Szu-Yi Wang & Nicole van den Berg

“They flow while performing; in the air, we whisper and imagine old and new stories.” 

Zi Zhu aims to trigger the dialogues between the body and language, and the interplay between forms and flows of the climatic elements. It shows a set of paper installations derived from the weather-related Hanzi—Fong (wind), Yun (cloud), Yu (rain), Chi (air)—in both structural and conceptual ways. The project studies the origin of those Hanzi, and how this foreign written language could recall and inspire people’s experience with nature. The artists interweave the multiple, sensory layers to experiment with the way we relink and reimagine human relationships with nature. Visitors are welcomed and guided to walk in, touch, observe, and ‘breathe’ together with the artists. 

Zi Zhu is initiated by artist Szu-Yi Wang who studies the Hanzi language as a research tool and develops her poetic spatial gestures through texts, drawings, paper sculptures, light, and shadows. The performance is developed with the choreography by the performer Nicole van den Berg—with her improvising connections to the environment and to the Hanzi stories. In this edition, YingYing Su is invited as a guest musician to explore the dynamic flows between the narrative and movements. 

This project is made possible with the support from Stimulerings Fonds. The collaboration of the body-language research between Szu-Yi Wang and Nicole van den Berg started from their last project ‘Zi Yuan, A Spring Stroll’ presented by MOMO Create & Perform. 

 * In addition to the performance, the installations will be exhibited in the foyer of Theater Rotterdam during the whole festival.