Re-her-sal: Rehearsal Exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan

The exhibition ‘Re-her-sal: Rehearsal’ originates from the ‘Re-her-sal’ seri[...]

The exhibition ‘Re-her-sal: Rehearsal’ originates from the ‘Re-her-sal’ series project. With the theme of ‘rehearsal’, the English word ‘rehearsal’ is intentionally misspelled as ‘re-her-sal’, emphasizing ‘her’ as a pronoun for females and adding a provocative sense from the misspelling. ‘Re’ carries the dual meaning of ‘repeatedly’ and ‘repair’, attempting to extend the performance of gender into the experiment and practice of contemporary art. The ‘performance’ of gender and the ‘performance’ of the art museum form a pun with different word forms and meanings. ‘Repetition’ connects experiences in life such as daily routines, learning, practice, and rehearsals, and is also related to the repetitiveness in artistic creation. Behind any form of creation is endless ‘rehearsal’.
The ‘preview’ in the exhibition’s title comes from theater vocabulary, referring to an informal performance, situated between the presentation of the work and rehearsal, full of possibilities, unfinished, correctable, and ready to go. ‘Re-her-sal: Rehearsal’ explores female life experiences, identity, and domains, making the audience aware of the concept of ‘on-stage’ and re-questioning the possibilities of gender and body, curation, and creation in the museum space. The exhibition challenges the established notion that performance presentation signifies completion and the rational framework of the museum and exhibition. This exhibition is not a showcase for female artists but focuses on ‘female experience and body’ and ‘space domain and identity’ as two main axes, presenting female life experiences through the creations of artists.
The exhibition invited five artists to participate. Zhao Manjun, who focuses on the body and is good at site-specific creation, examines and creates by combining the changes of the Taipei Contemporary Art Museum space and its surrounding environment with her own family story. Li Xiaofen focuses on institutional and formal issues of creation, and criticizes the review mechanism and misogynistic culture. Cheng Shiyong and Yan Qing are actors by profession, flowing between various roles and self, thinking about the reality and stories of love. Lin Peiyao presents the generation mechanism of female self-examination and performance consciousness through video installations. The exhibition is open from 10/19 to 12/15, with performance times and durations subject to the actual situation on site.