On Storytelling: Traditional Puppetry with a Modern Twist
With a modern twist, traditional puppetry transcends storytelling, illuminating the memories and history of a land long forgotten by most.
Sense of Wander: ★★★★☆
The video installation Crystal Seeding on view at the exhibition There is Another Capital Beneath the Waves.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — In 1895, a treaty reshaped the destiny of an island in the Pacific Ocean. The Treaty of Shimonoseki, concluding the Sino-Japanese War, transferred Taiwan from Qing-dynasty China to Imperial Japan.
With the arrival of Japanese officials and settlers, sweeping changes took place across the island over the next five decades, encompassing infrastructure development, industrialisation, and educational reforms.
Recognising Taiwan’s fertile land and favourable climate, the colonial government saw its potential for sugar production. They introduced advanced agricultural techniques and established modern sugar refineries, solidifying the sugar industry as a cornerstone of Taiwan’s economy. By the 1920s, Taiwan had become one of the world’s leading sugar producers, with the industry accounting for a significant portion of the island’s exports.
This industrial boom brought economic prosperity but also sparked significant social changes. Large tracts of land were converted into sugarcane plantations, often displacing or subjecting local farmers to harsh working conditions. Infrastructure developments, such as railways and ports designated to facilitate the transportation of sugar to Japan and other markets, spurred urbanisation in towns.
Today, remnants of this era can still be seen across the island’s landscape, with sugar mills and refineries still found in some area. Yet, many, including myself, often overlook the importance of these historic relics that propelled Taiwan towards modernisation.
Inspired by Taiwan’s colonial history, three local artists — Chia-Wei Hsu, Ting-Tong Chang, and Hsien-Yu Cheng — used sugarcane as a starting point to explore Taiwan’s historical ties with Japan and its path to modernisation.
The result of this creative endeavour, aptly titled Crystal Seeding, is one of the two video installations featured at the exhibition There is Another Capital Beneath the Waves (浪濤之下亦有皇都), now on view at the Hong-Gah Museum in Taipei.
This puppet stand was used in the filming of the videos seen in Crystal Seeding.
Crystal Seeding
Upon entering the exhibition space for Crystal Seeding, visitors are greeted by the calming ambiance of dimly-lit, black-painted exhibition room. Against one wall stands what appears to be a traditional puppet stage, reminiscent of those often found on street corners, traditionally positioned facing a temple (as the practice of hand puppetry originally emerged as a form of theatre performed for the divine). It turns out that this very stage was used for filming the videos featured in Crystal Seeding (等晶播種), as I later discovered while watching the video.
In collaboration with Taiwan Sugar Corporation and Taiwan Sound Lab, the artists utilised the Huwei Sugar Factory in Yunlin County as a research site. They captured sounds and images of the industrial processes including sugarcane planting, harvesting, transportation, and sugar production to present the cultural landscape of the Huwei Sugar Factory across a century-long timeline.
The puppet show, which adapted the imperialist Japanese propaganda piece “Anma Tengu,” was staged outside the factory and included in the footage projected onto a trio of screens shaped to resemble the silhouette of crystals. This setup offered a theatrical glimpse into Taiwan’s sugar industry a century ago.
At one point, the sugar mill was even repurposed into orchestral instruments, enriching the audio-visual sensory experience of this grand symphony. We see sugar crystals delicately dance on the drum’s surface with every strike of the drumstick. Through art and music, Crystal Seeding revitalised the historical site, suggesting how our present moment is, in one way another, built upon the past.
Sugar spread across the drum’s surface dance with each beat, weaving the soul of the sugar factory into a visually stimulating musical spectacle.
In Crystal Seeding, the Huwei Sugar Factory transforms into an orchestra, where old and worn-out facilities serve as instruments, contributing to the visual and audio symphony of the piece.
The title of the work, Crystal Seeding, references an essential process in sugar production. After sugarcane undergoes pressing and evaporation, small crystals, or “sugar seeds,” are introduced to alter the quantity and size of crystals in the crystallisation tank, ultimately producing sugar that meets industrial standards.
Crystal seeding also serves as a metaphor for the Chiayi-Tainan Plain, which witnessed Taiwan’s first wave of modern industrialisation with the advent of the sugar industry. With the introduction of railway lines, mechanised sugar mills spread through villages and towns in Taiwan. The large-scale production of sugarcane, alongside modern facilities and new towns, transformed the agricultural society, growing and evolving much like the formation of crystals.
Hand puppets used in narrating the story told in Crystal Seeding.
There is Another Capital Beneath the Waves
There is Another Capital Beneath the Waves shifts its focus from Huwei to Moji Port in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, the former site of the Dai-Nippon Seito Sugar Factory.
Strategically located along the maritime route, Moji Port received raw sugar produced in Taiwan. It was also a stopover for foreign ships en route to Kobe and Yokohama, making it one of Japan’s most prominent international ports.
Inspired by the chapter “Drowning of the Emperor” from the Japanese epic The Tale of the Heike, this video installation recounts how, during the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185, Taira no Tokiko threw herself and the young Emperor Antoku into the sea, comforting him with the words, “There is another capital beneath the waves.” This historic battle site is directly opposite the shore from Moji.
In There is Another Capital Beneath the Waves, the Japanese puppetry tradition known as Bunraku is recreated through technological simulation.
There is Another Capital Beneath the Waves recounts the poignant episode “Drowning of the Emperor” from the Japanese epic, The Tale of the Heike.
Though I didn’t know much about the history behind it then, I was deeply impressed by how the artists used the traditional Japanese puppet theatre art, Bunraku, to revisit the wartime memory of Moji.
It’s worth noting that, the puppet shown in the footage is actually a simulation of a mechanical puppet, its gestures manipulated by three puppeteers in the Bunraku tradition. Despite some movements appearing stiff at times, I never imagined that technology could be integrated into a puppet show in such a way that breathes new life into this traditional art form, transforming it into a Bunraku performance fit for the digital age.
Interestingly, this particular Bunraku show was accompanied by percussion music featuring handmade instruments: slabs formed from melted sugars, highlighting the historic significance of Moji. These unique percussion surfaces were eventually destroyed towards the end of the footage.
Before visiting the exhibition, I had just seen a performance of Otome Bunraku, a similar puppet tradition featuring a sole female puppeteer. Intrigued by that experience, I hoped to see a blending of puppet traditions from Taiwan and Japan within the same artwork.
I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed to find them featured in separate works. However, witnessing this technologically-enhanced Bunraku performance made up for my disappointment. I could truly see the potential of these time-honoured traditions to engage younger audiences and remain relevant in the era of artificial intelligence.
Located somewhat out of the way, the Hong-Gah Museum had always been on my list of go-to museums, but I never made the time to visit until now.
The fact that it was my first time spending over an hour — 70 minutes to be exact — watching only video installations (I rarely sit for more than 5 minutes watching a video installation in a museum) shows just how inspiring I found these two works to be.
Whether you’re interested in contemporary art, video installations, puppet traditions, or history, There is Another Capital Beneath the Waves offers something for everyone. This exhibition not only captivates with powerful storytelling mediums from two cultures, but also provides a profound reflection on the heritage left behind by history. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience a blend of past and present that will leave you inspired and hungry for more.
The exhibition There Is Another Capital Beneath the Waves was held at the Hong-Gah Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, from May 4 to June 30, 2024.