2024 International Performing Arts Festival-ArtisticStatementArtisticStatement

Imagine an early morning as you stand at a street corner in the city. Sunlight streams through the gaps between tall buildings, spilling across the pavement. Pedestrians rush by, vehicles hum past — everything seems routine. Yet in this moment, as a single leaf drifts to the ground, time feels as though it pauses. The stillness of that fleeting instant imprints itself deeply in your memory. These are the moments from which creators draw their inspiration. Through the unique lens of the artist, these everyday occurrences are transformed into art — whether in posture, melody, or a scene on stage — becoming echoes of time that capture the essence of life.

As performances unfold on stage, they guide the audience through the flow of time, with each moment offering a unique and unrepeatable experience. In the world of theater, time seems to stand still, inviting you to focus on every detail of the present and to reconsider the intricate connections between time, art, and life.

The concept of "time and space" in performing arts goes beyond the simple linear progression of time; it represents a multi-layered "existence," akin to the complexity found in quantum mechanics. On stage, these transcendent resonances move through time and space, allowing us to experience different dimensions of time while immersing us in the profound memories and perspectives that artists have sublimated into their work.

The 2024 Da Guan International Performing Arts Festival is centered around the theme of " Time-space Boundary," offering five carefully curated performances that span a wide range of artistic forms, including music, theater, dance, and pop music. Featured events include "Aesthetic Insistence - Cross-field Artistic Imagery 5.0," "Riffles in the Light of Night," the Da-Guan Dance Theater's annual Chinese dance showcase, "Recollections," director Yukio Shiba's collaborative work with Taiwanese actors, "Three Plays on the Path to Hope," and the innovative Chinese music theater production, "You’re so weird!" Through these diverse artistic expressions, we hope the audience will explore the many layers of time and existence from new perspectives, capturing those often-overlooked moments in daily life and finding inspiration to spark fresh reflections on both life and art.

Just like that quiet morning, perhaps we can all uncover the extraordinary within the ordinary through the " Time-space Boundary."