Abstract
Dutch-born Chinese artist, Laurens Tan has working studios in Sydney, Beijing, and Las Vegas. Throughout his life as an artist, Tan has sought to understand the foundation of his Chinese roots. His search necessitated evaluating experiences, discord, and the generations of cultural power associated with the code-making identity of the Chinese language characters. Tan found what he called ‘objective correlative’ in the swirling references and symbols in his native script. The forms of the script flow with a Baroque wonder but are completely indecipherable to the uninitiated to the Chinese language. My proposal examines Laurens Tan’s sculpture installations called Babalogic - evoking the 1563 Tower of Babel by Dutch painter Pieter Breugel the Elder. My study addresses issues of authenticity and Identity existing in a cultural jungle of being monolingual - “what we say when we have no results”. My investigation proceeds as a performance piece—my words/PowerPoint images will be simultaneously interpreted and translated into modern movement by choreographer/dancer Louis Kavouras who will also compose modern jazz music to accompany the paper. And, Laurens Tan, the artist, will aesthetically participate as he responds to the bridging of the spiraling linguistic tiers of Babalogic as attitudinal barriers pressuring the cultural global village within the moment of the performance piece itself. This performance piece reflects on bridging linguistic and cultural impediments.
Presenters
Robert TracyAssociate Professor/Curator, Art, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Louis Kavouras
Chair, Dance, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
LAURENS TAN, ARTISTS, SCULPTURE, CHOREOGRAPHY, IMAGERY, JAZZ MUSIC, LINGUISTIC BARRIERS
