The show and gaze of intermedial interculturalism: a reflection on the curation of Otherness at PQ19

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is a reflection on the theatrical gaze that the author encountered in the 2019 PQ exhibition and PQ-commissioned performances. PQ calls for skills in curating performance designs that carry culture-specific symbols and that aim to represent certain cultures. Meanwhile as communication technology and digital media have brought intercultural exchange to a daily level, cultural icons at an international exhibition no longer easily shock audiences. Therefore, the intermediality of the theatrical gaze in PQ often succeeds in defying Orientalist impulses and enables ‘interweaving performance cultures' (in Erika Fischer-Lichte’s sense). However, due to some institutional and cultural barriers, it is still difficult for interdisciplinary art works, which are increasingly prominent not only in the exhibition but also in the performance space across the world in general, to emerge from China so as to effectively take part in the PQ discourse. These kinds of barriers must be removed if PQ is to engage with more performance cultures and support more creative arts with a cosmopolitan spirit. Perhaps the solution is to step out of institutionalized curation. Some case studies of student-led collaboration will be presented to shed light upon how innovative interdisciplinary works can be facilitated.