020 Hong Kong resistance in Nintendo game Animal Crossing and the legacy of Covid-19 ‘Whistle blower’ Li Wenliang on Chinese social media as cases, aiming to develop a comprehensive and comparative analysis on the performativity and solidarity that emerge with gamification and playfulness in contemporary Sino-sphere.
between) the cosmos. Within this context, if the human creatures are but one of these ten thousand things, or even if each human is only one of a myriad of always emergent objects, things, or phenomena, there are new possibilities of entanglements which enable us, the modern human creatures, to re-consider our relationships with, and among non-human creatures, and to further imagine new ways of living and relating to the one and many vast, unbounded, infinite worlds of wanwu.
In this light, this essay attempts to create a pataphysics of Ars for Nons from the perspective of Wan-Wu. Starting with the simple question of What is Ars for Nons to possible imaginations of what Ars for Nons could be, this essay questions about who is enacting the “Ars” for whom? And what could be considered as the “Nons”? It argues that nonhuman entities shall not be overly romanticised, just like nature shall not be overly romanticised, just like the ‘global south’ shall not be overly romanticised. Because in either ways, such romanticisation out of guilt (be it innocent or not) might ultimately lead to the danger of re-producing and re-enforcing anthropocentrism. Instead, drawing from the practice of wan-wu, this essay suggests that perhaps what we need is simply a certain embodied care and awareness towards the existence of “ten thousand things”, the “myriad happenings”. It proposes a process of unlearning about what one might believe one knows; a process of decomposing the dominate hegemonic anthropocentric understanding of the so called “nature”, “animal”, “technology”...a process of cultivating sensibilities towards our mutual shared differences (from gender, racial, physical differences to species differences, technological differences, material differences...). In this way, this essay argues that Ars for Nons might be a path way, a tunnel, an in-between space that channels the moment where we, the modern human creatures involved in various global catastrophes due to our own ignorance, are standing right now to pulsate futures where live many entangled worlds, the worlds of ten thousand things, the worlds of myriad happenings, the worlds of Wan-wu.
* Based on my own practice of wan-wu and interspecies communication, this essay might also propose some exercises for the readers to practice, as an experiment of a piece of “embodied writing”.
(This is the draft version due to copyright issue)
This article takes the 2020 Hong Kong resistance in Nintendo game Animal Crossing and the legacy of Covid-19 ‘Whistle blower’ Li Wenliang on Chinese social media as cases, aiming to develop a comprehensive and comparative analysis on the performativity and solidarity that emerge with gamification and playfulness in contemporary Sino-sphere.
between) the cosmos. Within this context, if the human creatures are but one of these ten thousand things, or even if each human is only one of a myriad of always emergent objects, things, or phenomena, there are new possibilities of entanglements which enable us, the modern human creatures, to re-consider our relationships with, and among non-human creatures, and to further imagine new ways of living and relating to the one and many vast, unbounded, infinite worlds of wanwu.
In this light, this essay attempts to create a pataphysics of Ars for Nons from the perspective of Wan-Wu. Starting with the simple question of What is Ars for Nons to possible imaginations of what Ars for Nons could be, this essay questions about who is enacting the “Ars” for whom? And what could be considered as the “Nons”? It argues that nonhuman entities shall not be overly romanticised, just like nature shall not be overly romanticised, just like the ‘global south’ shall not be overly romanticised. Because in either ways, such romanticisation out of guilt (be it innocent or not) might ultimately lead to the danger of re-producing and re-enforcing anthropocentrism. Instead, drawing from the practice of wan-wu, this essay suggests that perhaps what we need is simply a certain embodied care and awareness towards the existence of “ten thousand things”, the “myriad happenings”. It proposes a process of unlearning about what one might believe one knows; a process of decomposing the dominate hegemonic anthropocentric understanding of the so called “nature”, “animal”, “technology”...a process of cultivating sensibilities towards our mutual shared differences (from gender, racial, physical differences to species differences, technological differences, material differences...). In this way, this essay argues that Ars for Nons might be a path way, a tunnel, an in-between space that channels the moment where we, the modern human creatures involved in various global catastrophes due to our own ignorance, are standing right now to pulsate futures where live many entangled worlds, the worlds of ten thousand things, the worlds of myriad happenings, the worlds of Wan-wu.
* Based on my own practice of wan-wu and interspecies communication, this essay might also propose some exercises for the readers to practice, as an experiment of a piece of “embodied writing”.