In Taiwan A Group’s “Feel Good(s)”, two artists led us to explore their curiosity about “objects” and their interest in “drag queens”. As a drag performer, Shih Han was very good at playing with these objects while Zhi Xiang was a big fan of drag performance. As a facilitator, I tried to understand the connection between the terms feel good, goods and objects and the journey beyond.
Here were some of our questions to start our conversations.
“How do we feel good through certain objects?”
“Why do gays appreciate drag performances? What do we see as the spectators?”
“Do objects have their own gender?”
“Is it related to sexual pleasure?”
After being questioned, they came up with two concepts in this project: “gender in between” and “embodiment”.
The artists had three live streams before the final presentation. The topics were: pleasure advisor and his feel goods, pleasure molding through clay, manicures and embodiment. Through connecting with the public, they boldy moved the project forward. After the live streams, I asked them about their expectation toward this residency.
At their final meeting, they said that they didn’t find the answers during the exploration. I responded by saying that artists actually never solve problems, but raise questions within the society. Co-creation was their second task during the process and the observer, Albert, was there to help them.
Two artists had different perspectives toward the topic, one was a drag performer himself and the other was a spectator. They questioned and interpreted “Feel Good(s)” using various voices and invited the audience to get some flexible objects to join their interacting process.
As a facilitator in this online residency, the artists and the organizer involved in my group were from the same cultural background, so it was pretty straightforward and successful when exchanging information with one another. I look forward to seeing this residency project reach other cities and bring stimulation and nutrients to young artists under different cultures.
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