Closed Tomorrow

/2024

The California Institute of the Arts (CALART) has invited Chen Wu-kang, Taiwanese co-founder of the HORSE project, artistic director, choreographer, and dancer, to create a performance that redefines the boundaries of live performance. Imagining and staying positive and confident that the future will bring better things offers a psychological escape superior to what we have today.P

Pause, Reset, Revisit.

The process of artistic creation corresponds to this expectation in a vague way. "Closed Tomorrow" is a hypothetical action toward the future, a sort of rehearsal that envisions a brighter future with optimistic imagination and anticipation.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, fluctuations have accelerated our understanding of the world. The development of the works has progressed in a pandemic state that is both the same and different. This piece is an attempt to collide, separate, and fuse elements of embodiment, video movement, lighting rhythms, and soundscapes. It involves weaving a dialectical discourse on the perception of a reality that is not singular, and a reflection on the futility of it all. 

Creating through decentralized scripting, unfolding relationships of independence and interaction among four departments, and exploring topics such as: survival, war, rights, gender, identity, fake news, exploitation, borders, friction, globalization, labels, de-labeling, male, female, death, effort, chaos, fermentation, honesty, contradiction, cause and effect, simultaneity, eternity, guilt.

Using sound, dance, image, light, and body to generate actions of de-labeling and create a moment of inspiration. The hidden technology and logic support the entire performance. Through theatrical meditation and exploration, the "here and now" of the performance is depicted, drawing the audience into a focused "super-live" experience. Every choice made during the creative process represents the present moment of the performance.