Space and Memory in the Huashan Event

Abstract

In response to contemporary social anxieties, re-enactment in performances has been used to recall the past and to invoke collective memory and identity. Huashan Event was initiated by the theatrical performance of re-enactment of Troy, Troy…Taiwan, a cultural response to the political incident 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, during which Chinese government deployed hundreds of missiles, aimed at Taiwan and conducted missile tests within the Taiwan Strait as a signal to warn Taiwan off declaring political independence. Unexpectedly, this performance triggered a series of cultural and political interventions including a police raid, protests, and political negotiations, and surprisingly resulted in turning the performance site, a deserted government property, into an art venue for the public. Thereafter, numerous deserted government properties have been transformed into public spaces. The whole Huashan Event, from the performance to the following events, re-enacted the traumatic past of Chinese suppression across the Taiwan Strait, and embodied the identity complex of the Taiwanese in the shadow of China threats and Japanese colonization. Through making Taiwanese government return spaces to the public, Huashan Event seemed to gain a triumphant result, but the struggles for Taiwanese identity that initiated the whole event kept linger on. By applying cultural materialist approach alongside with discussions regarding memory and social production of space, this paper focuses on the interconnection of re-enactment, inscription of memory, and the production of meanings in Huashan Event that redefined its contemporary context and further contributed to produce new meanings and memories that invoked a collective Taiwanese identity in both its artistic and social aspects.