Join the world renowned Bankstown Poetry Slam at White Bay Power Station for a one off performance of new spoken-word poetry created through storytelling workshops with students at local Western Sydney schools as part of exhibiting artist Chen Chieh-jen’s Shared Stage Project.
This project, continuing Chieh-jen’s long tradition of working with non-professional performers, from unemployed and underemployed people, gig economy workers, factory workers and unhoused people, is inspired by the traditional Taiwanese workers theatre known as a “”Lo-deh sao””. In the off-seasons of agricultural-era Fujian, Minnan and Taiwan, farmers would clear a small area of ground in the village, or beneath a tree, to perform for their fellow townspeople.
As part of this project, three distinct performance collectives, each with a focus on socially engaged and community practice, will activate the installation at various times throughout the Biennale. And at the root of the work is the enduring urgency of self-determined storytelling, and creating space for traditionally disenfranchised people to make their voice heard.
