HAGAY DREAMING

STORY
SCENARIO
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
FORKS
SCHEDULE
CREDITS

“A hunter lost in the forest meets a group of gender fluid Hagay who transmit the knowledge of rituals, hunting and weaving to the hunter. The hunter returns to the tribe and continues sharing their wisdom.” Derived from a fabricated legend recounted by Dondon Hounwn, an artist and a practicing shaman of Truku tribe, HAGAY DREAMING is a techno-fantasia guided theatre of revival that explores technoshamanism and Gaya principles. Launching a discourse on the diversified nature of genders in primeval states, HAGAY DREAMING negotiates the conflict between tribal tradition keepers and the defiant young generations.
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FOREST WALKS.
PERFORMANCE.
LIVE ACT.
WORKSHOPS.
TALKS.
DREAMS.
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HAGAY DREAMING at STWST48x8 takes the public for durational 48 hour rituals of forest wandering and dreams awakening. Spectra of laser light beaming tribal totem “dowriq” summons the ancestral spirits to watch over us, guiding us walking, chanting, gender hacking, xylophone messaging, flute head-hunting, imaging and dancing. Sapuh, Emsapuh, Smapuh, Dgiyaq, Mkduyung, Phpah, Qhuni, learning medicine, embodying the medical power, forests and streams, blossoming flower and trees, we arrive beyond the flowing of light where multiplicity of HAGAY converge and reverberate in balance. The scenario that includes one prelude and seven acts is performed in various time slots and mixed in with live acts that interact with the public throughout the 48 hours. Continuing with Stadtwerkstatt’s New Context approach, two fork out art projects - Multiplication of Hagay by Špela Petrič and Ritucols for Gender Transformation by Adriana Knouf - are presented with forest walks, workshops and public discussions.

Prelude - Welcome the Spiritual Beings
With the most pious mind, we invite and welcome spirits of the land and ancestors who have lived here before to join this gathering and share the presents. May the spirits offer us equality and love, sharing and peace.

Act I - Storyteller
The storyteller recites her words, moving through time and space. Her texts reveal those ancient stories and modern-day situations, confronting each other in an attempt to strike a balance. Can the opposites be reconciled and the forgotten be retrieved?

Act II - The Hunter’s Dream
Hunting in the deep forest, the hunter enters a tree cave to take shelter from the heavy rain. He falls asleep and encounters a group of hagay, naked men/women. The hunter learns hagay’s knowledge and skills. He returns and shares with the villagers HAGAY teachings.

Act III - Exchange
Who am I? Am I a man or a woman? Meeting the trans-sphere spiritual beings, what makes you forget your beauty? What makes you assume that you have nothing? The performer blur the gender representation in an attempt to get back to the primeval state, fighting against the post-colonial gender divide.

Act IV - Walking
The ritualist playing a mouth harp leads the participants to walk, to sense their walking feet, to listen to the brook flowing. Accidentally, they step into the sphere of light, the realm of spirits.

Act V - The Path in Light
Where is the path that leads us back to the beautiful land? How should one listen to the voice of the spiritual world and peep into the mysteries of the universe? Please guide us and show us where the path leads us.

Act VI - Beyond the Flowing of Light
The tribal weaving patterns symbolize the guardian power of the ancestral spirits, as well as the spiritual eyes which look after the world. The ritualist playing a traditional prihut xylophone, a is a ritual head-hunting flute. In the light, ancestral spirits are summoned.

Act VII - The Convergence
The present and the absent, all that exist in nature and all directions, the perfect and the broken, our wounds and glory, history and myth come into balance. The projected spiritual world, the images, the music of plants, the resonance of human bodies all converge and flow into the sea.

The public are invited to learn the traditional tribal songs and sing along.

Two songs and lyrics can be accessed here

Join traditional Truku tribal weaving sessions using recycled sweaters.
According to the historical account during 1950-60s in Taiwan, the western missionaries brought sweaters to the tribal people as gifts. The tribal people not knowing how to wear them disassembled all threads and weaved them into traditional knitwears.
CALL FOR donation of old sweaters to be recycled and weaved: Please bring them to STWST (Cafe Strom).

Multiplication of Hagay - Špela Petrič
Ritucols for Gender Transformation - Adriana Knouf

Fri, 9. Sept:
19.00 - 20.00: PRELUDE + ACT 1 (opening performance)
20.00 - dawn: SLEEP OVER – chat, drink, eat

Sat, 10. Sept:
15.00 - 17.00: LIVE ACT – recycle old sweaters, weaving, singing
21.45 - 23.00: ACT 2+3+4+5+ 6
23.00 - dawn: SLEEP OVER – chat, drink, eat

Sun, 11. Sept:
15.00 - 17.00: LIVE ACT – recycle old sweaters, weaving, singing
17.00 - 18.00: ACT 7 (closing performance)
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ALL performance and live act events take place at Maindeck and the Staircase.

A text on Hagay Dreaming has appeared in Versorgerin 135: Hagay Dreaming .
Review Hagay Dreaming by Felix Stalder in Digicult.

HAGAY DREAMING is an
Elug Art Corner + Dimension Plus production.
Initiated and schemed by Shu Lea Cheang.
Produced by Ping Yi Chen.
Artistic Direction/Script/Direction: Dondon Hounwn

Dondon Hounwn and Shu Lea Cheang started their collaboration with HAGAY DREAMING as a lab development during LAB KILL LAB at Taiwan’s C-Lab in 2020. Together they re-envision genders, genres and share collective values with a view to ensure the survival of indigenous culture. In June 2022, HAGAY DREAMING held its first field performance at Dowmung Tribe Ceremony Space.

With artists aka_chang, Shan Shan Chen, Ibau, Tzuan Wu, Sayun Chang, Shih Min Szu, Apu’u Yakumangana, Tumun Buru, Umaw Nguzyok, Marang Kuwah, Pilaw Uraw and Temu Basaw.

Funding for production and travel provided by Taiwan’s National Culture and Arts Foundation and Ministry of Culture Taiwan.

HAGAY DREAMING is a production on its own, which is shown in several editions: http://hagaydreaming.net
HAGAY DREAMING, Special STWST 48×8 Edition: With support from STWST.
HAGAY DREAMING, Special STWST48x8 Edition: With SUPPORT of LINZAG. With many thanks for CONTAINER / TRANSPORT.

DOCUMENTATION