Department of Cultural Affairs

Photo from TPAC
Five stunt performers in Disappearing Island – an outdoor immersive performance combining circus and installation art to explore the sustainable development of the Shezi Island, Taipei City.

By Yali Chen
 
Disappearing Island (消逝之島) is one of the remarkable shows in the 2020 Taipei Arts Festival. It is an outdoor immersive performance combining circus and installation art to explore the sustainable development of the Shezi Island, Taipei City.
 
Located in Taipei’s Shilin District, the island is a sandbar that formed at the confluence of the Keelung and Tamsui rivers. It used to be an agriculture-based riverside community that later became a distribution center for factories and warehouses.


Photo from TPAC
A performer wrapped in wires symbolizes the island’s survival dilemmas.


Photo from TPAC
A stunt performer in an alley on Shezi Island.

Due to its location on floodplains, the city government in 1970 banned residents from building houses. Old houses could neither be demolished nor rebuilt. Many dwellers here who dreamt of development and reconstruction have been stymied for half a century. With little hope for the future, most of them have moved away.
 
The idea behind Disappearing Island was drawn from Shezi’s current dilemma, said Formosa Circus Art (FOCA) Artistic Director Lee Tsung-hsuan (李宗軒) who hopes to make audiences contemplate the future of this forgotten island.
 
Founded in 2011, FOCA is one of Taiwan’s contemporary circus companies. It aims to create its own unique physical vocabulary combining acrobatics, street culture and performing arts.


Photo from TPAC
A performer on stilts.

In 2017, FOCA launched a crossover trilogy project by working with other artists and artist groups from different backgrounds and countries, such as Baboo Liao (廖俊逞) from the Taiwan Contemporary Theatre, visual artist Leeroy New from the Philippines, and the Germany-based dance theatre group Peculiar Man.


Photo from TPAC
Artists end their performances under the Zhoumei Bridge.
 
That year, Lee and the Filipino artist did a series of field research and in-depth investigations on Shezi Island. During the 2019 Taipei Arts Festival, Disappearing Island expressed some of their findings. Disappearing Island at this year’s Taipei Arts Festival was the full expression of the conclusions of their research. From September 11 through September 13, the outdoor immersive performance on Shezi Island itself expressed the survival angst of the islanders.
 
The performers led viewers through the alleys, riverside and factory clusters in the Xisha Wei community (溪沙尾聚落) and ended their performance under the Zhoumei Bridge.
 
Disappearing Island likewise conveyed how the island’s ecology had changed and its impact on its once simple life. The audience is invited to consider how the environment plays an important role in our lives.